October 29, 2017 · 4:00 am

Struggling for Sinhala at US University: Anne Blackburn et al

Namini Wijedasa, in Sunday Times, 29 October 2017, where the title “The battle to keep Sinhala alive in an American University” ….Academics running the programme seek financial assistance from Sri Lankan Govt. and expat

Scholars at the Cornell University, USA, are fighting to keep alive a decades-old Sinhala language programme that is facing closure owing to funding cuts  Cornell, a renowned private Ivy League institution, is the only university outside Sri Lanka to offer a full curriculum of study in Sinhala. About half of the funding for the course is external, primarily from the US Government’s Department of Education. The rest is from the university.

Anne Blackburn

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October 28, 2017 · 1:31 pm

Appreciating Iromie Wijewardena’s Artistic Universe

Darshanie Ratnawalli, in Island, 21 October 2017,  with title as “A long, beautiful woman carries a garland,”

An elongated woman, not as elongated as a fashion designer’s sketch, but in exactly the right proportion for visual grace sits on the floor at her ease. The gold colour of her jacket and cloth shimmers, almost blazes out, creating a pearlescent cloud of luminance, behind which the darkness of the room is a solid backdrop. Both the luminance and the golden colour have texture that leaps out of the canvass inviting touch. An invitation revoked by norms of polite society, which insists that touching is the exclusive province of ownership. And ownership will not change at any price. Iromie Wijewardena will never part with her ‘Artist Collection’ of which ‘After the performance’ just described is part. One can only admire from the safe confines of her art deco living room, while under a guest’s obligation to respect the host’s possessions.

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October 28, 2017 · 10:44 am

In Search of Sunil Santha

Tony Donaldson, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, Vol  XX, November 2017, … with highlighting emphasis being an imposition by The Editor, Thuppahi

In November 2016, I travelled to Sri Lanka at the invitation of the Sunil Santha Society to deliver the inaugural Guru Devi Sunil Santha Memorial Lecture in Colombo. I wrote the lecture in September and titled it Sunil Santha: The Man who Invented Sinhala Music for a Modern Age. The cardiologist Dr. Ruvan Ekanayake, a great fan of Sunil Santha’s music, translated the lecture into Sinhala. I spent 25 days in Sri Lanka. What follows is an account of the trip with a few critical reflections. I will not expand on the lecture as it exists as a published book and it need not be repeated here.

  With the Sunil Santha Samajaya. l-r. Upali Ariyasiri, Lanka Santha, Tony Donaldson, Vijith Kumar Senaratne, Lloyd Fernando, and Pushkara Wanniarachchi.

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October 28, 2017 · 1:54 am

Shirley Somanader’s Historical and Literary Works

Shirley Somanader

DANIEL AND HIS DESCENDANTS – VOLUME I

2009 1st edn., A5 size, 64pp., 200 copies printed.

This is a biographical work. The book contains a collection of a series of articles on the Christian witness of Daniel Somanader, his wife Angelina and his children, especially two of their daughters.  All the articles were written Mrs M. E, Rigg, the wife of Rev. Edmund Rigg, Methodist Missionary in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) between 1865 – 1870 and they first appeared in the ‘Christian Herald’ , a newspaper published in the Wesley Press, Batticaloa at that time, except one  article which was written in by Rev. James Gillings, the then Superintendent Methodist Missionary in Batticaloa and appeared in the’ Wesleyan Juvenile Offering’ of July   1859. Continue reading →

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October 28, 2017 · 1:44 am

How the Railways Came to Batticaloa

Shirley W. Somanader, from The Island, 6 September 2014 … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi, in April 2024

Travel Before the Trains: A measure of the efficiency of communication between a place and the outside world is the ease of accessibility to the Capital city. In terms of this measure, the isolation of the Batticaloa district, as late as the first quarter of the Twentieth century is expressed, by a person who had lived through the better part of those times thus: “A journey to Batticaloa was something of an adventure. It was long and tiresome and often risky. Before the introduction of the train service in 1928, there were only two means of communication with the outside world. One by sea, at first by sailing vessels, replaced later on by coasting steamers, which called once a week either from the south or north: The other by land across the rocks and precipices of the Uva Province. The journey was done on horseback or bullock carts.”

