A healing musical journey together
Mary Anne David and Mark Thrimawithana: Turned to music in their hour of personal loss. Pic by Sameera Weerasekera
There’s a poignant story behind the concert this weekend at ‘The Lighthouse’- the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies. “Those were the Days” presented by Mary Anne David and Mark Thrimawithana sees the renowned music teacher and her former pupil perform together in a concert that was scheduled to be held only on Saturday, August 31 but with tickets already sold out, a second show has been announced for Sunday, September 1 at the same venue.
After losing his wife Avanti to cancer in August 2017, Mark Thrimawithana, an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) coach found himself singing again under rather unusual circumstances. Visiting his former music teacher and famous vocal coach Mary Anne David after the death of her husband Andrew that December, his visit sparked a musical journey he never anticipated.
“I went to see Aunty Mary Anne and she asked me to sing. I said ‘no, I just came to see you’. She somehow pushed me to sing, so I sang ‘Anchor Holds’ – which I’ve been singing for the last 10 years so I thought I was good at it, but she stopped me and got me to redo the first two lines over and over. In my head I was thinking – ‘What is this? This isn’t what I came for’. The whole thing took about one and a half hours and then I went back home,” he says, adding that a few days later when he tried to sing he could feel the improvement and so he returned to Mary Anne.
Mark recalls that though Mary Anne told him he had an amazing voice, he didn’t believe it. That’s when she asked him to put 50% of his effort, and said that in return she would also put in 50% of her effort. “I thought 50% is something I can do because I know her 100% is beyond possible – you just can’t achieve it, so I’ll stick to 50%. That’s how we started and that 50% has really helped me break all my limitations,” he says.
The young ‘Merry-An’ singers with Aunty Mary Anne and Mark
Thus they both began a musical journey which helped them heal after the loss of their spouses. Their concert is both a tribute to their spouses and with the hope that their efforts will help others who have lost loved ones.
Avanthi was a special education teacher at the Overseas School of Colombo and taught music privately. A renowned thespian and director, Andrew David, Mary Anne’s husband, was instrumental in starting the well known ‘Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competition’ in Sri Lanka.
What began with Mary Anne simply asking Mark to sing a few lines soon evolved into regular singing practices. They explain that they were just singing for themselves at first – the idea for the concert came later.
As Avanthi used to have a ‘piano party’ for all her students every December, in 2018 Mark decided to have a tribute for Avanthi and Andrew at his residence – where he and Mary Anne both sang. The heartwarming response they received from friends and family who attended the tribute prompted them to hold this concert.
“We feel close to them when we sing,” explains Mary Anne, who says Andrew’s dying wish was for her to sing in public and she feels she must uphold his wishes.
Mary Anne says the concert will appeal to those who love the music of yesteryear – songs such as “Portrait of My Love”, “And I Love You So” and “The Way We Were”. She explains that the songs weren’t chosen because they are popular but rather because they helped her and Mark. While life after losing a loved one can feel incredibly difficult at times, one must not give up, they feel. “Have hope for a better day,” says Mark. “Each day you write on a different page so you should look forward not back,” adds Mary Anne.
“Those were the Days” will be held at the Lighthouse (Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute) on August 31 and September 1 at 7 p.m. Tickets are priced at Rs. 1500 and available at Noteworthy, 4 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7 or contact – Santhushi – 077 9250636 or Lihini -0768628205. The concert will also feature the young ‘Merry-An’ Singers.