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WTF - Castle Hotel Tribute

Mar 16 2016.

What - Castle Hotel
Where - No 16, Masjidul Jamiah Road, Colombo 2
Who - Imaad Majeed
When - 29.02.16

Today on WTF I revisit the Castle Hotel. This mother of all buildings in Colombo was established back in 1875, with a history full of fun memories, and every man who had walked out of the place had been HAPPY. This has completed the look to Slave Island, and it is Colombo’s oldest drinking establishments. In the "Comfortable Rooms", you are sure to find used condoms! But the history and the majestic look of this building is what has won every one's heart, and food, fun and dance is an everyday process but sadly now it has been put to rest, and the fact that it welcomed everyone with no questions asked, and the charm of the place. The yellow ochre walls, the peeling plaster, the stench of urea leaking out of the toilets and into the bar made it an experience to remember.

On February 29, as this great building had to stop its business as it has been sold out to another company, some very special people came together just to give it a farewell that this fun place deserved. Speaking to Imaad Majeed he said “The curator of Colomboscope Radhika Hettiarachchi tasked me with organizing a night of performances in Sinhala, Tamil and English, to explore 'urban' music and poetry. She had chosen the Castle Hotel in Slave Island as it is a space that is frequented by the working class. We wanted to host an event that felt inclusive to all classes of people. With performers from Kottawa to Malabe, Nuwara Eliya to Kalmunai, we were able to bring together a cross-section of society,”

This event took place under the name Kacha Kacha, and Kacha Kacha was first held at the Castle Hotel bar in August 2015, as a part of Cinnamon Colomboscope. It had a mix of the castle 'regulars' and Colombo's young and hip looking for a new experience of urban space and urban music. The event was attended by over 100 patrons, 20-40 years of age. The ethos of Kacha Kacha is to showcase local artists performing in vernacular languages in non-traditional styles - Sinhala and Tamil rap, reggae, spoken word, acoustic baila to name a few. The other pre-requisite for a Kacha Kacha, an onomatopoeia for chatter, is that it be held in a local setting, that captures the charm and uniqueness of old Colombo. These locales are re-introduced to Colombo's young folk with the hope that, while urbanisation brings about slick new bars, it can also become a hybrid city ensuring the survival of locations such as the Castle Hotel to add to the city's character. Conceived by Radhika Hettiarachchi for Cinnamon Colomboscope, Kacha Kacha is curated by Imaad Majeed.

As I walked down the now silent corridors of the Castle Hotel with an unbearable smell of cat urine, I asked Imaad how this final event came into action. He says “With the Castle Hotel soon to be surrendered to the UDA, I was contacted by their staff. They requested that we host the show one last time in celebration of Castle Hotel, and to bid farewell to the bar. Over time we've come to get to know the staff, and they have looked forward to each event, with regulars always wanting to know when the next one would be held”

On the 29th, as this building had its final dance for now, it hosted an audience of 200 and everyone explored the space and embraced its final moment but made the best of this sad day. The night closed with Amila Sandaruwan belting out the anthemic hit song 'John Cena', which brought everyone together singing along and dancing the night away.