Category Archives: art & allure bewitching

December 26, 2023 · 12:37 am

X’mas Gatherings: Thomian Cricket Legends and Dilmah Plantation Execs

Dilmah Night of Plantation Veterans” .. …. in The Island, 24 December 2023… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Jayantha, Anura & Vernon

Anura Gunasekera 

The elegant Dutch Burgher Union premises was the venue for the annual Planters’ Christmas Dinner, hosted by Dilmah, following a tradition set in place in 2017 by its patriarch, the late Merrill J Fernando. A man with a life-long passion for Pure Ceylon Tea, which contributed much to the success of Dilmah, the hosting of this gathering was his way of honouring the contribution to the industry made by the men, often convenientl

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December 24, 2023 · 6:02 pm

Galgiriya Mountain and Its Unique Monastic Ruins

Prageeth Sampath Karunathilaka, in Daily Mirror, 20 December 2023, where the title reads thus: “Longest mountain in Sri Lanka: How Saliya-Asokamala shaped the history of Galgiriya Mountain” ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Galgiriya mountain seen from afar

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December 24, 2023 · 9:38 am

For the People of GAZA … “Little Drummer Boy”

Web Item conveyed by Dr Firazath Hussain of Wellawatte, Colombo

From Ramallah Friends School to the world, we share our version of the timeless “ Little Drummer Boy.” Our hearts come together in prayer for the safety of the children in Gaza. May our shared prayers echo for peace and justice, weaving a tapestry of hope that goes beyond borders, embracing the shared humanity we all hold dear……… 162,402 views Dec 4, 2023   ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsEbIVJy0Gg    

 

 

 

 

 

A NOTE from One Thuppahi, 24 December 2023:   

“I cried ….. tears came naturally …. especially when the WEB decided on its own to present a rendering of DANNO BUDUNGE sung by Kishani Jayasinghe …..  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plaKsOtC3b8    

….   then more tears welled.

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December 23, 2023 · 7:25 pm

Palestinian Muslims & Israeli Jews in ‘Concert Unity’ at Haifa in Mid-2020

Item sent to Thuppahi by Jayantha Somasundaram, A Sri Lankan Friend in Canberra, December 2023

Matthew Paul Miller, known by his Hebrew and stage name Matisyahu, is an American Jewish reggae singer. In this concert in Haifa he asked 3,000 Muslims and Jews (none of whom had met before) to come together and learn the song “One Day” by Matisyahu in under an hour.  They learned how to sing and harmonise the lyrics in three different languages.

The resulting concert, which was made in collaboration with Beit HaGefen, the Haifa Municipality, and the Port of Haifa, is a breathtaking display of unity and beauty. 

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December 19, 2023 · 12:02 am

A Revolutionary Architect: Minnette De Silva

Randima Attygalle, in DailyFT, 30 November 2023, where the title runs thus: “Celebrating A Revolitonary Housing Feat” ..… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Endorsed by the World Monuments Fund, a first for Sri Lanka, ‘88 Acres’, the latest exhibition by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA) resurrects the Watapuluwa Housing Scheme in Kandy, a forgotten watershed in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka that heralded a new form of social housing here at home. ‘88 Acres’ explores how this sprawling hillside development completed in 1958, was ahead of its time in providing affordable accommodation for a diverse ethno-religious community of public servants in Sri Lanka. The exercise is also a celebration of its unsung designer Minnette de Silva, Sri Lanka’s first woman architect, the first Asian woman to be elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and one of the two women in the world at that time to have an architecture practice in her own name.

 

From left: MMCA Sri Lanka Assistant Curator Thinal Sajeewa, Chief Curator Sharmini Pereira, and Assistant Curator Ritchell Marcelline

 

 

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December 17, 2023 · 8:11 pm

Minnette’s “88 Acres” Watapoluwa Housing Scheme reaches World Heights

An Item in the Sunday Island, 17 December 2023, entitled “World Monuments Fund officially endorses ‘88 Acres’ by the MMCA Sri Lanka”…. placed on web a few days back & in the Island as https://island.lk/world-monuments-fund-officially-endorses-88-acres-by-the-mmca-sri-lanka/

World Monuments Fund (WMF), the leading global independent organisation devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places, has officially endorsed the exhibition titled ‘88 Acres: The Watapuluwa Housing Scheme by Minnette De Silva’ by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka). The exhibition is currently on display at the museum on the ground floor of Crescat Boulevard, Colombo 3, and will be open to the public until 7 July 2024.

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December 17, 2023 · 11:46 am

“Mary’s Boy Child” conveyed in Cerebral South Asian Dance

With Thanks to FELIX SIRIMANNE extended by Thuppahiya …. for leading us to this Celebration of the Christmas Message in a Performative South Asian Mode of “cerebral’ character

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December 16, 2023 · 2:22 pm

Khawaja ‘cartooned’ by Johannes Leak

Johannes Leak is one of the cartoonists for The AUSTRALIAN newspaper. To receive his attention in whatever form is to reach the mountainearing heights of political commentary. Usman Khwaja is one of the rare sportsman to receive this áccolade’. Joining Australia’s Prime Minister [on Albanese] as a target is reach the cumulous clouds of public prominence.

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December 16, 2023 · 1:08 am

Fighting Over Ancient Monuments: Sri Lanka’s New Ethnic Flashpoint

Thannamurippu, in The Economist, 23 November 2023 where the title runs thus: “Asian Monuments.  What’s mine, what’s yours?Disputed monuments are Sri Lanka’s new ethnic flashpoint”

 On a wooded hill edged by rice fields in Sri Lanka’s northern Mullaitivu district sit the ruins of an ancient Buddhist mon­astery. Members of the country’s Sinhalese majority call it “Kurundi Viharaya”. For Tamils, who are mostly Hindus and con­sider the war-battered north their home­land, it is “Kurunthoor Malai”. Since 2018, when the state archaeological department began excavating the site, Tamil and Sinha­lese nationalists have rowed over which community has a greater claim to it.

    Kurundi Dagaba

 

 

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December 13, 2023 · 6:07 pm

Early Writing: The Evidence from Sri Lanka

Darshanie Ratnawalli, here reproducing an article presented in the Colombo Telegraph and The Island in June 2016, where the title runs  “Sri Lanka’s role in South Asia’s earliest writing controversy”

A few years ago someone came up with the campaign line ‘small miracle’ as a unique proposition to promote Sri Lanka to tourists. The Rajapaksa Government took exception to the ‘small’ and scrapped the campaign midway. This was a pity. The country has genuine small miracle credentials, tending sometimes to raise eyebrows by producing phenomena usually deemed too big, too grand for a country of its size. It can for example claim ownership of the oldest surviving, reliably dated samples of writing to be found in the whole of South Asia.

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