Renowned sitarist joins Leprosy eradication campaign

30 July 2015 06:30 pm Views - 1793

The latest ‘Pradeepanjali’ concert,  titled ‘SPERO – Hope for Serendib’, will be  held at the British School  Auditorium tomorrow (1st of August)  presented  by the Colombo School  of Arts ( CSA )  as a fund raiser to buy electronic wheelchairs and other individually custom-made equipment for the incapacitated leprosy inmates  at the Leprosy Hospital in Hendala , as well as help to create awareness of the disease in order to promote early detection, diagnosis and treatment .

‘Pradeepanjali’  performed  by renowned  sitarist  Pradeep Ratnayake  will  include a  unique  variety of fusion music  such as Sri Lankan, Indian and Western that  explores the new dimensions of sitar music, taking this classical instrument to new levels of experience, while retaining its traditional beauty . 

Pradeep Ratnayake is considered one of the finest, if not the best exponent of the sitar. Trained at Santiniketan, India in classical Hindustani music, excelling as a classical sitarist and determined to take Sri Lankan music to the world,  Pradeep has evolved his own style and technique of playing the sitar,  expanding it’s limits to reach new horizons which can hold its own in the international world of music. Pradeep’s singular feat in his innovative music is his innate ability to transcend traditional barriers and norms that have confined the sitar to that particular milieu for ages.  

This had led to his fusion music becoming more popular in the world scene and he has conducted ‘Pradeepanjali’ at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Centre, Carnegie Hall and  Walt Disney Concert Hall amongst others and performed in countries such as New York, Brussels, Vienna and Japan. One of the striking features of the ‘Pradeepanjali’ concert series is that each concert is significantly different from the previous one with the addition of innovative pieces of music. 

Pradeep  will be joined on stage at the concert by a team of equally well renowned artists  that comprise of Ananda Dabare (violin), Ravibandu Vidyapati (percussion), Sureka Amarasinghe (flute), Peshala Manoj (tabla), Suraj Gunewardena, Karunarathne Bandara (percussion) and Isuru Perera (percussion).  
Explaining his objective in partnering with this cause and conducting the concert entirely free of charge, Pradeep said “For many years persons with leprosy have been ostracized by society and abandoned  for the fear of contracting the disease. As the number of Sri Lankans detected with leprosy is on the rise, there is now a great need to raise awareness on leprosy and reduce the numbers, as well as, accept and reach out to those living with leprosy. We hope our efforts will help even in a little way to eradicate  leprosy from Sri Lanka, which has an annual reportage of 2000 cases of leprosy (7 percent) .”
For more information on the concert please log on to www.educationcsa.lk or Facebook:/ColomboSchoolofArts.