Following their astounding success at the Sri Lanka Festival of Music, Dance and Speech this year, the Mary Anne School of Vocal Music presents The Glory Of Gold 2009, a concert which will showcase yet again, just what this renowned academy is made of.

The Sri Lanka Festival of Music, Dance and Speech, affiliated to the British and International Festivals of Music, Dance and Speech is locally organised by Joy Ferdinando. She flies out judges from the UK for the competition.

The Mary Anne School of Vocal Music is open to students of every age. The instruction covers a wide genre of music and the haul of 72 gold medals this year, marks the second time the Mary Anne School of Vocal Music has dominated the Sri Lanka Festival of Music overhauling last year’s achievement of 60 gold medals which led to the first Glory Of Gold concert held at the Russian Cultural Centre in 2008.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, the Choral Director of The Merry An’ Singers and Managing Director of the Mary Anne School Of Vocal Music, Mary Anne David stated that the plus factor of this Festival and the main reason she encourages her students to take part is that a competition with foreign judges means a competition without bias. She explained, "They don’t know who we are, our background etc. and have no interests in anything but the talent."

The recent success at the Festival is cause for celebration according to David, who said she is presenting this show in order to let the general public see what the school is capable of and showcasing some of their best talent and, of course, celebrating all that the School has accomplished at the Festival. The concert will cover a wide range of music from Pop to Semi Classic, Gospel and Sacred to Broadway and Jazz.

The accompanists for the show will be accomplished musicians Kamalini Cassiechetty on piano and Christopher Prins on drums. Neranjan De Silva, a musician in his own right, will handle the sound. Of course, Mary Anne David on keyboard and Andre David will be the brains behind it all. With nearly 150 productions under her belt and over 40 years in the industry as a mentor to some of the biggest names in Sri Lankan song and dance David certainly has much to celebrate.

Awarded the State Music Award for her contribution to Western Vocal Music (2008) and the Zonta Woman of Achievement Award (1989) she was the first to have an all-girl choir called The Mariann Singers, back in 1975-1979. David said of the journey thus far, "It’s been very eventful and satisfying. I feel good when I look back at the school I built as I have seen hundreds pass through. Everywhere I go, I see a singer, choral director or band leader I helped groom, making his or her own way in the world of music, making their own music and that’s very fulfilling."

The School, established in 1981 focuses on developing voices through exercises and instruction based on the Bel Canto method and has a strict screening programme which helps the school enrol children with potential. The results are evident in the plethora of amateur and professional singers who have emerged in the local and international music scene.

She says she’s had the privilege to work with many — the talented and not so talented, kids who have gone on to make a name and career for themselves in the industry; Kishani Jayasinghe, Gayathrie Peiris Patrick, Preshy Navaratnam, Bathiya and Santhush, Soundarie David of Soul Sounds, Sanjeev Jayaratnam of Revelations, hip-hop artist Ashanthi, Sunil& Piyal of the Gypsies and Naushad of Flame to name a few.

Some blessed with vocal talent have sadly given up singing for other careers. Yet throughout it all, she’s seen the music industry in Sri Lanka flourish. The school has been uplifted over the years thanks to the influx of kids who are interested in Western music. In 1981 the Davids were the first to popularise broadway revue type shows with the now ever popular sing-a-longs.

And what does David think of today’s talent and today’s music? While the ‘boom-chuck’ music as David calls it, is not her cup of tea, she still finds ways of connecting with younger students through Andre. Also many an old tune has been rehashed into pop hits of today.

Classical music is her preference, though she maintains a soft spot for the oldies. She points out the fact that the older generation hardly have a proper radio station to listen to anymore. The world of ‘oldies’ being infiltrated by DJs with corny accents or tunes with a range of four notes and two repetitive sentences for lyrics and with brain numbing commercial belts, she has just about had it!

Her answer to this older generation’s plight is a club called ‘The Young Ones’, open to those of 40 and above. They meet on every third Saturday of the month at Calvin Hall from 5:30pm. This club brings together people from all strata of society, who are able and differently-abled and whose only "qualification" is a desire to sing the golden oldies and they have a blast at it too.

She said, "One gentleman in the club calls it his ‘re-fuelling’ station. He has a breath control problem but a fantastic voice and every time he sings I hear that problem clearing away. It’s getting better as he works on his voice, and it gives him a sense of purpose." And while David is helping an entire new generation flourish in music, she’s fulfilling her desire of giving back something to a generation in which she once flourished.

She said, "I now have to hire various venues for my teaching and dream of having my own studio, with facilities, where I can have my classes as well as train teachers of vocal music the techniques of voice production." In the meantime the grooming of her only son Andre, deputy director of the School and assistant conductor/choreographer of the Merry-An Singers is underway. One day the operations of this establishment will be handed over to this young, talented and vibrant personality brimming with ideas.

