Features

EXECUTIVE CHEF AT AGE 21 – Part 25

Published

5 years ago

2021/11/21

Sahan Weerasooriya

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

chandij@sympatico.ca

The Acid Test

On my second day at Coral Gardens Hotel, the Manager had gone out to do some public relations (PR) with the Inspector of Police in charge of the Hikkaduwa police station. After working the whole day in my new role as the Executive Chef, I returned to my apartment around 6 pm. Soon after that, I heard a loud bang on my door. Two leaders of the hotel union – Edmond and Kalansooriya, had turned up to see me. The younger and more aggressive, Kalansooriya said, “We have a big problem in the staff canteen. You should come there immediately!” I enquired, “What’s the problem?” “We will explain when you come”, Edmond said. “OK, I will be there in five minutes,” I told them.

When I got to the staff canteen about 50 employees were standing outside the staff kitchen holding their plated dinners, waiting for me. Most employees were provided with full-board accommodation in staff quarters behind the hotel. “The fish curry served to us this evening, is made with spoilt fish!” I was told. I took a plate, tasted it and agreed with the union that the fish was not fresh. While all 50 employees were watching how I handled this hostile situation, I spoke with the staff cook who prepared the dinner and instructed him that in the future, if he was ever unsure of the quality of anything issued for staff meals, he should return the item to the stores and inform me immediately.

I then checked with the staff cook what alternative dish he could prepare as quickly as possible if I sent a cook from the main kitchen to help him. We decided that an egg curry will be made within 20 minutes to be served with already prepared rice, tempered potatoes and coconut sambol. I then addressed the 50 employees in Sinhala, apologised for the delay and said, “Your dinner will be ready in 20 minutes.”

Twenty minutes later the dinner was served. Most of those employees seemed satisfied, but not the union leaders. “For today, we will accept your solution, but any repetition of such incidents will not be tolerated by the union”, Edmond warned. I felt that he was being unfairly provocative, but I decided to be as patient as possible. Calmly but firmly, I told him looking him in the eye, “Look here, the poor-quality dinner was prepared by a member of your own union. This time, I will pardon him with a warning letter, but if it happens again, I will fire your member. Do you understand?” Edmond looked baffled, and did not talk any more. There was pindrop silence while I walked back to my apartment.

That evening, my father telephoned to check how I was doing in my new job. I told him about the incident. My father, who was a civil administrator, said, “Oh I see, Chandana. That was an acid test.” When I asked the meaning of that term, my father said that, “The union was checking if you were real gold!” and loudly laughed. “Son, you did well, but watch your back”, he warned. Later, I learnt that the whole incident was set up by the union with help from the stores to find some old fish for the ‘acid test’. My father was right.

I also discovered that all hotel union leaders belonged to Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) which had been founded in 1935 with Marxist-Leninist ideals. In 1975, this party left the coalition government led by the Prime Minister Sirima Badaranaike, and became more aggressive in leading the unions they controlled. The LSSP organized a series of one day strikes as a warning to the government. Edmond, a Restaurant Butler was the old school type of union leader. Kalansooriya, a barman, was young, more educated and more radical. As I looked after the kitchen, stores, restaurant and bars, they both worked in my departments and reported to me. I decided to keep a close eye on them out of the 50 employees who reported to me directly. The hotel had around 100 full-time employees and the other half reported to the Manager through a few supervisors.

Researching the Hotel History

In anything we do, understanding the past always helps in building a brighter future. Often, cultures of hotels are shaped by the previous managers/leaders. The good, the bad and the ugly sides of their personalities, leadership styles and habits seem to impact hotel culture for some time, even long after their departures. As a new and young manager, I decided to research the hotel’s history and culture.

Coral Garden Hotel had different phases of development over the last 100 years. Its location was the best in Hikkaduwa. It was a small rest house until expanded into a hotel in mid-1960s by Ceylon Holiday Resorts Limited floated by a group of investors. It was one of the first hotels to be opened in Ceylon in 100 years, since the opening of the famous three – Mount Lavinia Hotel, Galle Face Hotel and Grand Oriental Hotel in the mid-1860s. Coral Gardens was one of the first three hotels to open in the mid-1960s, encouraged by tax concessions to tourism and hotel developers. Barberyn Reef and Blue Lagoon were the others to open at that time.

