Untitled Document

Model: Kumuda
Pic. by Anuruddha Medawattegedera

Contents

Wrapping up the hits

Meet Thoshan Ediriwira, the soon-to-be VJ of the Wrap Top Ten. Music is nothing alien to him for, ever since he left school, Thoshan has been dealing with nothing but music.

Thoshan was first employed at Yes FM where he presented the Super Fax request programme for 14 months. After that, it was on to E-FM where he was given the task of presenting the Morning Drive Time Show for over a year. It was after this that he decided to head on over to the Wrap Factory.

"There's a very limited array of programmes that one can present on the radio," says Thoshan, when asked why he chose to move over.

"Television is much more of a challenge, it's way more technical and complicated."

He feels that unlike radio, TV goes one step further since the viewer can put a 'face to the voice'. "It's a better relationship to build."

By Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne

Fact - everyone loves music, but though we can boast of a great number of radio stations there really are no good English music programmes produced in Sri Lanka that we can look forward to on television.

The Wrap Factory, producers of 'Benchmark', have decided to take matters into their own hands. So starting on June 19 will be the Wrap Top Ten, a countdown of the best of English music videos hitting the airwaves.

"It's a magazine programme," says Thoshan Ediriwira, the VJ, laughing at my bemused expression. "The programme has a magazine like quality - where there are so many mini segments going on throughout."

So how are they going to decide on the Top Ten? He says that thanks to the abundance of radio stations in the country, one can rate the songs on their popularity. They also hope to get feedback from various people dealing with music. Another method that they hope to utilize is the 'auditorium test', where listeners will be called into an auditorium and asked to listen to a range of songs. At the end of the test they will be asked to name any song that stuck in their minds - hence picking the song that has the greatest impact on them.

Amongst the mini segments that Thoshan spoke of is a three minute in-depth analysis of a musician. 'The Wrap Personality of the Week' as it is to be called will cover not only the life story but also other little bits of interesting information about the artiste.

Another of their innovative ideas is the Hit on the Horizon. This will be a music video that has not yet hit the charts but which the producers believe will turn heads in the weeks to come. This song will then be presented to various groups to analyse.

The Wrap Factory also hopes to make the programme popular, not just in Sri Lanka, but in the region as well. The Wrap Top Ten will be telecast every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. on Channel Eye.

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