Live in Concert Mime in Concert

The big time Companies and TV channels spoil young artistes-Corrine :

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Live in concert Vs. Mime in Concert The big time Compnies and TV channels spoil young artistes-Corrine Chamikara WeerasingheThe big time business orgnisations and private TV channels are responsible for spoiling young artistes in Sri Lanka by giving them undue boost and expsure through their establishments.

The so called superstar singers in the country are not professional performers although they have been made to look as such by the TV channels, says Corrine Almeida. In fact she said this last Wednesday to a marketing manager of a reputed insurance company who happened to speak to her about one such artiste belonging to superstar category who after being given a free insurance policy by the company was avoiding performing at their company functions giving sick notes as his excuse.

Corrine responded without delay.” It is you who have spoiled these young artistes by offering them with such subsistences. Have any of the insurance companies offered free insurance policies to professionals in the field. But can any of them manage a single corporate event solely with these superstars without people like us to entertain the party. Well, are you able to do that without senior artistes like us in the picture?”she asked .Why do the companies that go behind superstars and give them free policies come to us when it matters to entertain a crowd. Why can’t they give away their free insurance policies to the professionals?

The manager left the the place after thanking Corrine for her comments. This should be an eye opener for responsible business organisations in the country to think differently about how they should go about musicians and entertainment related business campaigns in the future. Corrine Almeida, the artiste in high demand to perform at corporate functions and dinner dances in the hotel circuit of Sri Lanka has her voice in shape to up the tempo of an any given show on any given day. Lovably outspoken as she is Corrine told The Cue Point , hard way is the only way and the best way to become a professional singer although it may maybe possible that one may be hurled to poularity by virtue of media boost.

The following is

an interview with Corrine by the

In Tune.

Q. What is your opinion about current music videos which are produced in Sri Lanka. It seems that the artistes have shown a strong inclination to use sexual content in their music videos from recent times.What do you think?

Corrine:I think I have noticed this a long time ago. I have seen Sri Lankan girls posing their bodies in bikinis and many other dresses in music programmes which are telecast in private TV channels.

What I am saying is , “ Must you expose your body in a bikini in a pool site to sell a song. Do you have to use exposure to that extent in a visual to boost a song album. I do not see any logic in that.

Look! I have done only two music videos for my entire music career., Ma Obe and Yovun Wasanthe to name them from my first and second albums. I made these these visuals just for the the fun of it. It cost me some money even though the visuals did not contain half naked or sex rousing content using teenage girls.

I must say the girls in Bikinis which I saw on TV were Sinhala girls. What about our culture? I am not even Sinhalese. I haven’t seen a single Burgher girl in the visual. It was shocking to learn that these videos were done by those people who represent Sinhala Buddhist culture. You can pardon European women in the matter of wearing bikinis because they do not mind it that much as we do. They even walk on the streets wearing them.

Q.But don’t the girls get paid for appearing in the videos?

Corrine: I don’t think so because from what I have gathered most of the girls in these videos have appeared by their own consent out of their desire to be seen on the television. A professional model or two may have taken money. But not the rest of the party. I think the poor girls are being fraudulently used by the artiste or the ones who are responsible for producing them.

Q. What do you think of rap music in Sri Lanka and Live in Concerts held by them.

C. Sri Lankan Rap music does not have any meaning . A song should carries a meaning, but I must say I can neither understand the content of these songs nor i understand their relationship with the video clips. And about “Live in Concerts” held by them, although they call it so what they actually do is mime in concert.

Hi folks,

We have a cultural issue that has upsurged from sexual imagery in music videos. And the problem is associated with semi-nudity of young girls which one may find in locally produced music videos by rappers.

Has the culture of ‘Itsy-bitsy- teeny- weenie-yellow -polka -dot-bikini’ hit Sri Lanka’s TV culture. How can such imagery be telecast on TV by those private TV channels that boast about their being instrumental in leading and promoting the country’s youth. What has the Sri Lankan culture got to do with it? Who produce them? The singers and producers with Sinhala Buddhist background do. Who writes them? Song writers who came to the music scene starting their careers as TV presenters who promoted TV programs portraying Sri Lankan village culture.

Have they changed their mind and bought any concept as such that ‘It’s ok to be weird with sexual imagery’. Is this a complex situation?

No. The truth is you have substandard products which you plan to sell. Sexual imagery can help your cause. So you just use it as a bait to sell your product. You need not outline a matter as simple as this by associating it with the culture. This has happened in many countries in the past as it happens now in Sri Lanka under the banner of selling song albums.