A different way of looking at printing

An exhibition/ installation by Kingsley Gunatillake will be held at Alliance Française Colombo on October 8 from 6pm.

A book certainly is more than its title, more than its contents: it also is a material object with which we have an intellectual and a physical relationship.

Holding a book, leafing through its pages, caressing its cover or admiring its images are part of the reading experience. We all remember the smells of paper and ink of our first readings. The stories we discovered as children are both memories of the mind and hands, eyes and heart.

There definitely is an emotional dimension to a book and this is why a book is a work of art.

Kingsley Gunatillake is exploring deeply into this artistic dimension but he never forgets its explosive social and intellectual dimensions: he reminds us books have been persecuted, because the questions they raised have put ill at ease moral or political powers in place. Books have been forbidden, hidden, torn apart, burnt, disappeared…

Untitled Book is a different and original way of looking at printing matters.

This installation of Kingsley Gunatillake, held at Alliance Française within the framework of Lire en fête, an annual celebration of reading taking place in France and in many countries, magnificently celebrates the object of writing and reading.

was shocked to find a reference to the Vijitha Yapa Bookshop stall at the Colombo International Book Fair by your Freelance Reporter Michael Hardy in his article on September 27. He says we seemed to be using the bookfair "to unload the remainders and used books  they couldn’t sell any where else". I can assure him all the books in our stalls were new. We did not have remainder books  in our stalls. The first book on display was Dan Brown’s latest The Lost Symbol. For his information, this book was released on September 17 worldwide . Perhaps the problem may have been his perception. for example The Lost Symbol is being sold in US bookshops at US $ 25.95, while we are selling at Rs 1800 less 20 per cent. Many books from UK and US are sold at prices much lower than in those countries, because we negotiate prices and pass on the savings to our customers.

With thousands of books on display and sale, his solitary purchase of George Eliot’s Silas Marner "in a cheap illustrated edition" for Rs 130 indicates what he was looking for— bargain remainders. There was a separate section of eight stalls specifically for bargain books in Hall D. All booksellers offered discounts, contrary to Hardy’s statement. Being a  book fair held in Sri Lanka, and not an American remainder fair, the majority of the books were from publishers of Sinhala and Tamil books, which he would not have understood.

He says one is better off spending the Rs 10 admission fee on a bus ride to any of Colombo’s many bookshops. Where one can get a bus ride for Rs 10 is best known to him. But the Rs 10 admission levied is to try and keep the crowds down and give an opportunity to genuine book lovers to come to the fair. The admission fee collected  is deposited and administered by Sampath Bank and is used  to provide scholarships to deserving  children. Last year’s funds were used to award scholarships to poor children and these scholarships were personally handed over to the children at the inauguration of the book fair by  Education Minister Susil Premjayanth. The bookfair committee and organisers work on a voluntary basis and not a cent is paid out to any event organiser to run the fair.

He says "it isn’t enough to sell books — you have to sell books that people want to buy". With over a million attending the fair and sales running into millions too, the Sri Lankans who flocked to the fair from all parts of sri Lanka stretching from Jaffna to Dondra provide ample evidence that they have not missed the bus. Other than in the main cities, Sri Lanka does not have well stocked bookshops and this is one occasion when virtually all publishers in Sri Lanka have a chance to display and sell their publications on one ground. Our people neither have the resources or reach of Borders or Barnes and Noble, but the majority of imported books are cheaper than in the West despite the high cost of freight plus a port and airport levy and a nation building tax plus other charges.

As one of the committee members of the  bookfair organisers, we  cannot be blamed for not having  air conditioning. The BMICH premises is hired for the book Fair for nine days and does not belong to the book publishers. But the Sirima Bandaranaike Exhibition Complex where the majority of the books in English were available is air conditioned.

He says what he really wanted "was a tall glass of arrack". Sorry, Mr Michael Hardy, you have  visited the wrong place to get alcohol. The book fair is a family outing for people of all ages and alcohol is not allowed. It is not a bar nor a cricket match where you say "there’s a better selection of refreshments".

Vijitha Yapa
Chairman,
Vijitha Yapa Bookshop

Mr. Yapa clearly does not ride the buses in Colombo. For less than Rs. 10 I can get from my Bambalapitiya apartment to numerous bookstores, including two branches of Vijitha Yapa. And contrary to Mr. Yapa’s claim, imported English-language books are significantly more expensive here than in the West, especially when you consider the low prices offered by online retailers like Amazon.com; I bought Silas Marner in a cheap illustrated edition because the better editions were wildly overpriced. I did not come to the book fair to buy alcohol. However, after an hour in the sweaty confines of the BMICH a tall glass of arrack became increasingly appealing. If I could only make one suggestion to the organisers of next year’s event, I would advise them to get a liquor license.