Friday, March 29, 2013

Jaffna Music Festival a resounding success

The Jaffna Music Festival 2013, held at the Jaffna Town Municipal Grounds recently was a resounding success. Organizers say the event was witnessed by a collective audience of over 25,000 people over the two days. Many groups of people from the North, South, East and West travelled to the grounds to witness together the excitement of hosting a wide array of musicians and performers from both all over the country and internationally-who entertained the crowd with their colourful costumes and unusual instruments.


There were numerous family-friendly activities lined up during the daytime programme which included an intimate and informal setting on which artists of Folk, Classical, Contemporary genres could entertain and educate audiences about their various musical genres. The performers were colourful and lively and most engaged the audience by getting off the stages to encourage members of the audience to join in on the singing, dancing and general merriment.
A participant named Thush said, “It felt like we were all part of the show, and the atmosphere was as if we were in a village somewhere in Jaffna – it was exciting but also very relaxed at the same time.”


The children’s stage was a huge hit where children from all over the country were inspired and entertained through very impressive and polished performances ranging from Folk to Blues, Jazz, Choral and Percussion.
The mornings were lively and colourful with a blend of a variety of languages, songs, music and flair floating in the air. Capturing all those special moments were official JMF photographers, accompanied by the participants of the Youth Social Media Programme conducted by USAID together with the National Youth Services Council.

The night-time main stage performances dazzled everyone – the local artists astounded audiences with multi-faceted acts which featured a unique performance from a female drummer and fire eater. It truly was a festival of diverse cultural interaction. The mix of diverse musical genres representing traditions and styles from across Sri Lanka and the world provided an interesting musical experience. The multiple collaborations between Bangladesh, Norway, India and Sri Lanka in forms of both song and dance were a huge hit with the crowds.

The Jaffna Music Festival 2013 was brought to you by Sewalanka in collaboration with Rikskonsertene (Concerts Norway) and Aru Sri Art Theatre and is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This time around the festival was conducted in co-partnership with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and the Municipal Council of Jaffna.

Source:http://colombogazette.com/2013/03/29/jaffna-music-festival-a-resounding-success/

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