At a time when Ceylon did not have a single hotel school, the owner’s choice of manager when Coral Gardens opened was Carl Young, a legendary hotelier, probably the first Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) to be professionally trained in hotel management in Europe in the 1950s. He was a former trade union leader at the famous Galle Face Hotel. Its British owners, in an attempt to weaken the union, had sent Young to Europe for training in hotel management. On returning to Ceylon after his training, and resigning from the union, he had been promoted as a departmental manager. Unfortunately for me, I never had the opportunity of meeting this pioneer. Two decades later, when I worked as the Consultant to the Chairman of Galle Face Hotel, Cyril Gardiner, I heard more interesting stories about Young.

In the mid-1960s, a large group of experienced workers loyal to him left the Galle Face Hotel to join him at Coral Gardens Hotel he was opening. Most of them were from the southern part of the island closer tha Colombo to Coral Gardens. Carl had also hired many fellow Burghers (a small Eurasian ethnic group descended from Portuguese, Dutch or British) as they were culturally westernized and fluent in English. In the early 1970s, Young migrated to Australia. Four successors who managed Coral Gardens Hotel over the next four-year period thereafter, could not match Young’s charisma, leadership style, knowledge, popularity or stability.

When Indrapala Munasinghe (Muna) and I took over its management in October 1975, a majority of the supervisors and clerical employees who were at Coral Gardens were those Burgher gentlemen who were loyal to Carl Young. As a result, the hotel culture was very different to that of Bentota Beach Hotel. I decided to include two popular dishes, ‘Lobster Carlo’ and ‘Chicken Maureen’, named after the popular manager and his wife, in my first à la carte menu as featured items. That gesture of respect proved very popular, among hotel employees.

Challenging the Boss/Baas

In settling down in my new job as the Executive Chef, most of my work involved creating a 14-day rotating menu for lunch and dinner for full-board guests, new buffet menus and an à la carte menu. As the hotel was criticised by the locals for exclusively using Colombo suppliers, I tried to increase purchases of mainly fish, vegetables and fruit from them.

When I commenced training the kitchen brigade on new dishes, I encountered a new challenge. The head cook frequently undermined my authority and disagreed with me publicly. He was about 30 years older than me and well-experienced. He had joined the kitchens of Galle Face Hotel, a few years before I was born. Understandably, he was reluctant to report to a youngster like me with very little experience. He was stubbornly stuck to some older methods and was resistant to modernizing the menus to suit changing tastes of tourists. I decided that I had to put him in his place sooner than later. Next time he disagreed with me about the preparation method of a dish, I decided to take the bull by the horns and challenged him to a cooking competition.

The head cook was respectfully addressed by the cooks as baas unnehe (boss gentleman). “Baas, as you are so sure that your method is better than mine, let’s each prepare the dish using our own method and ask the kitchen brigade to choose the better tasting and better presented dish.” He agreed, and we commenced the competition immediately. I took a chance with this challenge as most of the old-timers in the kitchen were loyal to baas.

I made it a friendly competition. “Baas and I have decided to consult all of you today about the future recipe of one of the most popular dishes of this hotel”, I announced. Then I asked the cooks to stand in a circle to watch baas and I while we were cooking. As they never had such consultation in the past, they were excited. The dish was ‘Lobster Thermidor’ and I did not like baas’s version using an ‘old fashioned’ thick white sauce with a lot of flour. My version was lighter, with less cooking time and ended with a little brandy.

We both cooked at the same time, and the cooks were the judges of the recipe, cooking method, duration, taste, presentation and the cost. My version of the dish was overwhelmingly popular and was voted as the clear winner. With that one incident I commanded lots of respect in the kitchen. When leading a team of skilled workers, nothing is a better motivator than the technical skills of the manager.

Baas immediately changed his attitude and became an obedient member of my kitchen team. Eventually, after a few weeks, he left Coral Gardens to join The Village at Habarana. I was thinking, ‘good riddance’, but gave him a good farewell. After some training, I promoted the ‘hotel school-trained’ kitchen clerk’, Winston Daniel as the kitchen supervisor and my number two in the kitchen. Years later when I became the General manager of The Village, I met baas again. By then he had retired from hotels and had become a small businessman settled in Habarana. We continued to have a cordial relationship. When I addressed him as ‘baas unnehe’ in Habarana, he was pleased, as he felt respected.

