A rare Guitar Concert by maestro and disciples | ‘Andante to Allegro’
Experienced classical and fleminco guitarist and guitar lecturer Amaranath Ranatunga and his students will come alive with yet another concert named ‘Andante to Allegro’ at 3.30 pm on December 14 at New Town Hall (Green path), Nelum Pokuna Mawatha, Colombo 7. A two-hour show will include as many as 14 guitar melodies played as solos, duets, trios (three), seven and nine guitarists. ‘These types of concert are rare and our main aim of this effort is to create an audience and promote classical guitar among Sri Lankan music lovers,” Amaranath Ranatunga, an expert and academic on Classical and Fleminco guitar said.
The concert presented by Mr. Ranatunga and ‘the rest of the Finger Tips’ which refers to 20 undergraduates who are reading for the degree at the University of the visual Performing Arts will also be performed in Jaffna on December 22. “Sri Lankan music is limited to songs but music is much more than that. It’s a universal language that goes beyond language barriers. This is why we have been invited to Jaffna,” Mr. Ranatunga said.
“There is a dire need of musicians in this country. There are so many singers but only a few musicians and what we want is to introduce more musicians to this country,” he added.
Studied classical guitar under the tutelage of foreign guitarists likes American classical guitarist Mervyn Sanders, Mexican flamenco guitarist, Fredric Bruno and Sri Lankan Indrani Silva since 1960s, Mr. Ranatunga is the first Sri Lankan to lecture on the Classical and Flamenco Guitar in an university, (University of the visual Performing Arts, Colombo 07) and also the first Asian to develop a syllabus for classical and flamenco guitar for the four year BA degree-Bachelor of Performing Arts. Mr. Ranatung also created Sri Lanka’s first ringing tone for mobile phones and it is titled ‘Deep in Emotion’. The tickets for Andante to Allegro priced at Rs. 500 and Rs 200 are available at the gate.