(Lanka-e-News -03.Jan.2017, 8.30PM) The annual Police carols were held at the Police Field force headquarters this year too .It was very evident that several desperate attempts have been made purportedly to introduce changes for the better , or so we were made to believe.
Hymns of praise to God for the birth of Christ were of course sung in English , Sinhala and Tamil. In the good old days however , hymns were sung mostly in English and most charmingly , but now with the vernacular being given priority , during the last 4 to 5 years , more Sinhala Hymns numbering eight , a few English and one Tamil were sung. This year too the same pattern was followed.
It is with the two or three songs in Sinhala sung by Anil Bharethi and the advent of the IGP in national attire to show he is nurtured in the true Sinhala traditions resembling the hypocritical politicos , the great nativity play turned into a great comedy of clowns and the event itself into a wayside musical show sans the sanctity of the occasion ! In the same way as during the last couple of years when the most cherished tradition of the audience stood up when the carols were sung ,and the audience too actively joining in the singing were dispensed with , this year too that obnoxious practice introduced a couple of years ago was followed – Some of course questioned was it because the Police carols were so degenerate that the audience did not have the heart to join in ?
It is a pity the audience that expected a display of the true spirit of holy Christmas , on the contrary was treated to a two hour ordeal - the two hour show was such a fiasco. While IGP looked more a political henchman and less a policeman in the national dress , Anil Bharethi too started crowing like an old cock that was about to die after having got intoxicated on spilt alcohol . Unbelievably and unfortunately , it was this ‘old cock’ that was given pride of place – he sang the hymns in Sinhala first , totally out of tune and out of rhythm while he himself was wobbly and out of balance . To add insult to injury there was a woman P.C. who faltered from the outset of her performance not only missing out on words and mispronouncing but also murdering the queen while trying to sing in English, the language which was totally alien to her. This is not her fault , it was due to the ineptitude and inefficiency of the organizers who have no capacity to make the right choice.
In the midst of all these oddities , clownish and ludicrous scenes on stage there were of course a few redeeming features …
The choir and the two singers Dhammika Gurusinghe and Sarojini Loganathan were splendid . So was the orchestra . But all these singly or together could not redeem the egregiously dismal standard of the show . The entire holy spirit of the occasion disappeared with Anil ‘s ‘spirited high’ wobbly singing , while the nativity show itself was so poorly organized that it looked more a herd of overeaten buffaloes enacting the scenes on stage , particularly when the cops with donkey caps were on all fours to resemble the reindeer to enact that nativity scene .
It was a pertinent question on the lips of everyone , why the Bishop of Colombo the head of the Anglican church was left out , and only the archbishop of Colombo was invited ?
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by (2017-01-04 00:13:57)
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The holy event was utterly disorganized . I have been a guest every year like , and I noticed a clear deterioration of standard . Usually such events must improve with each year , whereas in the case of Police carols it is the the other way about. The organizers must be blamed fully. Either they must do it properly or not do it at all. It is a good crucial question why for this Christian event the Bishop of Colombo was invited?
Ishara
-- by Ishara on 2017-01-04