From La Vie En Rose, to Olu Pipila, Karoshee sang for the children
Karoshee: Music for a cause
On February 23, Karoshee Vijayasekere serenaded a packed hall at the Waters Edge, marking her sixth solo concert. ‘Karoshee Live in Colombo’ raised funds for Karoshee Trust Children, an organisation she started aged 14 to help children affected by the tsunami.
Karoshee has been musical since she was young, with performances alongside names like the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andrea Boccelli as a child. She has travelled extensively as the child of diplomat parents, experiencing the musical communities of countries like France and Cuba. She currently resides in Canada.
At the Waters Edge, where her sixth solo concert took place, Karoshee presented a succinct programme of ten items she handpicked with the preferences of her audience in mind. Opening with Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose, she moved onto numbers like Sway by Pablo Beltran and Luis Demetrio, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and Fina Estampa by Chabuca Grande. The performer seemed most at home singing her beloved classical, choosing Bizet’s Habanera from the opera Carmen. The show closed with Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water followed by a subtly classical rendition of ‘Olu Pipila’.
Karoshee also spoke eloquently about her work over the last few years, explaining how a concert that aimed to raise funds for children just after the 2004 tsunami evolved into a more long term effort. Beneficiaries of the scholarships awarded have now begun their careers in the professional sector, she noted. This concert raised funds for children in Vadamaarachchi in Jaffna.
The show ended on a bright note, when three youngsters-beneficiaries of the initial fundraising drives after the tsunami-took to the stage to thank Karoshee and her family for their untiring efforts on their behalf. “One day, we hope to do the same thing as you,” they told her, in a short speech that had the singer beaming off stage, promising to carry her work forward.