There is no challenge to write meaningful songs in Sri Lanka anymore because there are plenty of private TV channels which are ready to air any rubbish on account of their visual content.

Local rappers would pay colossal sums to village Raalas to write a few slangy lines to produce their songs. Raala is an asset to reach village youth to introduce a machine powered revolution with the available beat banks.

The situation is similar to Raala building a modern swimming pool in front of his ancestral home while the river is just a walking distance away from that place. And in this case he invites models in the city to join him in a pool deck dance party in their bikinis.

You may sell your culture to some extent if you like, as done by boards of tourism in most of the countries we know. But do not molest it or merchandise its artefacts to make a living.

Chamikara

Rocking Time with Ronnie & Corrine at OTSC

After successful foreign tours in the last couple of months, Ronnie Lietch and Corrine de Almeida are back to perform at the club nite of Old Thomians’ Swimming Club on November 01, 2008, from 8 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. at OTSC Club House premises.

‘Rocking Time’ with Ronnie and Corrine will be full of their ‘catchy’ dance hits to swing the mood, the organisers said.

Three piece band Wild Flowers led by Batison will provide music. OTSC Member Brian Thomas will compere.

Thomian Nite 2008 Postponed

Thomian Nite 2008 has been postponed indefinitely by the College’s OBA. It was due to be held on November 7, 2008 at Cinnamon Grand.

The organising committee of Thomian Nite 2008 said, they arrived at this decision, acting on the obligation that in the current situation of the country.

Despite it being a fund-raiser for Bishop Chapman Scholarships,” the interests of the nation took first priority,” the committee said.

Party 69 tomorrow

The time has come for all you party people to put on your best party outfit and slippers as the first ever Day groove Therapy by the pool kicks off tomorrow at Palm Beach Hotel, Mount Lavinia.

DJs are all set to spin the day away with their nonstop mixes and heavy tripping noise! The DJs are Shiyam, Heshan, Lil Guru, Rizni Upul. The guest DJ will be Ranga P. So it will be party from the time the day lights up till the day lights out.

Ermine, Dr. Dre Working Hard on Relapse

Eminem and Dr. Dre have been toiling away for five months on Em’s next album, Relapse, which is expected to be out before the end of the year via Interscope Records. Speaking to BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, Eminem said, “For the last five months I’ve been working pretty much straight with Dre. There’s going to be a lot of material, more so than I’ve had on an album with him producing before. Obviously his beats are insane but aside from that I can rap, I can write and not worry about what the beat has to sound like and how loud a snare drum is. All those things are taken care of for me. I feel like a spoiled rapper. I get to pick and choose everything.”He also said that he has no desire to reach the heights of fame that his previous albums have brought him. Slim Shady said he only wanted the record a new album “to remind people how I rap.””There’s no desire to be that big again. Whatever happens, I’ll take it, but that’s definitely not what I’ll be recording the songs for,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, it’s kind of catch 22. I love the attention but I don’t like too much of it.”

love really hurts without you Billy Ocean

A /E /Bm /Gb - E

You run around town like a fool and you

think that it’s groovy

You’re giving’ it to some other guy who gives you the eye

You don’t give nothing’ to me

you painted a smile

And you dress all the while to excite me.

But don’t you know you’re turning me on

I know that it’s wrong

but I can’t stop this pain inside me.

A/E/Bm/D-Db-D-B

Baby

love really hurts without you

Love really hurts without you

And it’s breaking my heart

But what can I do

baby

Love really hurts without you

Love really hurts through and through

And it’s breaking my heart

But what can I do without you

baby?

A /E /Bm /Gb - E

You walk like a dream and you make

like you’re Queen of the action

You’re using every trick in the book

the way that you look

You’re really something to see

you cheat and you lie

To impress any guy that you fancy

but don’t you know

I’m out of my mind

so give me a sigh

And help to ease the pain inside me.

A/E/Bm/D-Db-D-B

Baby

love really hurts without you

Scarlett Johansson

to host Nobel concert in Oslo :

“Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson will host the traditional December 11 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, this year honouring laureate Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, organisers said Tuesday.Johansson, who shot to fame in the 2003 movie “Lost in Translation,” will host the show featuring a number of stars, including Diana Ross, Canadian singer Feist and Norway’s Marit Larsen.

“I am truly honoured to be hosting this year’s Nobel Peace Prize concert and look forward to joining together with so many wonderful artists to pay tribute to Ahtisaari,” Johansson said in a statement. “His tireless efforts to promote peace on a global scale are an inspiration to us all,” she said.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to mediate conflicts around the world for more than three decades.

He will formally receive the prize at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital on December 10, on the eve of the concert. AFP