Improving the Team Spirit and Food

After that episode in 1975, I used a more participative style in menu planning and kitchen management. I asked each cook to prepare and showcase each of their favourite dishes. As a team we picked the best also with serious consideration of changing the tastes of our guests. This proved to be a highly successful approach, which I continued throughout my career in hospitality. By the end of the month, the team was ready. All were re-trained, menus were printed, and suppliers contracted. We were ready for the tourist season, my first as an Executive Chef.

Having done my research, I was ready to start the tourist season with a bang to make a name for myself as a creative Executive Chef. I used all I learnt during my rewarding year as the Trainee Executive Chef at Bentota Beach, such as organizing buffets with a wide variety of dishes and decorations. I taught myself skills such as cooking Chinese food that the Ceylon Hotel School did not teach then. I also had a few private lessons on cake decorations with a well-known pastry making teacher in Colombo. Using my childhood experience in sculpture, I also learnt to do butter carvings and ice sculpture to improve buffet decorations. The first Sunday lunch buffet we did was a big success in terms of quality, variety, presentation, popularity and profits.

Making a Name

I also commenced a weekly barbecue dinner buffet brainstorming with the restaurant team on the ideal location for this new weekly feature. As it was convenient to them, they suggested laying it just outside the restaurant. Having consulted the tour leaders and a few long-staying guests, I identified the beach as the better location and managed to convince the restaurant team led by the union leader, Butler Edmond, that a little extra work taking all items further to the beach may improve guest satisfaction and waiters’ tip earning potential. That worked.

The surrounding coconut trees, sounds of the waves of the Indian Ocean, fishing boats beyond the reef with flickering lanterns created a positive first impression for our beach barbecues. The sky with a galaxy of stars, the moonlight, and the gentle sea spray created a magically romantic mood. We enhanced the ambience with fire torches, limbo dancers carrying flaming torches and calypso music and finally, with the buffet decorations and aromas of the freshly barbecued fish and meat. It was a big hit!

Many of the repeat guests were highly impressed by the improved menus, theme nights, buffets and decorations. We made a good name for our food and service. The Sunday lunch buffets attracted many well-to-do Sri Lankans from Galle and other nearby towns as well as guests from other hotels. Satisfied tour leaders had praised the ‘improved’ operation and food quality at the head office which in turn complimented the Hotel Manager, Muna and I, for commencing the 1975 tourist season with a bang.

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Features

Coercive laws recipe for future misrule

Published

13 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

The NPP government is going after powerful figures from the past and present who have engaged in corruption, fraud and criminal activity in a way that no previous government in Sri Lanka has done. Former ministers, politicians and senior state officials are among those facing investigations and legal proceedings. The government has placed before Parliament a document listing 50 cases involving corruption, fraud and other crimes. These include not only financial offences but also cases relating to the Easter Sunday attacks, the killings of Lasantha Wickrematunge and Wasim Thajudeen, the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and attacks on journalists Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennakoon.

The significance of this effort is that it can demonstrate that nobody is above the law, regardless of political connections or social standing, which will help restore public confidence in institutions that have long been distrusted. It could also recover public resources, improve the investment climate and strengthen the foundations for a more prosperous and just Sri Lanka. When criticised for focusing on the past and not the present, the government position is that these investigations were initiated under earlier governments, particularly between 2015 and 2019, and that it is now allowing investigators to proceed to deal with the backlog without political interference.

