'Bawa Sayura' : New theme
The story of "Bawa Sayura" is woven around several mysterious incidents
that are unravelling with the return of a man after twenty years of imprisonment,
and telecast every Thursday on ITN channel.
This twenty two episode miniplay is directed by Birmin Lyeli Fernando
to the production of Senerath Jayawardena.
"Sudu Appo", the protagonist returns to his village after long imprisonment.
On the way to his Walawwa he meets Mangalika, newly appointed teacher to
the village school. With the appearance of 'Sudu Appo' Mangalika's goes
memory back to her previous birth and this sudden meeting brings back the
memory of her untimely death, which was murder. She realises that Sudu
Appo was her lover in her previous birth.
Meanwhile Mangalika who faces numerous problems in her life falls in
love with another teacher in the same school.
Leading a peaceful life Sudu Appu comes to know about sudden death of
his own sister. Investigating into the death he discovers that Navaratne,
his sister's husband was responsible for her death. He also tries to look
for his son whom he lost twenty years ago. With the unravelling of these
mysteries "Bawa Sayura" reaches its end.
The stellar cast of the teledrama includes Jayantha Ketagoda, Palitha
Silva, Cletus Mendis, Gayana Sudarshani, Vindya Madushankani and G. R.
Perera. Camera direction by Norbert Rathnasiri, P. Kanchana Amerathunge
edited "Bawa Sayura".
Shaa FM: New channel
'Shaa FM' is the latest radio Channel to hit the Sri Lankan skies.'Shaa
FM' is a part of ABC Radio Network.
ABC Radio Networks was launched in 1999. Since its launch, the channels
have captured a large segment of listenership and have become one of the
most popular channels in Sri Lanka in all three languages.
Shaa FM new dimension in entertainment with the best Sinhala and Hindi
music was launched on January 21.
Shaa FM with its unique identity caters to the masses mainly "Young
at Heart" with driving aspirations. Shaa FM will play a blend of both Hindi
and Sinhala music selected to give our listeners the maximum entertainment
any time of the day. SHAA will also dedicte tones to the easy listeners.
But we will always stand by our tagline "Hindi - Baila Non Stop" 24 hours
a day.
Shaa FM will also broadcast up to date news six times a day. The news
is segmented into Local, International, Business, Sports and Entertainment.
There are also other feature programmes throughout the day, for instance,
on Saturday we play the Hindi Top 20 and on Sundays Shaa plays the Baila
Top 20 adding a new innovative dimension to the station.
Sirasa's Kingsley weds
Kingsley Ratnayake, the director of Sirasa FM tied his nuptial knot on
January 16. Kingsley is the major force behind the Sirasa Radio when it
started and is one of the popular figures in their TV channel Sirasa TV,
which started three year sago. Kingsley married his long standing girl
friend Ruwanmali Weerasinghe. Pic by Mettasena
Gold FM Golden Ball
Gold FM kept all its promises and lived up to expectations when they hosted
the most elegant ball of 2001 - the Gold FM Golden Ball at the King's Court
Trans Asia Hotel. The tickets were sold out and all who attended enjoyed
a night of true elegance with fine food and entertainment.
The solid gold sounds of In Harmony and Gold FM DJ's helped usher in
the new year in true Gold FM style. The Gold FM Golden Ball has developed
a following with the top end of the market and is the ultimate choice of
individuals who appreciate the finer things in life.
Noel fights for music rights
The long absence of Noel Brian Ranasinghe of La Ceylonians from the local
music scene was mainly because of Noel's refusal to take orders from the
organisers who wanted him to do things their own way., Noel says
Noel who was not encouraged to use his vocal group, and do the songs
he wanted, was left out of the scene he created and built, which saw the
birth, and success, of many groups and artistes in calypso style.
When the Sinhala vocal groups faced difficulties, it was the efforts
of Noel Brian Ranasinghe that came forward to help and save them.
According to Noel, he forfeited ten recordings which were offered to
him, to help the groups, encouraging originals, and a new style, which
became a great success here and abroad. Because of all his efforts to help
and save the groups, Noel came to be hailed as the father of the Sinhala
vocal groups, and later as 'king' of Calypso in Sri Lanka.
Despite giving Sri Lanka tremendous publicity with his style and songs,
Noel was let down in the end.
'Many used my creations for their benefit, even some of my songs were
reproduced throughout the years and subject to re-mixing, and derogatory
treatment and my appeals for help were totally ignored' he said.
Composers on this end are doomed, says Noel, whose 'works' are forcefully
used and owned by others. 'Copyright' is a big force over here lemented
Noel, who blamed the British authorities for their failure to help him.
'We have a NIPV over here which is just a showpiece, powerless to act
and help the composers' he added. Noel blamed the British Government for
ignoring all his oppeals for help in a case of misrepresentation involving
their Department of trade who sided with PRS and MOPS of London which Noel
claims membership with them since 1978. Noel has been involved in a long
fight to save composers. He also blames WIPV and UNESCO for its roles in
protection of 'copyright', the latter for making easy access to the 'works'
of the creators to be used by others. "Composers should be free to use
their creations, instead of being dictated to," says Noel, who is strongly
opposed to the time limits etc., forced on the property rights of the composers.
'Copyright' which is also a "Human Right" is no longer recognised, and
it is the composer who suffers, says Noel, who has now recorded his songs
in an effort to keep his music and style alive.
His recent cassette ' Sing Sing Sing Be Happy'contains his music which
makes a word of a difference in an era dominated by the marvels of technology
and computers, which dominates the music scene.
Noel is confident that the real "live" sounds, and "oldies" will once
again surface and fill the scene which is now polluted with the sounds
of technology music, which is unreal and not natural.
The true live sounds could never be conducted, says Noel who still fights
on.
Impact of Tobacco and alcohol
A book titled Impact of Tobacco and Alcohol Advertisements on Children
was launched at JAIC Hilton Hotel on the 19th of last month at 4.00 p.m.
This book has been written by Manjari Peiris, a freelance journalist, sponsored
by WHO and was published by ADIC.
The Guests of Honour at this ceremony were Dr. Kan Tun, WHO Representative
to Sri Lanka, Mr. Terje Heggernes, Director General FORUT, Norway and the
Chairperson of Alcohol & Drug Information Centre. The keynote address
was made by Dr. Nandana Karunanayake, a Media Consultant.
This book attempts to create awareness of the harm caused by advertisements
to the lives of children and what measures should be taken up against this
trend. It also tried to motivate parents and other parties responsible
for children's welfare to counteract promotions of the industries. The
myths regarding the use of tobacco and alcohol and the factors which promote
to use them are explained.
It is also expected to create awareness among media people about the
harm created by tobacco, alcohol and other drugs and to persuade them to
take preventive measures such as deglamourization and demystification of
the use of such products.
Arrangements have been made to distribute copies of this book free of
charge to organizations who are fighting against tobacco and alcohol use
throughout the world. |