Live action at MAF Band Wagon Show

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Nihal Fernando

Derric de Silva and his daughter with Lincoln de Silva

Sarath Gunawardene

Delvin Perera, his wife and their two daughters Melissa and Loziane.

Hiran Fernando

C. L. Fonseka

The Moratuwa Arts Forum's first Band Wagon Show, held at Hotel Ranmal, Moratuwa, recently stood out to reason what good intelligible organising can do to a musical event.

The show simply turned out to be a well balanced evening of Western music covering a wide range of musical genres-folk, country, rock, latin, even modern pop and R and B - so to explain what took place that evening.

It was a great "get-together" of the music genres that linked the past to the present with MAF's dextrous organising skills.

Around 50 artists performed. Bevil Palihawadana compered the show with such mastery and professionalism that he gave invaluable information about each artist as he or she was introduced to the audience. All this was friendly and so was the crowd.

The programme opened with a classical rendition of a keyboard solo by Pimal Fernando. Sumangi Jayaweera followed with Celine Dion's "To Love You More." Sohan sang "The Way it Used to Be"

Super Pink and Purple led by Lincoln De Silva, directed music.

Hemaka Fernando sang Kenny Roger's hit, "Coward of the County" and Nihal Fernando "I Need You More."

Then came Lankika and Chanaka Perera to give out the ever green, "Somewhere Between Me and You."

Anuradha Mendis followed with "Missisipi" . Lucky Deva and his daughter joined on stage to perform, "Jimmy and Johnie."

Brian Cooray presented Billy Joel favourite "Just The Way You Are."

The show took a new turn as Merril Fernando and Derrick de Silva with his daughter taking over the floor to perform Spanish tracks," Last Manginitas" and "Celito Lindo."

C. L. Fonseka and Priya Peiris sang "I Only Loved Three Women" and "San Antonio Rose." Eranjan and Viranjan Perera and Thilak Perera gave "Oh Carol" and "Ten Guitars" respectively.

Sarath Goonawardena sang the Eagle's favourite 'The Girl From Yesterday." The Melode Singers comprising Delvin Perera and his wife along with their two daughters Melissa and Loziane gave non-stop vocal rendition of several Beatles" songs, which added special colour.

Channa Galappatti sang Save the Last Dance for Me, Sureshini Wanigasekera Sang Bannarama hit , "Venus". Estelle performed several tracks by Gloria Estafan and Miami Sound Machine.

Mariazelle and Chandral Fonseka, Primal Liyangae, Shanelle, Ivan De Silva, Chirpy De Silva, Brian Cooray and Hiran Fernando, and Chandini Silva also performed. Guest artist Shanelle's rendition of Rihana's Unfaithful receive much appreciation from the audience.

Led Zeppelin set for reunion gig in London

LONDON: Rock legends Led Zeppelin announced a one-off comeback concert on Wednesday nearly three decades after disbanding. The group split in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham and have performed only a handful of reunion gigs, last taking the stage 12 years ago at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The show will be held on November 26 in London. Tickets will cost 125 Pounds ($254.30), available by ballot only with winners' names chosen at random. Fans can register at for a chance to buy tickets.

The official tickets Web site crashed shortly after the announcement as fans swarmed it for a chance to see the band, known to many of its fans simply as Zep. The concert organiser, Harvey Goldsmith, said he thought it would be a one-off show, not a full-fledged reunion tour, but said the band seemed to be bonding well together again.

Bonham's son Jason will wield the drum sticks for Led Zeppelin, joining its founding members: singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones.

The show will be a tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin in 1968. "This performance stands alone as our tribute to the work and the life of our long-standing friend," Plant said in a statement.

Plant and Page have joined forces over the years, notably on an album in 1994, but Jones has been more distant. When Bonham passed away after a long battle with alcoholism, his bandmates said Led Zeppelin had died with him. Goldsmith said the band was approaching the gig seriously.

"They thought about it very carefully, and even decided to actually rehearse for a few days to see if they could play together again," he told Reuters Television in an interview. "I only asked them to do 30 minutes and they came back after a week's rehearsals and said they wanted to do a full show.

"So they obviously started to bond back together again. As far as I'm concerned, this is a one-off show, if something materialise after that, I'll be thrilled," Goldsmith added.

The band is scheduled to release a greatest hits collection, titled 'Mothership', on November 13, and bookmaker Ladbrokes has made it odds-on favourite to top album charts.

Reuters

Semi finals of So Fashion Designer Contest 2007

The semi finals of The Sunday Observer Fashion Designer of the Year , 2007 Contest was held at BMICH, Colombo 7 last Wednesday (Sep 19). More than 50 fashion designers participated in the contest to show their talents in designing Casual Wear, Office Wear and Evening Wear.

Thirteen designers were selected from them as winners of the semi finals to display their creations at the finals.

They were selected by a 7- member judge panel after evaluating their work and talents for fashion designing .

The judge panel was headed by Senior Fashion Designer Keerthi Sri Karunaratna, Model Rozelle Plunkett, Actor Suraj Mapa, Ceylinco Internet Services General Manager Rohan Sirisena, Fashion Desingner Samith Hewawasam and two journalists from the Sunday Observer and the Daily News, Umangi De Mel and Chamikara Weerasinghe.

The winners of the Sunday Observer Fashion Designer Contest 2007 Semi Finals are, Shashi Ratnayaka, Nina Amarasinghe, Dulakshi Jayasekera, Anne Combert, Anne J. Fernando, Himali Delapola, Amarshi De Silva, Subhashini Wickremeratna, Nuwan Perera, Ashani Madola, Buddhika Samarakoon, Wayomi Ranasinghe and Twinkle.

Senior model and fashion designer Mrs. Chula Nanayakkara is the chief organiser of the Sunday Observer Fashion Designer of the Year, 2007 contest.