• Maiden CD from Golden Chimes
• 'Sivu Seta': New look programme
• 'SRI LANKA..... A LAND LIKE NO OTHER.......
• 'Stigmata'in action at Rock Cafe
• Sir Arthur to present Oscars
• 'Suseta Mayam' : Story of two girls in an asylum

Maiden CD from Golden Chimes

This CD will comprise of sixteen songs and will be released under Torana label. 

Golden Chimes celebrated their 30th Anniversary last year with a grand musical extrvaganza. The new CD, which is also the part of celebrations, will feature some of their greatest hits including. 'Kimada Nawe', 'Molaketi Putuni', 'Sihin Sinawai', 'Dalada Perahera', 'Sithum Nil Diye', 'Adara Akka Vethai' etc. Also some of their new creations will be featured on this CD. 

"Even the new songs will also be in the line of Seventies group song style because we do not want to disturb our image" said Lankika , the female vocalist of the band.

The lyrics and music of 'Sihin Sinawai' by Clarence Wijewardena and the lyrics and music of 'Molaketi Puthuni','Perahera', and 'Adereyak Akka Vethai' were by Rev. Lakpriya Peiris 

"I was performing as the bass guitarist of Moonstones since 1967 to 1970. In 1970 Clarence and I decided to break away from Moonstones and form a new band That was the beginning of Golden Chimes" said Chanaka Perera , the leader of the Golden Chimes. Golden Chimes led by Chanaka and Clarence released their first audio cassette in 1971 under 'Sooriya' Label including the songs 'Kimada Nawe', 'Mage Pelpathe', 'Sihin Sinawa'and 'Samanalayo'

The new songs on 'Kimada Nawe' CD are written by Lucky Deva and Dilukshi. 

Golden Chimes now compreises of Chanaka Perera, Lankika Perera, Jagath Devapriya, Lucky Deva, Shiraz Sudar and Disnake Dhanasekera.

'Sivu Seta': New look programme

'Sivu Seta', the latest programme from 'Young Asia Television' is a different style of TV programme .

The first episode was screened last Friday (!6/3/2001) on Channel EYE.

Every programme is produced on a special subject solely taken for that purpose only and it has been able to bring out the essence of the fine stories attached to it.

The title 'Sivu Seta' is derived from the traditional Sinhalese culture concept of the sixty-four artistic forms. These forms include dance, music, poetry, song, craft, drama, martial arts, painting, sculpture and culinary skills.

The producers said that as its name suggests, Sivu Seta makes use of a broad palette covering both traditional and contemporary arts. The subject is not confined to Sri Lanka stories but are drawn from both national and international sources- to present a canvas that is both colourful and meaningful.

'SRI LANKA..... A LAND LIKE NO OTHER.......

After years of trying to defend the country's hospitality from bad international press and adverse travel advisories, the Ceylon Tourist Board(CTB), on Monday takes a new step towards a new vision on Lankan tourism.

The catch phrase "Sri Lanka - paradise on Earth," is paving the way to a more down to earth "Sri Lanka — a land like no other" as part of a major shift in the CTB's campaign to entice foreign holiday makers to look beyond the beaches in Sri Lanka.

International airlines have been pulling out steadily with the Russian airline Aeroflot the latest to withdraw from Sri Lanka. The airline is to close shop in April after operating a service here since 1964. "We are at the threshold of a major crisis,"said Udaya Nanayakkara, the president of the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka.

He said it was the restrictive aviation policy that was hurting the industry."To get a seat to Colombo has become virtually impossible because of the constraints the government has put in place on international airlines coming into the country."Nanayakkara said the country's national carrier Sri Lankan airlines, which is partly owned and fully managed by Emirates of Dubai,was responsible for foreign airlines pulling out of Colombo.

Protecting the commercial interests of Sri Lankan airlines has restricted foreign airlines's operation, yet the national airline was unable to meet the growing traffic demand,Nanayakkara said.The CTB agreed. Chairman Renton de Alwis said it was not only the restrictive bilateral air agreements, but also the high cost of ground handling charges at Sri Lanka's only international airport that was encouraging airlines to flee. Kuwait airways was axing one of its three weekly flights to Colombo while Saudi Air was replacing its Boeing 747 plane with the smaller777 aircraft, Nanayakkara said.He said the two Gulf airlines cutting back would alone reduce the number of seats to Colombo by 784.

The withdrawal of Aeroflot would take another 500 seats.Officials said it would be difficult for Sri Lanka to achieve its target of 450,000 tourists this year, up from 400,000 last year, with the exodus of airlines. Nanayakkara said the government had agreed to examine a possible revamp of the restrictive aviation policies and open up the island's airspace. The travel industry is trying hard to encourage British Airways, Air France, KLM,Sabena and Swiss air to resume flights to Colombo.

