Team spirit paves way for team victory

St. Anthony's College Western Music choir champs in All Island Western Music Choir Contest:

Ruwini Jayawardana

DOING THE SCHOOL PROUD: The Western music choir of St. Anthony's College, Kandy emerged champions in the All Island Western Music Choir Competition held at the D.S. Senanayake College auditorium on October 13 and 14. At the competition, the Anthonians song depicted patriotism merged with Sri Lankan traditions and the national flag along with a set song given by the department.

The St. Anthony's College choir functioned under the guardianship of Cyril Brown as a high standard classical choir during the late seventies. After a lapse of about 27 years it was reconstructed in November 2005.

Nilanka Abeywardana, the western music teacher, took charge of the choir which is made up of around 80 members. The school choir consists of a junior choir, primary choir and a senior choir. The choir which represented the All Island Western Music Choir Competition consisted of 30 members.

Even though the Anthonian choir usually functions with an organ and the piano, student pianist Pradeep Anthony participated for this special event. Prior to this, the school held carol services and its own concert on July 22 titled On Eagle's Wings.

The first stage experience that the boys got outside the school premises was at a concert by the Music Society, Kandy. They also took part in the Vivala Musica organised by Girls' High School, Kandy.

Firstly, the boys had taken part in the provincial choir competition held at Girls' High School and was placed second. This experience strengthened their will to achieve the goal of winning the title as champs in the All Island Western Music Choir Competition.

"We have been practising from 7.00 a.m. to 8.00 a.m. during the lunch interval and on Thursday afternoons to achieve this goal. However, the practice sessions did not become a barrier for the students' educational activities," says Nilanka Abeywardana, Western music teacher in-charge of the choir.

After a photograph session, some of the champs of the Western music choir stepped forward to express their opinions.

Chanu de Mel, 17, is one of the two leaders of the choir. He said he could not imagine achieving the title without the help of his elders. Chanu believes that it was team work which helped them to achieve this triumph.

Nuwan Fernando, 18, is the other joint leader of the choir. He had won second place in the provincial competition, solo category. He had presented Bridge over troubled water and a set song in that event. He commented that both he and Chanu divided their responsibilities between them in leading the other choir members.

Sherom Perera, 18, is the head boy of St. Anthony's College. According to him, participation is the essential factor in relation to a competition. He said the members divided into four groups to work on their practice sessions.

Navoda Perera, 15, said he had little hope of winning the title before taking part in the event. However, he admits that he believes that hectic practice pays off. He does swimming and hopes to progress in the computer field in the future.

Thusith Abeyrathne, 14, says competitions benefit the nation to find young talent in various fields. He plays the thabla and guitar and has several achievements in the Eastern music section.

"I became the All Island champion in the Eastern music category last year. I took part in both the vocal as well as music sections," he said.

Gehan De Saram, 17, says three factors contributed to the Anthonian's triumph: practices, the teacher in charge and the support of the school. He had taken up music as a subject during his Ordinary Level classes. He said he enjoys listening to rap songs.

Hemal Muscreen, 17, is equally talented at playing the guitar, flute and the organ. Like his colleagues, he too is a strong believer of team spirit. Hemal plays badminton and said his parents had been very supportive towards the routine of the practises. "When we had practises from 4.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. my parents always made sure that I was there on time. That helped me to give this competition my best shot."

Hemal loves English and Sinhala songs, especially those of Linkin Park, John Denver and Jim Reeves. He says that country songs help release his mind from stress.

Malinda Jayasundara, 18, joined the choir because he was fond of music. He does his studies in the Maths stream and has a great desire to achieve higher education at campus.

"I played basket ball until I reached grade 10 and I can play the flute. I got the hope of winning the All Island Western Music Choir Competition gradually as the event progressed," he said.

At the end of the day, the champs got together to thank all those who helped them to achieve the title as All Island Western Music Choir Champions. They expressed their gratitude to the principal Father Titus Rodrigo, Deputy Principal Father Gregory Fernando, priest in charge of the Western music choir Father Araliya Jayasundera, Western music teacher, Nilanka Abeywardana and their parents for their support which helped them in achieving their goal.

"We are very proud of the organisers of the competition because they stood by for what they believed in. They never compromised but considered the ability of singing and nothing else," said Father Araliya.

The future promises to be bright for the Anthonian Western music choir as plans for the reproduction of On Eagle's Wings 2007 is under way. The event will be held at Bishop's College, Colombo on January 27, 2007.

Pictures by Gamini Ramanayake

Lankan students shine in Muscat

EXCEL: The Sri Lankan School in Muscat excelled at the Edexcel (London) examination in 2006. Students of year 11 (GCE and IGCSE) year 12 (Advanced Subsidiary) and Year 13 (GCE Advanced Level) got the best results in the history of Sri Lankan School, Muscat, Oman.

Nineteen students obtained six 'A' s and above in the GCE O/L and IGCSE category with a 97 per cent pass rate.

In the GCE Advanced (subsidiary) category, out of 36 students, 10 students received 'A's in all four subjects and GCE Advanced Level Class nine students recorded three 'A's and above. Four 'A's were obtained by Ariba Siddiqi, Bhairavi Vivegananthan, Muimun Shikder, Prasadi de Silva and Vijitha Vivekanantharajah.

These teenagers have not only excelled in studies but have also participated in many co-curricular activities in school. The students in the school are from 20 different nationalities with a majority of Sri Lankans.