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From Bach to
Bartok The string
orchestra includes nine violinists, one double bass player, two
cellists and three violas. Formed in 1981 with young professional
musicians from the European Union, the EUCO performs at international
festivals and prestigious halls, enjoying an annual schedule of
some 70 concerts. A recognised
cultural ambassador for the European Union, the orchestra tours
in Europe and overseas with an established international reputation
for musical excellence. This year's
performance will include German, British, Danish, French, Swedish,
Belgian and Finnish performers. A special feature of this concert
will be international class soprano, Preshanthi Navaratnam, a young
Sri Lankan residing in the U.K. in a solo performance accompanied
by the EUCO. Knut Zimmerman,
the guest director of this year's tour is the leader of the second
violins in the Berlin Staatskapelle and the German Chamber Orchestra.
Alongside his orchestral work, Knut is a passionate chamber music
player. A member of various ensembles in Berlin he specialized in
19th and 20th century French Music with the Jolivet Quartet. Amongst the
music to be performed is the Concerto for Two Violins in D minor,
composed by Bach. The last movement of this work is particularly
demanding technically of the soloists during the solo episodes.
The first movement is also extroverted and strong thematically.
The slow movement melody winds endlessly but beautifully over an
extroverted bass. Rumanian Dances
by Bartok will add to the modern element. Bartok allowed his compositions
to rely on natural musicianship and creative imagination. He tried
to absorb the native folk-heritage into his music. The Rumanian
Dances date from 1915 and were originally for piano and then orchestrated
in 1917 in both strings and full orchestral versions. A lone violin
singing a simple tune is contrasted with the sutti strings, which
are made to sound rough and unrefined, reflecting gypsy bands. The programme
also includes Handel's Arias Wher'ere you walk (From Semele), Lascia
ch'io pianga (Handel's Largo), Rejoice greatly (From Messiah). The
works of Dvorak, Respighi, Vivaldi and Mendelssohn are also included.
This year's tour to Sri Lanka has been made possible by the contribution of Prestige Automobiles (Pvt.) Ltd. Other sponsors include The Lanka Oberoi, Jetwing Travels, TNL Radio, Dynavision and The Sunday Times. The first two performances will be held at the Bishop's College auditorium on November 15 and 16 at 7.15 a.m. Box Plan and tickets are available at the auditorium. The group will then travel to Kandy for their third performance to be held at the Trinity College Hall on November 17. Tickets for the Kandy concert are available at the Swiss Residence, Kandy. Sweat
, toil and tears brought to life With Leel Gunasekera
and P.G. Punchihewa, I take a walk back to the early times of a
newly independent nation. Amidst the familiarity and banter between
two former civil servants I get a glimpse of the life and times
of the peasantry, who form the backbone of the country. Leel Gunasekera's
'Pethsama' (Petition) and P.G. Punchihewa's 'Ganabol Polowa' (Solid
Earth) have brought the reality of the toil and endurance of the
farmers, to thousands of readers across the country. For Leel Gunasekera,
joining the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service and becoming a GA was
a boyhood dream which he put down on paper in essay form under the
topic 'If I get a scholarship', when he was just 10 years old. As a young
adult he was also selected to the Foreign Service but the Civil
Service was more prestigious and exclusive. He was one of six who
joined up in 1957. The Civil Service sought the cream of the youth
at the time. Then came a two-year rigorous training period called
a cadetship, where the cadets did stints at the Treasury, different
departments, sat with judges as they would also have judicial powers
and learnt the ropes from the subject clerks of the kachcheris.
"There
were strict rules governing everyone those days. Even the GA required
special permission from the Permanent Secretary of the Home Ministry
under whom we served to come to Colombo. A Grama Niladhari couldn't
leave his division without the okay of his superior officer who
was the Divisional Revenue Officer (DRO)," says Mr. Gunasekera.
He recalls
how while serving in Mannar in 1957, he passed through Anuradhapura. "It was
just after the great flood of 1957 and I literally walked through
bodies in the kachcheri. Flood-affected men, women and children
were there in their hundreds, weeping and crying. That was the day
I wished I could work there. I also took a vow at the Sri Maha Bodhi,"
explained Mr. Gunasekera. His most poignant
memories are of the North Central Province. For P.G. Punchihewa,
the experiences which left an indelible mark came in the most impoverished
district of all - Moneragala. Joining the Civil Service three years
after Leel Gunasekera in 1960, he was one of eight in his batch.
"Soon
after, in 1963, the Civil Service became the Sri Lanka Administrative
Service," Mr. Punchihewa says, adding that it was never the
same thereafter. Even when he
went to Moneragala as GA in 1967, "the peasants were down".
Though it was a huge district, it was thinly populated. There were
only 165 schools and one hospital with just one doctor, no nurses,
only attendants. Road access
was extremely poor. To get to certain villages in the district one
had to come through Polonnaruwa, says the former GA. The people
were dependent on chena (slash-and-burn) cultivations. There was
no big irrigation scheme in the area though some rivers started
in the district. "Only 6,000 acres were under irrigated paddy.
The others were chenas and if the rains failed, so did the crops." Many, many
years after retirement from the Administrative Service, working
for different agencies here and abroad and winning awards for their
literary works, do they see a change in the lot of the hapless peasantry? The verdict
is unanimous - not much has changed. The peasants are still caught
in the same vicious circle of sweat, toil, tears and debt. |
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Ltd. All rights reserved. |
