She doesn’t like the words ‘bucket list’, considers allowing oneself negative thoughts a form of self-defeat and bristles at the implication that it’s time to retire ‘Let’s Get Physical’. “You think it stops now?” she asks, obviously enjoying putting a journalist on the spot. A few minutes later she says, “Someone told me in Sri … Continue reading
Category Archives: Musicians
Christobel and Oliver Weerasinghe: A Life of Privilege
Christobel Weerasinghe née Kotalawala was born on the day her father became a member of the Legislative Council. It was the beginning of the 1920s and the life she inherited was one of extraordinary privilege – her family could trace their genealogy back to the kings of Kotte and in the present her father, Sir … Continue reading
Architects / Gardeners / Musicians / Painters / Sculptors
Laki Senanayake: At Home in Diyabubula
Laki Senanayake – painter, sculptor, architect, landscape designer, and inventor – is woken from deep sleep by someone tugging on his toe. There are strangers in his house and they have one question – can we see the garden? As he has so many times before, Laki says yes. Sri Lankans have long embraced Laki … Continue reading
Ashan Pillai: Life with Sebastian
The day Sebastian came into his possession, viola maestro Ashan Pillai found himself watching a film about a twice martyred Christian. It is written that St. Sebastian first survived being shot through with arrows before succumbing to a brutal clubbing for daring to criticise the Emperor of Rome. (In later years, he would be called … Continue reading
Sasha Perera: Frontwoman of Jahcoozi
In spite of or perhaps because of the identical pale yellow plastic fork earrings dangling from each ear, Sasha Perera catches your eye and then keeps it. The child of a Sri Lankan Tamil father and a Sinhalese mother, Sasha was born in London, has lived in Singapore and Malaysia and is now based in … Continue reading
Ben Cross: Surviving Chariots of Fire
Under the lights, Ben Cross has begun to sweat. His heavy, brown uniform doesn’t help, so in the breaks between filming it’s the first thing he takes off. Now, sitting in his white undershirt, in a bright red silk air-conditioned tent, Ben is talking about his other great love. Up on youtube, you’ll find recordings … Continue reading
Shehan Karunatilaka: On Winning the Gratiaen
Shehan Karunatilaka still has the tickets for every music concert he’s ever been to; the Police, Suzanne Vega and Travis jostle for space alongside The Red Hot Chilli Peppers on a board tacked to a wall in his home. It’s also an apartment devoted to books, there are a dozen or more in every room, … Continue reading
Gayathri Khemadasa: Continuing the Maestro’s Legacy
With a start, Gayathri Khemadasa wakes up. It is 3 a.m. but there is no sound from the piano downstairs. Later, in the heat of the afternoon, she meets us to discuss the commemoration concert that will mark three months since the death of her father Premasiri Khemadasa. While the concert will give audiences a … Continue reading
Pattini Devi: An Entire Village Unites to Celebrate
Tucked into a corner of a narrow residential street, the Devalaya Road – Purana Pattini Devalaya is a little oasis of calm in Battaramula – except on festival nights. Then the small property becomes the busy heart of the community – the rapid pulse and throb of drums fill the air, everywhere there are laughing children, … Continue reading
Ali Campbell: On Life Post UB40
It’s 1976 and the fact that he was far too young to be in that bar did nothing to deflect the broken beer mug that smashed into the face of a 17-year-old Ali Campbell. Fortunately, 90 stitches and the status of a relatively innocent bystander got him 4,000 pounds in compensation money – and the … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 