Arts

Pasalen Karaliyata to foster Sri Lankan traditional art

by Ranga Chandrarathne

'Union Neth Hamuwa -Pasalen Karaliyata', a talent competition jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and Union Assurance Limited is to promote and foster Sri Lankan folk music and folk dance (Jana Gayana and Jana Natum).

The competition aimed at bringing out the aesthetic talents dormant in the students to the limelight, consists of dancing, singing and culminates in grand cultural shows.

Developing aesthetic talents of the future generations enhance and foster cultural dance and music and develop creativity among school children are some of the objectives of 'Union Neth Hamuwa -Pasalen Karaliyata', in addition to recognizing budding talents.

On the first round of the competition, inter-school dancing, singing and announcing competitions will be held at district level and the winners of the competition will be judged by a panel of professionals from the Ministry of Education.

Participants in the national competition will be the winners of the District competition and the final round will consist of a grand cultural show and an award ceremony. "Folk music is the mirror of the Sri Lankan identity.

Every nation has its own traditional music. The great systems of music whether Western or Indian have sprung from sources of folk and traditional music. People take folk music lightly owing to ignorance. Folk music is originated from work hands when they face obstacles in their lives. They were ignorant but amassed experiences in life.

Folk songs and poems expressed the work experience of this peasantry and were often handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth altering the compositions and tunes.

These folk songs were created by those peasantry and also used by them and had never been written down, although subsequently compiled and codified by academics and musicians such as W.D Makuloluwa and Lionel Ranwala." said Deputy Director Ministry of Education, Edward Jayakody at the commencement of the programme.

He appreciated Union Assurance for the generous sponsorship to promote Sri Lankan cultural music and dance at a time, when a section of the society is aping cheap alien pop-culture.

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 'Imaginations 2007' at Lionel Wendt

Internationally renowned artist and batik designer, Somaratne Gomes who is also the teacher of the Mohan Lal Grero Foundation and his pupils will launch 'IMAGINATIONS 2007' an oil painting art exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery Colombo 7 February 21 and 22.

Mr. Somarathne Gomes entered the field of arts in the 1970s and has received local and international recognition.

The artist has held art exhibitions for six consecutive years and has held his first art exhibition in Lusan city Switzerland at the South Asian Art Gallery.

Mr. Somarathne Gomes has volunteered to give his knowledge and experience in the field of art to the future generation by giving free classes in Batik and Art to students at the Mohan Lal Grero Foundation.

There will be paintings of Mr. Gomes and thirty of his pupils at the 'Imaginations 2007' art exhibition.

'Imaginations 2007' Art Exhibition will be opened by Mr. Mohal Lal Grero who is the founder of Lyceum International School and the Mohan Lal Grero Foundation on 21st February at 3.30 p.m.

Mr. Somarathne Gomes will also launch his web site on this day. This art exhibition will be opened to the public from 3.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. on February 21 and from 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. on February 22.

Review :

'Rhapsody in Blue' - a night to remember

'Rhapsody in Blue' produced by the students of St. Joseph's College, Colombo, under the direction of Francis D'Almeida was presented at the Lionel Wendt on Wednesday and Thursday last. It presented the youthful choir of St. Joseph's - between the ages of 10/12 and 15/17, with over 50 boys taking part.

Master Geethika Cooray, a head prefect of the school and a senior member of the choir was the conductor, and how gracefully he held the baton and strove hard to bring out the best in the choir - a conductor certainly in the making - the choristers were also given the full opportunity of performing well, with some of the seniors delighting the audience with little solos.

The entire presentation brought out a beautiful blend of these youthful voices, and certainly delighted the audience with their performance. Each item was carefully selected and kept the audience on their toes.

Francis D'Almeida, the Director of the programme, deserves high commendation for "Rhapsody in Blue", and for all the effort he made to make this possible. He said that he and the choir had worked hard for almost two months to make this presentation possible.

He paid a tribute to the choir for responding to the many calls for practices-sometimes going on till late at night - and giving him all the support he needed to bring out this programme. He himself did not hesitate to offer his own appreciation of the great performance of the choir, and how well they co-operated with him, in bringing out a super display of their young voices.

For the audience it was a night to remember - the grand performance of the youthful choir of St. Joseph's College - in 'Rhapsody in Blue' - The spontaneous applause after each item - was certainly their own appreciation of a great performance of the highly talented youthful choir of the college.

All this for a laudable cause - the schooling of the little children in Mannar.

Maurice Lord.