Category Archives: performance

May 9, 2017 · 3:08 am

BEAP Hospital rises from Tsunami Ashes in Batticaloa Locality

SPECIAL FOREWORD: The Timeless Classics Concert raised $35,000 in net returns to the Foundation. We are planning to repeat the concert in Colombo at the time the newly elected Rotary International Director visits Sri Lanka in November 2017. The event will be organised by two Rotary Clubs in Colombo spearheaded by our own Trustee, Rotarian Indrajith Fernando. The artistes have agreed to donate their services and their talent to help us raise funding for the hospital.

Memo from Nihal De Run

Dear Members of our Project Interest Group,

These pictures were taken during a site visit on 6th April 2017. We were thrilled to see the progress and the sheer size of the super structure. The contractor CECB is confident of finishing on schedule, 15th November 2017 but I would add another six weeks for the prospect of rain, material delays and so forth.


Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, landscape wondrous, life stories, medical marvels, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs

May 5, 2017 · 10:24 am

Nicobar Pigeon penetrates Australia

Victoria Laurie,  in the Australian, 5 May 2017, where the title presented is “The dodo’s gorgeous island-hopping relative finds its way to our shores”

A Nicobar pigeon has been found in the Kimberley.

A gorgeously plumed pigeon ­described as the closest living descenda­nt of the now extinct dodo has been found by Aborig­inal rangers in the Kimberley.The Nicobar pigeon has never before been found on the Australian mainland, but was spotted by Bardi Jawi rangers walking across a road near monsoon vine thickets at Chile Creek on the Dampier Peninsula last month.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, economic processes, heritage, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, world events & processes

May 3, 2017 · 11:20 am

A Jesuit Servant of the People –Two Affirmative Voices applaud Fr. Paul Caspersz, s.j.

.ONE. Rajan Philips: “Celebrating the life of a Jesuit Socialist: Fr Paul Caspersz, SJ (1925-2017)”

 “My legs have carried me for 90 years. Now they have earned their well-deserved rest”, he would tell his visitors at the Jesuit House in Akkara Panaha, Negombo, where he spent the last years of his life confined to his bed and a wheel chair. Now his entire mortal coil has earned its rest.

Fr. Paul Caspersz, a priest of the order of the Society of Jesus for 65 years, died last Wednesday at the age of 92. His funeral was in Kandy, where he lived for over 40 years, and he was laid to rest at the Lewella Jesuit cemetery. It was difficult to see Fr Paul unable to walk, although he was otherwise his usual self. Tall and handsome, he was well proportioned in physical appearance. He was equally well adjusted in his character and in his bearing. He was inspired as a teenager to become a Jesuit and to go to Oxford as a Jesuit “after reading a page or two about Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits in the context of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation”, in the unlikeliest of sources ‘A History of England’ by T.F. Tout. He accomplished both and remained true to his faith, his celibate life, and the fierce commitment of Jesuits to the first cause that inspired them. Fr. Paul was much more. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under economic processes, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, religiosity, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, unusual people

May 3, 2017 · 4:43 am

In Appreciation of Geoffrey Bawa amidst an Architectural Rift of Seismic Scale

David Robson  ….. re-printing an old essay in The Daily News, 24 December 2013, in an article entitled “Remembering Bawa”

In this article, originally published in Indian Architect & Builder,  architect and writer David Robson pens an intimate and personal account of the life and work of Geoffrey Bawa – an incredible architect with an unparalleled legacy in Sri Lanka and south-east India.

Ten years have rolled by since Geoffrey Bawa’s death and fifteen since ill-health forced him to hang up his tee-square. It’s time to take stock: what was his legacy? How were his ideas disseminated? What influence has he had? What were his qualities? Who was Geoffrey Bawa?

 Bawa at Lunuganga in the 1990s Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world affairs

April 27, 2017 · 4:17 pm

Distinguished Sri Lankan Aussies: DFAT Honours

Distinguished Sri Lankan Australians profiled by the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade … with photographs by Nathan Fulton of that institution

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Australian culture, australian media, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, sri lankan society, unusual people, world affairs

April 25, 2017 · 4:09 pm

Arjuna in Battle and under Duress 1999

Andrew Fidel Fernando, courtesy of The Cricket Monthly, at ESPNcricinfo …..where the title is “Arjuna Versus”

 This is an unique image… and if I am not mistaken the bloke on the left side of the taxi is Lionel, an avid supporter in Sri Lanka and everywhere those days. The day on which this photo was taken is a puzzle because it is daytime and could not conceivably have occurred on the day of the match because it was, I think, a day-night game.