But there is an aspect of the government’s approach that is less justifiable. While pursuing past wrongdoing by powerful individuals, it is also advancing a triumvirate of draft laws that could give the state sweeping powers over citizens, organisations and dissent in the present and future. The draft Prevention of Terrorism legislation, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill raise serious questions about the over-centralisation of power. Each of these laws strengthens the powers of the state while weakening the rights and safeguards that protect people from their misuse and thus questions the basic rights of people in democracy where ‘the power of the people is vested in the government’. This is a recipe for future misrule rather than the rule of law. As the well-known saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Proposed Laws

The real test of system change, for which the government obtained an overwhelming mandate, requires not only a government willing to hold others accountable, but one prepared to subject itself to the same principles of legality, transparency and restraint. The three proposed laws that are particularly important in this regard are the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill and the NGO Registration and Supervision Bill. Each of these draft laws has been presented as serving a legitimate purpose. Preventing terrorism, combating organised crime and ensuring that NGOs do not facilitate money laundering or terrorist financing are proper responsibilities of the state. Sri Lanka has international obligations in these areas, and no responsible government can disregard them. However, the existence of a legitimate objective does not justify every means adopted to achieve it.

The proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill illustrates the problem. Although its definition of terrorism draws on a model developed by a former United Nations Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has warned that the definition of terrorism extends beyond the model and could bring legitimate political protest, trade union action and civil disobedience within the scope of counter-terrorism legislation. Its concerns also include prolonged detention, inadequate judicial oversight and restrictions on access to legal counsel. These are objections that go to the heart of the relationship between the citizen and the state. The government cannot credibly promise to protect democratic freedoms while creating powers that could be used to restrict them. It is necessary for the government to reassess the draft through transparent consultation and revise provisions that could criminalise legitimate dissent.

The Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill raises similar concerns. It is presented as giving effect to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, which Sri Lanka ratified in 2006. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has argued that the convention does not require many of the bill’s provisions. The proposed law extends to a broad range of offences, permits detention orders lasting up to a year, makes confessions to police admissible for purposes of legal evidence, and introduces extensive surveillance powers. A law intended to dismantle criminal networks should not create a parallel system of exceptional powers that could be applied far beyond organised crime. Nor should safeguards developed through years of experience with abuses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act be weakened through legislation bearing a different name. The government should review whether or not existing laws could be used effectively to control these crimes or whether each exceptional power is necessary.

Civil Society

The proposed NGO Registration and Supervision Bill presents another test of the government’s intentions. The government may reasonably seek transparency in the finances of organisations receiving public or foreign funds, including measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. It seeks to justify its overreach on the grounds of meeting the internationally mandated requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the Asia-Pacific region. But these objectives do not justify placing civil society and NGOs under excessive administrative control when even the FATF ranks them as low to medium risks. The draft bill would require registration and renewal, impose extensive obligations on organisations and empower authorities to suspend or deregister them on broadly framed grounds. It is important to redraft provisions that confer excessive discretion over registration, renewal, suspension and deregistration of NGOs.

Among the concerns raised by United Nations human rights special rapporteurs with regard to the draft NGO law are provisions requiring organisations to align with government policies and restrictions that could affect advocacy, dissent and freedom of association. The implications extend well beyond organisations that engage directly with the government. Community groups, human rights organisations, independent researchers and organisations working on reconciliation or accountability could find their activities constrained by uncertainty over how these provisions might be interpreted. Organisations that criticise government policies are not thereby working against the country. Their freedom to do so is part of what distinguishes a democracy from a system in which the government determines which opinions and activities are acceptable.

The government has generated considerable public goodwill through its pursuit of corruption and criminality. It should not assume that this goodwill gives it an unlimited mandate to strengthen the coercive powers of the state. The NPP knows from its own history that governments can treat dissent as a threat and use the machinery of the state against their opponents. There is still time to correct the drafts through transparent public consultation, narrow definitions of offences, meaningful judicial control over detention and surveillance, and effective remedies against arbitrary decisions. A government that pursues corruption while weakening safeguards against state abuse risks undermining its own achievements. Besides bringing to light the abuse of power by previous governments, the NPP government needs to build a system in which no future government can abuse power in the belief they can get away with it.

Features

Quality assurance without quality enhancement: The irony of university QA

Published

13 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

By Ramya Kumar

According to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), quality assurance (QA) refers to “the means (i.e. the policies, attitudes, actions, procedures, etc.), by which an institution can guarantee with confidence and certainty, that the standards and quality of its educational provision are being maintained and enhanced”.

An expansive structure has been in place since 2005 to govern and implement QA processes within the state university system. The QAC is the focal point at the UGC that implements external reviews of state universities and institutes. Each university has its own Centre for Quality Assurance (CQA) tasked with performing QA in line with QAC directives. Faculties, in turn, have Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) performing their own QA; they are answerable to the CQA.