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October 27, 2017 · 10:17 am

US Admiral Harris at the Galle Dialogue in 2016

Admiral Harry Harris, 28 November 2016,  as presented at http://www.pacom.mil/Media/Speeches-Testimony/Article/1013623/sri-lanka-galle-dialogue/ … with emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

Thanks, Admiral Wijegunaratne for that kind introduction. In addition to being an expert in asymmetric naval warfare and special boat operations, the Admiral is also a well-known Rugby player – definitely a man you’d want on your side! So I’m pleased to call him friend.

Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, visited Sri Lanka November 27-29 to attend the Galle Dialogue 2016 maritime security conference and meet with senior government and military leaders, including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe….Photo by U.S. Embassy of Colombo, Sri Lanka

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October 25, 2017 · 8:47 am

Baron Naseby and the Merry-Go-Round on Sri Lankan Politics, 1975-2017

Shamindra Ferdinando ,in The Island, 25 October 2017 with a different heading “Implications of UK’s refusal to release evidence”

The British parliament was told, on Oct 12, 2017 that Velupillai Prabhakaran killed Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in 1973. The statement was made by Michael Morris, Baron Naseby PC, during a debate on Sri Lanka. Having declared that he launched the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, way back in 1975, the politician urged Theresa May’s government to review its policy as regards post-war accountability process in relation to the Geneva Resolution 30/1 adopted on Oct 1, 2015.

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October 25, 2017 · 7:54 am

Sinhala Extremists: No Middle Path Ever! Thus sponsoring Tamil Extremism

Dayan Jayatilleka, courtesy of The Island, 25 October 2017 where the title is “The Sinhala far right’s political final solution”

Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young, died violently or were maimed, and tens of thousands disappeared, and unknown numbers were tortured, in the less than four decades between April 1971 and May 2009 on this small island. Something must have been wrong; something must have gone wrong, somewhere, for all this horror to result among so much natural beauty and tranquility. We are all implicated in different ways and in different degrees. The least we can do is accept that there were huge mistakes and seek to rectify them through reform. For this, we must turn the searchlight inwards and not content ourselves with pointing the finger outwards.

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October 23, 2017 · 3:03 pm

Blackballing Donald Friend. To Do … or not Do?

Michaela Boland,  in The Australian ,  October 2017, where the title reads “Art of Darkness”

He was a self-confessed paedophile. But does that mean Donald Friend’s art should be erased from our cultural landscape?

Pic from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/home-design/prestige-property/arts-at-the-heart-of-paula-nagels-home/news-story/dc9500557e55ba68482d3b50b41fc1ec

Bali was an exotic tropical ­getaway in the 1970s, a sultry land of endless beaches and lingering sunsets ripe for the influx of foreign visitors. Tourist facilities were rudimentary but the gentle and obliging locals were renowned for ensuring nothing was too much trouble for visiting foreigners, who could enjoy being pampered like royalty while paying like paupers.

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October 23, 2017 · 1:56 pm

Tharanga Goonetilleke as Soprano on World Stage

Darshanie Ratnawalli, in Island, 7 October 2017 with a different title

My perception was that Tharanga Goonetilleke, the lyric soprano from Sri Lanka did not beat huge odds in becoming an international star in western classical music. Consider the facts. Scrutinize particularly the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) Concerto Competition winners in the 1990s. In 1994, SOSL, the oldest continuously performing symphony orchestra in South Asia commenced the bi-annual Concerto Competition to showcase young talent. Sixteen year old Tanya Ekanayaka won in Piano jointly with Soundarie David and Gayathri Attiken.

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