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| Sunday, 30 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Wild Fire at Gatsby's by Mahes Perera To say that Wild Fire is outgoing, is an understatement. They command attention and that too scorching attention. Come Friday, November 6, this exciting retro quartet make it with a bang at the Gatsby's - a state of the art night club in Colombo.
Wild Fire will spread their hot vibes in a limited engagement every Friday thereafter, until December 16, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. So Wild Fire fans your Friday nights are never going to be the same again what with Derek, Chris, Shafi and Nilantha all geared to turn you upside down. Back home recently after a successful performance tour in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, this guitar-oriented band without exaggeration has come a long way ever since they launched themselves at the Rock Cafe in Colombo five years ago. In a music scene then that was lacking in lustre and stagnating in sameness, the quartet switched on a Retro Path that came alive with the music of CCR, The Hollies, Simon and Garfunkel and other rock favourites from the likes of the Eagles, the Doobie Brother, REM and Nirvana. "We do not play techno, hip-hop, house and other types of technically advanced music, as we play our music totally live", echo the foursome who have had many gigs overseas and according to them the most significant being their performances in Melbourne for the fund raisers 'Make a wish foundation Australia' and the 'Hope' cancer hospital project in Maharagama Sri Lanka. Talking of originals guitarist Shafi's single Now Tell me caught the Sri Lankan charts as well as the second single You Don't Remember Me. Shafi is working on his solo album which should be released soon. Drummer Chris Dhason too has originals to his credit which were performed by Wild Fire. There's Rainbow Out of Sight which was the theme song for the ICC Trophy 2002 and Wild Fire performed it at the opening ceremony. Also We Are Sri Lankan the current SriLankan Air Lines corporate theme song to collect proceeds for the tsunami affected schools in Kalmunai. Of course guitarist Derek too has his bag of original credits. When Angels Call was donated to Yes FM radio as the group's contribution to the tsunami relief album. One More Try was last year's Singer Schoolboy Rugby theme song, while Hero was composed by Derek for the Indoor Cricket World Cup 2004 held last year. Winners of the Observer Golden Clef Awards 2002 for Band of the Year, Wild Fire has under their belt a repertoire that exceeds more than 500 songs that should be experienced and appreciated. Where at? The answer is Gatsby's. -########### TV Sri Lanka reaches out to home viewers TV Sri Lanka currently telecasting programmes to Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia via the Hot Bird Satellite, will from Tuesday, November 1 commence a new digital channel to Sri Lanka, Asia and Australia, via the Satellite Insat. This was revealed at the media briefing held recently by TV Sri Lanka's Director of Programmes Rohan Welivita. TV Sri Lanka operates from Rome and a domestic office will be opened up shortly at D. R. Wijewardena Mawatha. Programme wise, this eight million Europe project is targeted to Sri Lankans working and residing abroad to enable them to be kept in the know of the happenings in their motherland. As such the authorities invite entrepreneurs, both men and women, small industries producers and the hospitality trade managements, to make use of this facility. Besides tourist information could be telecast by using the TV Sri Lanka channel to carry advertisements at competitive rates. In this twenty four hour transmission special programmes of social and cultural nature will be included for the benefit of the viewers. Beaming on a location 83 degrees East, a frequency of 4042 and a S. Rate 8,000, the channel requires a decoder which has to be purchased and this will enable the viewer to tune to over 200 other channels around the world. Associated with this media briefing was the veteran media personality Edwin Ariyadasa who enlightened those present on the benefits of enhancing one's knowledge through the wonders of satellite telecast. Rohan Welivita who has been in the print, electronic and radio media requests producers of programmes to be in touch with TV Sri Lanka to get useful exposure. Others from TV Sri Lanka associated at the briefing were Thushara Fernando who handles international marketing and Mudhumali Kurera who is responsible for marketing in the Asian and Australian regions. MP |
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