BAMARU NATANA HENDEWA: AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENING
The Sovereign Hotel in Rajagiriya was recently filled with yester year radio personalities who joined in to share a memorable evening spiced with songs and music of the golden ‘Lama Pitiya’ era of the SLBC.
When Damayanthi Jayasuriya chipped in with ‘ Thepel Piyum Mame’, Rohana Siriwardana joined with his ‘ Wehi Wehela Ganga Pirila’. Lanka Rajini Gunasekara entertained the audience with ‘Senkadagalapura Dalada Medure’ but she had to sing ‘Mage Pingane Inna Malu Kuriyo’ by popular requests. The whole audience joined in with vocal support when Geetha Kanthi Jayakody and Shyamali Livera livened up the Sovereign Hotel with ‘Seetha Geetha Me Ahannako’.
Old is gold, they say. It is applicable when you meet old friends too. It was indeed a golden evening for all those who attended the event ‘ Bamaru Natana Hendewa’ evoking sweet memories of the past.
The event was organized by ‘Heththe Gananwala Lama Pitiya’ forum involving members of the radio family i n the seventies. Kapila Kumara Kalinga, A. D. Ranjith Kumara and Asoka Thilakaratne made brief speeches while special felicitation mementoes were presented to senior radio personalities including yesteryear producers of t he SLBC.
Among the Lama Pitiya seniors who received felicitation awards were Mahinda Algama, Prabha Ranatunga, Sumana Jayathilaka, Asoka Tilakaratne, Piyadasa Rathnasinghe, Sunanda Dharmapala, Suneth Gokula and Irani Abeysekara on behalf of Karunaratne Abeysekara. The presentation of awards was sprinkled with an assortment of all- time popular children’s songs sung by Rohana Siriwardana, Parakrama Perera, Damayanthi Jayasuriya, Thanuja Priyanthi, Geetha Kanthi Jayakody, Shyamali Livera, Lankarajini Gunasekara, Sakunthala Peiris, Manjula Vidanapathirana, Damayanthi Ekanayake, Manjula Malkanthi, Indiwari Abeywardana, Prasadi Ariyasinghe, Nelum Kalubowila, Vijayanthi Migel, Nayana Sumangali, Sandhya Rambukkanage and others.
The forum’s secretar y is Kamal Deshapriya while Athula V. Samaraweera is the treasurer.
Cecil Jinadasa compered the event while senior songstress Niranjala Sarojini extended the vote of thanks on behalf of the organizing committee.