“Dream, dream, dream…the only trouble is I’m dreaming my life away” sang the ‘Revelations’, an award-winning all-male choir.
The nine men also harmonized to perfection the Nimal Mendis hit song “Master Sir” with its poignant lyrics “Aney Sir, mata himi thana denna” (Sir, please give me my due place). Then they sang “Yellow Bird” popularized by ‘The Kingston Trio.’
The show was titled “A Celebration of Music” and was held on Saturday, 9 June 2012 at the Jeremias Dias Hall of Visakha Vidyalaya. The proceeds of the show which was organized by the Visakha Vidyalaya Old Girls’ Association (VVOGA), will go towards urgent renovations of the school hall.
The spectacle also featured past Visakhians like pianist Geethika Chandrasiri with her practiced light touch and guitarist Samadhi Tennakoon. They played together and the group Dawn’s hit song “Knock Three Times” came alive with their expertise.
Then came the “Menaka Singers”, an opera ensemble under the tutelage of Menaka de Fonseka Sahabandu, and the choir sang selections from the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The seven women and four men in the choir harmonized “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and moved rhythmically to the strains of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, ending with “A New Day Has Begun”.
Past Visakhian Avanti Perera then sang a solo. She too sang “A New Day Has Begun”. It was a pity that the choir stole some of her thunder by singing the same song earlier. Avanti’s mellifluous voice flowed over the footlights as she next sang “New York, New York” complete with actions as she kicked to the tune of “These vagabond shoes…”
The second half of the show began with the Senior Choir of Visakha Vidyalaya well trained and accompanied by Vinod Senadeera on the piano. They moved together and sang the ABBA hit “Does Your Mother Know?” followed by “Knowing me, Knowing you”, “THE winner takes it all” and “Honey honey”with the audience clapping along.
Then came past Visakhian Manojie Gunasekera who played the violin accompanied by well-known musician Sureka Amarasinghe on the piano.
Samadhi the guitarist and Geethika the pianist joined forces again and played “Kandy Lamissi” with the audience clapping along.
The show ended with “The Revelations” coming back on stage to sing John Lennon’s immortal song “Imagine.” This was followed by “My kisses, steal my kisses” with audience participation and after that came Sinhala pop favourites like “Mango kalu nanday”, “Nalavena mau ukulay” and “Sudu menikay”.
True to their word, their last song “She’s got diamonds on the soles of her shoes” was catchy but an anticlimax.
Life Online spoke to
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Mrs. Sandamali Aviruppola, Principal of the school and the President of the VVOGA, who said, “I think it was a very good and glamorous show and we hope this type of project will continue. The Jeremias Dias Hall is in need of a considerable amount of renovation and refurbishment. This concert is the second in a series of fundraisers for the project.” |
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Piyum Perera said, “I think the lineup was excellent and I am proud to call myself a Visakhian.” |
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Her husband Rukshan Perera is a singer himself and said, “It’s lovely that they got the “Revelations” to sing for this show. All of us enjoy their arrangements and harmonies. Also Visakha has always had a lot of talent and I enjoy their performances.” |
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Mangala Goonewardena said, “I am an Old Girl and I came to support the school and think that it was well worth it.”
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Srimathi Jayasuriya said, “I think it’s good to see the talent of the past Visakhians and it’s good to give them an opportunity to perform in their old school.”
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Mangala Samarakoon said, “Avanti was excellent with beauty, brains and talent all going together.” |
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(Review by Sirohmi Gunesekera)
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