Randooga Music workshops and concerts in Colombo and Jaffna

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Sri Lanka, the Embassy of Japan together with the Japan Foundation will present a series of Randooga workshops and concerts in Colombo and Jaffna bringing together Japanese and Sri Lankan musicians to celebrate 60 years of friendship between the two countries.

This is the music part of the Japan Foundation's "Culture for Harmony and Peace" Project in Sri Lanka, planned and led by Professor Yoshiko Ashiwa of the Center for Peace and Reconciliation, Hitotsubashi University, Japan.

The Randooga Workshop features Japanese master of jazz piano, and founder of the Randooga Method, Masahiko Satoh, and renowned Sri Lankan Sitarist Pradeep Ratnayake in a unique joint musical performance that is also spontaneous and improvised. Kei Wada (percussionist), Akiko Uesugi (singer), Isaac Smith (bassist), Peshala Manoj (tabla) and others will join the duo in Colombo and Jaffna.

The Randooga workshops will introduce the method created by Masahiko Satoh to use improvisation as the way of nonverbal communication to enhance dialogue and understanding with oneself and between people.

The Colombo workshop will be held on November 26 at the Department of Language and Cultural Studies of the University of Sri Jayawardanepura at 1.30 pm. The Jaffna workshops will be held on November 28,29 in collaboration with Prof Shanmugalingam and Dr. K. Sidambaranadan at the Jaffna Heritage Hotel and it will culminate with a concert at Veerasingham Hall on November 29 at 4 p.m . The concert in Colombo will be held on December 2 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre at 7 p.m. and will feature another aspect of Randooga, where highly trained musicians communicate with each other through sound. For more information contact Cultural Section on Tel: 2693831~3 (Ext. 266) *