The big question is whether this all-encompassing top-down QA system, that in many ways undermines the internal dynamics of university governance, actually supports universities to enhance the quality of education. This article highlights some concerns.

Top-down check-box activities

The QAC conducts external reviews of universities and degree programmes. A review team appointed by the UGC (who may or may not have experience in the institution/programme in question) examines the self-evaluation report submitted by the said institution/programme. The team then conducts a site visit to verify the claims made in the university’s self-evaluation report, clarify issues identified during the desk review, and examine how QA procedures operate in practice. The team holds meetings with the university administration, members of the Council and Senate, Deans, Heads of Departments, academic and non-academic staff, students, and others. Following the visit, a draft report is submitted to the relevant institution/programme for comment before final publication. The reviewed institution/programme then prepares and publishes an action plan addressing the recommendations, with subsequent monitoring of progress.

There are some worthy QA initiatives under implementation, such as improving facilities for students with disabilities and strengthening mechanisms to address sexual- and gender-based violence. However, for the most part, QA activities have little to do with improving the quality of education. They are mostly preoccupied with monitoring faculty and department websites, digital transformation, student feedback, subject evaluation, course evaluation, peer evaluation, and, more recently, staff appraisal. These activities, which consume an inordinate amount of time—so precious at understaffed universities—have become check-box activities completed to generate evidence for the next review. Below is an excerpt of a conversation between two academics (1 and 2) that conveys how QA plays out at universities (reproduced with permission).

1: … .it’s like social media you know, like posting things on Facebook or twitter or Instagram. When people do a lot of social media, everything they do, they do thinking, “okay I’m going to post it in this way… this I have to put on my Instagram.” QA is a little like that… everything is considered in light of, “ah we can use this for the review, as evidence… for example very recently we were encouraged to have all the things that we do in our department in the faculty newsletter so then they can put in the review. Every little thing has to be noted down….

2: And with pictures and all…

1: At the very least it has to be written so that you have written evidence .. you can’t be doing something for the sake of doing something or because it is good for the department … and sometimes people tell me “oh yea that’s a good idea we can fit that under this x, y section of the review..”

2: Yea, and nobody really thinks about the actual outcome… whether it’s actually helping anyone..

1: I also find that a lot of the words that we used in different ways have now been co-opted to the QA discourse ..including quality.. I can’t actually say what I want as an “outcome”, for example, that the outcome of this workshop is that my students “think about” … then I am told “ah but no that’s not one of the Bloom’s taxonomy words, “think about”.…

2: And the worst part is these medical and agriculture people, these types of people go around spreading it like some kind of gospel!

1: Yea, this cookie cutter way of doing things, they think is the height of innovativeness or creativity, when actually it is so mundane … for me the most awful thing about it is like some fungus of mundanity has taken over through QA reviews.

2: yea, when you say QA, my mind closes off immediately and I stop listening…

Auditing everything but power

QA leaves out crucial aspects of university governance. For instance, there is no review or assessment of the “quality” of university administrations under Criterion 1 or the integrity of procedures governing the promotion of academic staff under Criterion 6 of the institutional reviews.

The majority in the Council—the university’s executive and governing body, which is responsible for selecting the Vice-Chancellor (VC)—are appointed in ad hoc fashion. Apart from the Ex-Officio members in the Council (VC, Deans, etc.), and the two members elected by the Senate, the remainder are appointed by the UGC with no formal consultation or vetting procedure. The VC appointment process described in UGC Circular No. 03/2023 exemplifies how an ostensibly technical process can become entangled in political sycophancy. The Registrar invites applications for the position of VC through advertisement. Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae, a statement of vision for the university and supporting documents. The University Council appoints a three-member Search Committee of senior academics to encourage “eminent persons” to apply, while the UGC appoints a former VC from another university to “observe” the selection process.