VISIT CRICKETIQUE for full article at https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/arjuna-the-indomitable-challenging-aussie-skulduggery-in-1995-98-and-more/#more-9225

 An unprecedented finger-wagging confrontation between Umpire Emerson and Captain Arjuna Ranatunga at Adelaide Oval during the ODI match vs England on 23 January 1999 — the incident which led to disciplinary charges against Arjuna Ranatunga

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, discrimination, disparagement, fundamentalism, governance, legal issues, life stories, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people

April 17, 2017 · 11:03 am

Footsteps across Continents: Hedi Simon and the Stadlens of Austria and Britain

Matthew Stadlen, in The Telegraph, 11 November 2013, where the title is “Family history: retracing the steps of a romance disrupted by war”

In 1938 my grandfather, the pianist Peter Stadlen, was returning to his native Austria from a concert tour of Ireland when he happened to meet a girl on the ferry home. As a result he caught a cold from chatting to her on deck, and had to stop over in Amsterdam. The fates were with him, because the following day – 75 years ago – the Nazis marched into Austria; Peter was a secular Jew. He was able to communicate with his mother and sister, who were still in Vienna, and urge them to leave by the next train to Holland. From there, all three made it to London as refugees, and that is where my family has been based ever since. They were lucky.

 Hedi Simon … also known as Heidi Keuneman before her second marriage to Peter Stadlen

My great-great-uncle, known as Onkl Friedl, did not escape. He was one of the very first to die at the hands of the Gestapo when they moved into Vienna. He had been chief economic adviser to pre-Nazi Chancellors of Austria, and was immediately put under house arrest. A paraplegic, he always kept cyanide in his ring in case he should ever be caught in a fire, unable to escape. He tricked the Nazi guards into leaving his room and took the poison. I have red hair but neither of my parents do: Onkl Friedl was a redhead and I’ve always believed it comes from him.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under asylum-seekers, British colonialism, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, human rights, immigration, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes, World War II

April 1, 2017 · 3:26 am

Timeless Classics: A Concert Bridging Lanka

Lorraine Fernando

On Sunday 12 March 2017 a group of us decided to attend a concert at the Besan Centre in Melbourne comprising artistes who had arrived from Sri Lanka. I had been told that Soundarie and Shey were Sri Lankans with a great deal of talent, but apart from knowing this fact, I had absolutely no expectation of what the night would be like. I’ve lived in Melbourne Australia for 43 years and thus, do not know very much about the concert scene in Sri Lanka. As we approached the Concert Hall on an almost perfect Melbourne Autumn evening, it was great to see a most colourful crowd of ladies in beautiful saris or smart casual evening attire and gentlemen dressed to suit the occasion. The concert commenced on time and little did we know, what an extravaganza was in store for all of us, in the hours that followed.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world affairs

March 21, 2017 · 2:31 pm

Where Music transcends Ethnic Divisions: Sinhala Nona

Pon Kulendiren, courtesy of The Tamil Mirror where the title is “True Story of coincidence: Sinhala nona”

Kaffrinha –Pic from The Localist

It was snowing heavily. A few days were left for Christmas. I was enjoying a sip of Scotch on the rocks and watching Discovery channel on T.V. My wife walked into the sitting room after preparing the dinner for the family. She looked at the clock that showed 5.30 in the evening. With a grimace she turned towards me. It showed that she did not like me having a second drink. Black label bottle was a quarter empty. She quietly took the bottle and disappeared into her room. I ignored her action as I was reluctant to start a fight as she may have a long face while serving dinner. She returned after a few minutes. Continue reading →

16 Comments

Filed under caste issues, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, the imaginary and the real, world affairs

March 19, 2017 · 11:56 pm

A World Event! Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in Test Match

Michael Roberts

Let the cricketing world rejoice in Bangladesh’s triumph in a tight Test Match at the P Sara Stadium aka “The Oval” in Colombo. One can allude to Sri Lankan hands within the resurgent Bangladesh cricketing squad in the tracksuits of Coach Chandika Hathurasinghe and Batting Coach Thilan Samaraweera and trainer Mario Villavarayan. But that would be unfair on the Bangla players because matches are won on the field through application, grit, acumen and performance. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cricket for amity, cultural transmission, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, world events & processes