Nanayakkara said he saw no reason why foreign governments should publicise travel warnings when their own diplomats were seen holidaying in the island's north-eastern Trincomalee coast, in an area where rebels are known to have staged attacks. "If the Trincomalee coast is safe for diplomats, it surely must be safe for others to visit the rest of the country," he said.

'Stigmata'in action at Rock Cafe

'Stigmata' comprises six schoolboys, who are into rock music, started a year ago. The boys have already gained a name in rock circle in Colombo and other areas and performed in number of top events including 'The Battle of the Bands' sponsored by TV Times.

The band comprises Andrew Obeysekera on lead guitar, Tennyson Nepoleon on guitar, Sheham Grey on bass guitar and vocals, Suresh de Silva on lead vocals, Shamir Hussain on guitar and keyboard and Anick on drums.

'We compose our own music. We have released two of our original songs to radio' said Suresh, the band leader.

'Fear' and 'She Saved Me', the two original songs have received airplay on TNL radio.

'We are working on our debut album and hope to release it by the end of this year. We do not want to disturb our studies too. Music and studies are though not so similar in term, we are trying best to do the both and we are already succeeded' he explained.

They are influenced by 'Rolling Stones', 'Iron Maiden', 'Metalica', 'Creed', 'Godsmark' etc.

The Rock Cafe show will be a special night for 'Stigmata' as well as rock fans.

Sir Arthur to present Oscars

Sir Arthur will present the nominations and the winner in the category of best Screenplay based on material previously produced or published.

The awards ceremony will take place on today at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium, with Steve Martin as the host and a galaxy of film stars, film-makers and industry leaders in attendance. This foremost event of the motion picture industry will be broadcast live on television around the world, and seen by hundreds of millions of people.

Sir Arthur, who is now completely wheel-chaired owing to Post Polio Syndrome, is unable to join the occasion in person. His presentation was filmed in advance in Colombo earlier this month.

"I quite enjoyed recording my presentation," says Sir Arthur. "But even I don't know how the winner will be. I had to record five video clips presenting each nominee as the winner. I hope they'll play the right one that night!"

The Academy's nominations for best screenplay based on material previously published or produced are shared by "Chocolat," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "O Brother, Where Art Thou," "Traffic," and "Wonder Boys." More that 5,000 Academy members pick the nominees in a total of 23 categories, and 242 films were eligible for consideration this year.

Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick shared an Oscar nomination in 1969 for the best screenplay for their outstanding creation 2001: A Space Odyssey. Although it did not win that particular Oscar, 2001 is widely acknowledged as the best science fiction movie ever made, and is often included in the top ten movies of all time.

'Suseta Mayam' : Story of two girls in an asylum

By Susitha R. Fernando

Lecturer in Mass Communication at the Kelaniya University Dr. Athugala has directed three teledramas namely "Siththara Gurunanse" as his maiden story around an artist in a traditional village, "Ramya Nagaraya", an adaptation of Henrik Ibson's "Public Enemy" as the second attempt and "Thunbiya" portraying a tale on harassment faced in the society as the third. His latest "Suseta Mayam" is a story about two girls and a mental hospital.

A girl oppressed by social circumstances loses her mental balance is admitted to a mental hospital. The second girl in an attempt to rescue the friend from hospital seeks admission to the asylum and undergoes a medical treatment. Friends are prevented from meeting each other. The sixteen episode teledrama unfolds a story of distress in reality.

"Devi" and "Dammi" were class mates and are buddies. As time passed certain sudden changes began taking place in Dammi's life but escaped the attention of others. Even her best friend Devi could not realise it. Leaving school the friends drift apart and does not meet for some time. But Devi who had become a journalist suddenly hears some unfortunate news about her friend. She was being admitted to a mental hospital due to certain habitual changes the reason for which no one could identify. When every one is definite of Dammi's mental situation, Devi holds a view contrary to what others say and discusses the problem with her boyfriend "Saman".

The story takes an unexpected turn when Devi too is found suffering from a mental ailment and finds herself to admitted to the hospital where her friend is undergoing treatment.

Though living under the same roof in the hospital, Devi's attempts to meet her companion fails. Faced with different obstacles Devi is misunderstood by her boyfriend who accuses her of pretending to be a mental patient and she almost sacrifices her boy friend for the sake of finding her best friend.

Living a life of a warded mental patient, some of the stories Devi hears in the hospital are humorous while some are pathetic and humane.

Opposed to certain injustices taking place in the hospital at certain times she boldly begins to fight against them. Devi once manages to leak these to a newspaper and this causes a mess in the hospital.

With all these barriers she finally manages to find her friend but is faced with the problem of identity. Would this make Devi stop her attempt to make her realize the dead friendship? Included in the cast is the highly acclaimed actor Joe Abewickrama and equally talented Irangani Serasinghe.

'Suseta Mayam' will be telecast on Swarnavahini every Thursday at 9.00 pm.

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