Talent found
By Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne
They came, they sang, they danced, they conquered. If you were one of the
fortunate few who gained entry to Talent Search 2001 at the Navarangahala
last Saturday, organized for the second consecutive year by the Interact
Clubs of St. Bridget's Convent and Royal College, you'd know what this
is all about. For as always Talent Search proved to be a forum for all
those aspiring young artistes out there regardless of absolutely everything
except talent.
The preliminaries having been worked off on November 4, none but the
best performed on Saturday. Each competitor proved to be a hit with the
audience as was evident by the thunderous applause throughout the evening.
The programme began with an opening dance by Channa Wijewardene's Dance
Troupe - a feast for the eyes in the form of five young women dressed in
white aided by a calypso of Sri Lankan sounds.
The mood was enhanced by the Instrumental Category which included Angelo
De Silva of Royal Institute on piano, Nadine Samarasinghe also on piano
and 13-year-old Roshan Gunewardena of the College of World Education on
guitar.
Hats off to Angelo who was placed first - for a truly breathtaking and
emotional performance whilst Roshan came a close second.
The talent and ability of the four contenders in the Solo Singing category
was exceptional.
Up first was Nadeesha Wickramathilaka of Visakha Vidyalaya with a soul
rendering version of 'In the Arms of an Angel', followed by Umara Singhewansa
of Muslim Ladies' College with 'Against All Odds', Maheshika De Alwis of
the British School with 'I will always love you' and Nadine Samarasinghe
with 'Only one Road'.
Each contestant gave of her best but there could be only one winner,
as the judges proclaimed. And this year that honour fell on Maheshika,
with Umara placed second and Nadine third. The competitors' confidence
and stage presence augurs well for the Sri Lankan music scene.
The Talent Search also saw two new categories this year — Rap and DJ.
The DJ category had been worked off at the semis with DJ Dilruk being awarded
first place and he did his 'little bit' during the interval with the precision
of a professional.
To the uninitiated, Rap conjures images of a bunch of guys prancing
around muttering all kinds of meaningless nonsense.
Not quite, as I was to find out, for all rap contenders did things differently
and certainly with a lot of meaning.
First on stage were two guys from Alethea International School with
an original 'Ripping on Stage', for which they were placed second. Then
three students of St. John's College performed 'Until the end of Time'
and St. Peter's College came up with a 'Rap Medley' for which they won
first place.
Gayan Wijesinghe of Ananda College who strutted around on stage giving
the impression of being an 'official' performed an original rap track entitled
'Dance with Me', was placed third and dubbed 'terribly unofficial'!
Vying for a place in the Group Singing Category which was on next were
the students of Muslim Ladies' College, Visakha Vidyalaya, St. Peter's
College and St. Joseph's College.
Muslim Ladies performed a heartwarming version of 'Open your Heart',
Visakha Vidyalaya Seal's 'Kiss from a Rose' for which they bagged third
place and the Peterites a tried and tested interpretation of the famous
'When I need you' grabbing a second.
'Somebody to love' performed by the Josephians, with a far from amateur
band to support them, proved to be the winning formula of the evening.
(The Creators, is a new group which comprised three students from Isipathana
and one from Mahanama who used flutes, box guitars and a thammatama). The
organizers had saved the best for the last for finally on stage was the
Dance Category.
First up were two Trinitians from Kandy, and then three students of
Royal Institute dancing to the sounds of Bathiya and Santhush's 'Manusath
Kule' in true ethno style for which they were adjudged the winners. A 14-year-old
student of the College of World Education performing to the sounds of Michael
Jackson's `Smooth Criminal' earned third place, with three extremely agile
students of Zahira College calling themselves the `Notorious Boys' being
placed second.
The judges for the evening Shyama Perera, Kamalini Samarakone and Anil
Balasuriya were full of excitement and enthusiasm as they went on stage
to announce the winners.
The Interactors of St. Bridget's and Royal should be congratulated on
a 'job well done'.
The Interact Grammys as the event was called defied all boundaries and
as the judges said, "It truly was talent found".
Talent Search 2001 was sponsored by ACCA, co-sponsored by Data Management
Systems (DMS), National Lotteries Board and Edge Academy. The Sunday Times
was the media sponsor for the event. |