A Special Meeting of the University Council is convened. Candidates are interviewed and must make a presentation to the Council Members, followed by questions. Each Council member “gives marks” for seven prescribed criteria: strategic focus (20%), effective leadership (20%), holistic thinking/conceptual skills (10%), academic and research excellence (15%), personal integrity (10%), professional communication (10%) and managerial competence (15%). Marks are averaged, and the Council recommends three candidates to the UGC in rank order. The UGC-appointed observer separately submits a confidential report on the selection process.

This procedure is expected to guarantee quality, but does it? Applications are submitted to the Council Members, who have been appointed on questionable bases, and who are expected to review the applications and give scores, based on objective assessments. But, in reality, most Council Members are manipulated by VC candidates, who often have personal ties with them. The UGC-appointed observer usually has no genuine interest in the outcome. And there is no way for anyone to actually question the Council’s decision once it is made. Although the highest-ranked candidate may ultimately be appointed, the selection remains a political decision made by the President, who retains the discretion to appoint any one of the three.

External reviews also do not look into the promotions of academic staff, except to scrutinise whether there are policies and procedures in place to govern promotion. Academic staff may apply for promotion to Professor once they satisfy the prescribed eligibility requirements, which typically include the period of service, academic qualifications, research and publication achievements, teaching experience, and contributions to the university and wider community. Applications are evaluated against specified criteria, with research output and academic contributions assessed through documentary evidence and expert evaluation. Under the UGC’s scheme for Professors, two experts from outside the applicant’s institution assess specified aspects of research and knowledge dissemination. Again, beneath this technical process, which is externally evaluated, lies a problematic points-based scheme that can be manipulated and abused with impunity.

Rethinking university QA

Like the VC election process and the schemes of promotion for academic staff, QA reviews are open to manipulation. Before a review, there is a chaotic rush to complete evidence gathering and reporting. Academics leave all other work aside, including at times their teaching, to focus on completing documentation and preparing reports. The standardised criteria in the review manuals and scoring sheets often do not reflect differences in disciplines and institutional contexts. But this does not really matter because any serious problems experienced by institutions or programmes are hastily brushed under the carpet to conceal any evidence that could taint the review. The goal is to obtain an A or at least a B grade at whatever cost.

QA may result in positive change if it moves beyond top-down check-box activities towards internally designed and owned processes encompassing all aspects of university governance, led by departments and faculties, and supported by adequate resources. The current QA system needs to be dismantled and replaced by procedures that are accountable, not to the UGC, but to our students and the communities we serve.

(Ramya Kumar is attached to the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna)

. Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

Features

Down Memory Lane — the Grand 20th Edition!

Published

13 hours ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Down Memory Lane: Ready to sing again

Yes, Down Memory Lane, the beloved Sing-Along concert series that first struck a chord, way back in 1997, returns for its landmark 20th edition this Saturday, 17th October, at the beautiful Bolgoda Grand Resort, Moratuwa town centre.

Having celebrated its glorious 25th anniversary with the show in 2023, this milestone 20th concert promises to be even more special.

The organisers, the ever-popular Moratuwa Arts Forum, are pulling out all the stops to present yet another unforgettable evening, brimming with camaraderie, fellowship, and pure nostalgia.

Get ready for two-and-a-half hours of non-stop singing as veteran vocalists, from the Moratuwa Arts Forum, will take the stage to lead and inspire the happy audience to sing, sing and sing to their hearts’ content.

The repertoire? Absolutely magical, according to the organisers.

Veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike: Will handle the evening’s proceedings / Priya Peiris: Event Conceptor

Around 40 golden oldies — from timeless English vintage evergreens and hits from the 50s to the 90s, to toe-tapping calypsos, soulful American plantation melodies, rousing cowboy and Dixieland favourites, aa well as cherished Sinhala standards. All to be sung with much gusto!

This year’s dedicated organising committee comprises Brian Coorey (Chairman), Priya Peiris (Event Conceptor), Hiran Fernando, Suranga Fernando, Viranjan Perera, Hemka Fernando and Neelesh Silva. Guidance and support comes from Moratuwa Arts Forum President Sarana Guneratne and Secretary Chandani Silva.

Adding his signature charm to the evening, as Master of Ceremonies, will be the veteran Arun Dias Bandaranaike.

Don’t miss this landmark celebration of music and memories!

For further details, contact Hiran Fernando on 0772636446 or WhatsApp 0783636446.