SAWF hold musical concert
Women’s rights is a charged topic in many parts of our country but also in other countries as well especially in the Asian region. A group of women, wanting their voices to be heard began the South Asian Women’s Fund, a regional fund operating in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh with its base in Sri Lanka. They are now organising a musical concert to raise funds for their numerous causes, especially revolving around creating awareness among women about their access to justice in the face of violations of their rights.
“Blurring the Boundaries” will take place on October 28 at the Crystal ballroom in the Taj Samudra Hotel from 6.30 pm onwards. The show will feature an Indian duo on the violin, a tabla player as well as the folk music group Missing Links bringing together the western, eastern as well as Sri Lankan music together on one stage.
The duo on the violin is the famous mother and daughter, Minoti Khaund and Sunita Bhuyan from India. Daughter Sunita has been learning and playing under her mother for 32 years and has been performing alongside her mother for the past 25 years. In an interview done via e-mail, she spoke of how she came to do music even though her profession is something very far from aesthetics.
“My mother is a senior violinist and disciple of the maestro Pandit V.G. Jog. She didn’t give me any choice. I had to learn the violin, a very tough instrument for a young child. Though initially I started with a student in her class just for fun, suddenly I realised what I was getting into. Music became a part of my life and I went to do my masters in music alongside my MBA in Human Resources. My mother is a veteran teacher and she leaves no stone unturned to get the best out of her students. She kept telling me music will always help you in life no matter what you study and where you work. She was right though I took a long time to realise it then. I have been using music as a tool in my HR work for 17 years now.”
Sunita has always been a regular participant on the show. “I have earlier done classical, folk and fusion in the previous shows. As this is the third time and a section of the audience is the same I am happy to say that I’m doing an altogether different format- a duet with my mother. So we shall do a typical jugalbandi (duet) which shall showcase the age old tradition of “guru shishya parampara” and the dynamics of partnerships in music. We shall start with an Indian classical raga and then move on to a section on ‘universal 7 notes’ which demonstrate the musical patterns between the western and Indian classical through the fusion between a Mozart piece and an Indian raaga . We shall end our recital with a tribute to women’s power and “stree shakti” .Then maybe I would do a folk fusion piece with soul chants if time and energies permit.”
Sangeeth Nipun Peshala Manoj is a Lankan Tabla player who has studied in India under the renowned “Laknaw Garana”. Doing what he does best for more than 10 years, he has managed to master both the Indian and Sri Lankan styles of playing although the two are very different. He has performed all over the world and is hoping to do something rarely attempted before- a fusion of tabla and the piano. He will be supported by Senaka Dissanayaka on the piano and Nayana Karunathilaka on the guitar.
Playing Jazz, retro, country and acoustic rock ‘Missing Links’ have built an enormous audience base for the short six years they have been together. Suran, Alan, Hirantha and Heshan are all professionals in their respective fields, (three of them are doctors and yet they have come together under their one shared passion-music. They are glad to be apart of this show for a cause.
“We have partnered with SAWF for the past two years as well and it has been a great journey. It’s a great show for a good cause,” says the Director of Sales of Taj Samudra, Sujit Samant.
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