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Police carols 2016- A great show of clowns !

(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

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