Mirror
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Singing
for the people Featuring over 300 artistes from all three music industries, the concert to be held at the Reid Avenue (Race Course) Grounds from 7 p.m. onwards, is billed to be a sure hit! Proceeds will go towards the musicians’ fund of ‘The One Trust’, a charity involved in post tsunami relief work. All the musicians in the country wanted to do something to help with the relief effort, said Chris Dhason, (better known as CJ from Wildfire). However, initially everyone was making individual contributions but eventually realised that they could do so much more if they join forces, he added. The core committee had their first meeting in January and decided to get all the local artistes involved in this project and to try and finalise the venue. The venue was a problem from the word go, as most of the venues were quite expensive to book, especially because cutting costs was the main motive. So they finally settled on the Race Course Grounds after about a month of venue hunting. Thereafter, they had set about the huge task of organising the concert. From advertising in all three languages, to finding sponsors, finding lights and sound equipment etc., “Luckily for us Karu volunteered to give the sound equipment free, Q&E Advertising helped with the designing of the advertisements and Vasula form ‘Dream Works’ helped with the TV trailer, so we managed to cut our costs further,” said Chris. “There has been a lot of criticism levelled at the local music industry for taking so long to organise a fund-raiser for the tsunami relief effort,” said Chris adding, “trust me, it’s no cake walk.” It’s easy to organise a concert abroad because they have concert promoters who put everything together and all the artistes are left to do is to go perform. “Therefore, we can’t compare the west with our country because we don’t have the necessary infrastructure in place here and so, the artistes themselves have to take time off their busy schedules to make the concert happen,” he said. The concert will have a carnival type atmosphere with refreshment stalls, giant screens and the works, he said. Some of the proceeds, via the musicians fund will be directed to the Sunera Foundation towards psychological therapy for the children affected by the tsunami, he explained. The rest of the proceeds will be channelled to numerous schools around the island, to furnish and purchase relevant equipment and material needed by them. Transparency will be given high priority in the carrying out of this project, as an auditing firm will be overseeing the accounts and the website too will have a breakdown of expenses, he said. “On the day following the tsunami, I think every musician in our country, wherever they were, whatever music industry they belonged to, wanted to do something to help the cause,” said Damian Wikkramatillake. As it would defeat the purpose if they had to use part of the proceeds to cover the costs of the show, all the musicians had gone in search of sponsors. Quite by chance, Damian had been in conversation with his friend Ranjit Page, who had immediately jumped at the idea and said “Let’s do it, come meet me tomorrow.” That’s how the ‘One Trust Fund’ came to be the main partner for the concert, he said. Some of the younger bands such as Ezra, Sparks, Sound Journey, Jada, Brass Monkey Band and Centigradz too will be performing at this concert, as we wanted everyone to be a part of this huge project, said Damian. They had then invited the oriental music industry to join hands with the western music industry to help make this concert a sure success. They had readily agreed and the two industries have been working very closely together for the first time, everyone’s joined forces to work towards one common goal, he said. Furthermore, all the artistes will be performing free of charge, he said. With regards to the proceeds, both the musicians and the One Trust Fund will identify specific deserving projects within the schools and monitor the funds in order to ensure it’s proper utilisation, he said. “Having heard of the numerous concerts organised around the world, we too wanted to organise a mega fundraiser concert,” said Rukshan Perera. There will be a variety of music performed at this show, he said. From original compositions written for those affected by the tsunami, to existing songs related to the disaster, popular oldies and contemporary music, the concert hopes to cater to a wide audience. The repertoire for the oriental concert too would feature familiar tunes sung by the many popular artistes taking the stage. Among the artistes performing at the Western Music Concert would be, Clifford Richards, Antoinette De Alwis, Corrine De Almeida, Ginger, Glen Terry, Déjà Vu, Charles Mark, Revelation, Dream Team, Phase III and Mirage. A-22-piece orchestra will back artistes of the Oriental Concert, in the likes of Indranie Perera, Rajiv Sebastian, Saman, Athula & Samitha, La Ceylonians, Latha Walpola and Nirosha Virajini, to name a few. Producer of the concert, Noeline Honter, speaks about the grand opening song “Love o Love!” performed by about 20 artistes and 30 children from choirs across the city. All the artistes involved in this item have been hard at rehearsals to perfect the song, she stressed. There has been a lot of enthusiasm and co-operation by all the artistes of all three music industries taking part in this show, says Noeline. For instance, Desmond De Silva will be flown down from London, courtesy of SriLankan Airlines especially for the show, Manilal Perera and many other artistes and bands stayed on after their vacations especially to perform at this concert, she said. “I must say a big ‘thank you’ to all the musicians taking part in this concert for all the time, energy and effort taken to help make this concert a reality” said Noeline emphatically. Rupavahini Corporation and ABC Radio are the Official Media Sponsors for this concert. Tickets will be available at all Cargills, Torana outlets and Clancy’s Irish Pub. |
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