Entertainment

Rajiv blasts through 2008

By Mahes PERERA

They say you can't keep a good guy down. How true! Whatever, the odds Rajiv Sebastian has kept his popularity as a singer on the top rung and enjoying his success as well.

Recently he presented a highly successful concert 'Legends of Pop' of Sri Lanka which saw a galaxy of singers Sinhala and English from here and abroad gracing the stage. Now all Rajiv and the Clan fans have the opportunity of soaking in the bands rhythms at "Aloha 2009", the New Year's Eve extravaganza at the Taj Airport Garden Hotel. In a Hawaiian ambience, the Harbour Bar on the Lagoon Water front will be transformed into a Hawaiian Paradise of flowers and flower - decked Hawaiian dancers. It's an ideal tropical scene to bid adieu to 2008 and greet 2009 with music and thousands of firecrackers exploding into a million coloured jets in the night sky. That's not all. The Chefs have literally put on their thinking caps to lay out a wide spread of gastronomic delight of a Hawaiian buffet. And if that is not enough there will be fun and games and super prizes on this Raffle Draw.

Apart from the New Year's Eve much looked-forward-to-activities, the Hotel has made plans for children and their families to enjoy the Christmas season.

There's the Gingerbread House in the lobby, the Kiddies Christmas Carnival, the Christmas Eve dinner with its extensive dinner buffet, the Christmas Day Lunch which will be a memorable occasion for the whole family with water games fun and frolic.

Theme buffet dinner buffets from December 26 to Tuesday December 30, are going to be a big draw.

Forty years in music celebration

By Mahes PERERA

Just to jog your memory remember the songs Wessa Wahinawa, Kandukare, Varsity Kollo or Kalakata Pera. Well they were instant hits for The Dharmaratne Brothers and they are now all set to relive those melodies as well as their other songs when they stage their "40 years in music" with a grand show. The concert will be held at the Elphinstone Hall on December 27 at 6.00 p.m. So make sure you are not left out of the musical celebrations.

"The musical backing for our show will be by Annesley and The Superchimes and will also feature guest artistes Annesley, Indrani, Anil, Keerthi, Nirosha and Shiromie', reveals Christie Dharmaratne amidst all his hurry and scurry of attending to the details of the show.

A quick spool back on the career of The Dharmartne Brothers takes you to 1967 when they decided to team up and burst into the music scene with songs of their own. The four brothers Christie, Ronald, Maxwell and Melroy were the first ever Sri Lanka's family Sinhala Pop Band and were successful in creating a new dimension in the Sinhala pop world, with their rhythmic and toe-tapping songs that were the rage in the sixties.

"There was a time in our career when we were not singing here in Sri Lanka because the three of us went abroad on work. Tragically our brother Ronald died in a bus accident and that was a further set back. However after our return thanks to Annesley Malawana we moved into the limelight with his "Stars of '70" presentations, and were also featured by other producers who staged music shows" continued Christie. Unlike today the recordings of the songs of The Dharmaratne Brothers were not then frequent, however the brothers are happy that then the recording labels Philips, Sooriya and Decca came forward to record their songs for posterity. "We owe a debt of gratitude to Patrick Croea of Gowri Corporation/Philips Recordings, Gerald Wickremasooriya of Sooriya, Malcolm Andree, Jayatissa Hettiarachchi of Kandy Lake Club Fame and Vijaya Corea who supported and helped us in gaining popularity," expresses Christie.

Another attraction at the show on December 27 will be Shiromie Welikala, a niece of The Dharmaratne Brothers, who joined them when she was quite young with the stage name Baby Shriomie and her scintillating songs Konda Namagena Pembara Amma, Sakala Bujan and Handa Haami. Now domiciled in Canada, Shriomie expressed her happiness in joining The Dharmaratne Brothers on stage and meeting up with her fans.

Sheer delight

by Mahes PERERA

Kudos to Trans Asia for staging the festive concert "Any Dream Will Do" last Sunday which contained an interesting line up of Christmas carols and songs performed by the bands and singers who play at the Hotel weekly.

We understand that the show was put together at short notice, but that was not evident in the performance which bore labels of professionalism.

In fact it was entertainment at its best and especially when the compere/singer Clifford Richards and the leader of Misty, Rajitha Rupasinghe got involved in witty patter, quizzing the audience and when Santa Claus entered the hall much to the delight of the children and adults. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" the song, was turned upside down, inside out, stopped and started by Clifford and Rajitha, humorous comments thrown at Santa's secretary which were all jolly and in keeping with the mood of the evening. The audience participated with enthusiasm. An interesting programme of carols was presented by the singers. Misty-who opened the concert singing along with all the musicians and singers on stage gave a swinging version of Any Dream Will Do.

What followed were all the well loved carols and lesser heard ones sung by Yohan and Honorine, Classic, BEST, Warren and Rozette, Shyami and Inner Sounds, C & C, Clifford Richards and Rajitha. The singers gave of their best and Trans Asia with this concert stole a march on their competitors in the hospitality industry.