Features

NEW DOORS OPENED IN LONDON – Part 41

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/20

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

Trust House Forte

I arrived in London during the summer of 1979 to undergo a special Management Observer/Trainee program with the largest hotel chain in the United Kingdom – Trust House Forte (THF). I had worked at their hotel in Sri Lanka, the Pegasus Reef Hotel, during my first year at the Ceylon Hotel School seven years before as a part-time bus boy. What I did not know about THF was that by 1979 it had emerged as the largest and the most profitable hotel and catering company in the world.

As required, I went to the THF Personnel Division on my first Monday in London. “I am Geoffrey Pye, the Director of Personnel for THF hotels in London. I will personally conduct your orientation to THF”, a well-dressed and kind gentleman informed me. “Meet Miss Linda Woodhouse, the new Training Officer of the Cumberland Hotel.” He introduced a young and friendly lady who was assigned to coordinate my management observation/training program.

Linda informed me that by staying at the Regent Palace Hotel I would be a guest observer there. My main assignment was at the Cumberland, a 900-room hotel located above the Marble Arch underground station. “Chandi, you are lucky to be able to understudy Mr. Bejaramo, our famous Catering Manager”, Linda told me. It was my first orientation program.

As a British-owned group, THF’s presence in the United Kingdom was clearly visible with massive contract catering operations, large restaurant chains and some of the most iconic hotels. In London, THF owned and managed some of the greatest hotels in the Commonwealth, such the Grosvenor House, Hyde Park Hotel, the Cumberland, the Strand Palace, the Browns, the Russell, and the Waldorf. THF also owned and managed the famous banquet venue – Café Royal situated very close to the Regent Palace Hotel and Piccadilly Circus.

Linda provided me with many interesting facts about THF’s history and current operations. Sir Charles Forte had become the CEO of THF in 1971. He was an Italian-born British caterer and hotelier who founded the leisure and hotel conglomerate that ultimately became known as the Forte Group in later years. When he was four years of age, Charles had migrated from Italy to Scotland with his family. After working in milk bars operated by his father in Scotland, at age 26 Charles moved to the capital city with £2,000 borrowed from his father to set up his own first milk bar in London in 1935. Having expanded his business into catering and hotel businesses, in 1970 he orchestrated a clever merger of the Forte Holdings with an older hotel and catering group, Trust Houses Ltd. That merger resulted in the formation of Trust House Forte or THF.

In Britain, THF continued its hotel expansion with various ambitious acquisitions including the 1976 purchase of the Lyons Hotel Group, a substantial assortment of first-class hotels including the Cumberland and the Regent Palace. For decades, Sir Charles attempted to take control of, arguably, the most famous hotel in the United Kingdom since 1889 – Savoy Hotel. The vision, hard work and business acumen of Sir Charles resulted in THF managing over 900 hotels in 44 countries by the year 1979.

Sir Charles’s only son, Rocco Forte, an Oxford‐educated linguist and a chartered accountant, was expected to eventually succeed his father to lead the THF empire. A subsequent acquisition of Le Meridien from Air France was a prestigious addition to the group. For decades the Forte family was successful in keeping hostile takeover bidders at bay, until 1996. I never had the opportunity of meeting Sir Charles, but in later years, as the general manager of two Forte hotels in South America, I had the opportunity of welcoming and hosting Sir Rocco Forte (he was knighted in 1995). Sir Rocco established his own company – Rocco Forte Hotels in the year 1996.

Building an International Career

In professional life, opportunities gained, contacts made and relationships nurtured can significantly and positively impact career progression. After 1979, I kept in touch with Linda Woodhouse, who helped me by arranging two more useful management observer assignments in London with THF. These were during the mid-1980s at the Grosvenor House Hotel and the Hyde Park Hotel. That exposure opened another door for me to secure a position as an internationally mobile expatriate hotel general manager of THF/Forte PLC in 1994, with special help from Mr. Bodhipala Wijesinghe, who worked at the TFH head office in London.

In that capacity I managed three of their hotels – Forte Crest/Guyana Pegasus Hotel, Timberhead Eco Resort in the Amazon Rainforest and Forte Grand/ Le Meridien/Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. In 1994, out of nearly 1,000 hotel general managers in the group, only four came from developing countries, and I was one of them. Sri Lankan accountant and hotelier, Ranjan Nadarajah (Nada) who passed away last week in UAE was another. In the year 1998, the two hotels managed by Nada and I became the first hotels to be awarded ISO 9002 certifications in our two regions (The Middle East and North America). Nada was a very nice colleague, and I did a short mystery shopper assignment for him at Le Meridien Dubai in the year 2000.

I also did the General Manager’s Foundation study program at the Forte Academy in the UK. I shadowed some of my peers, general managers of sister Forte Hotels in the UK, Barbados, the Bahamas, Bermuda, USA and Canada. In 1998, the group kindly arranged for me to have a two-year sabbatical leave in order to complete my doctoral studies in the UK. “This is a very unusual request! You are one of our best GMs, so why do you need a PhD?” a confused Human Resource Vice President of the corporate office of Forte PLC asked me, prior to approving my request for the sabbatical leave.

After successfully defending my doctoral thesis in London, in the early 2000s, I declined three lucrative offers from Forte PLC/Rocco Forte Hotels to work in Egypt, India and Russia. That was due to my family commitments in Canada and my new desire to pursue a second career in post-secondary education and management consulting. In 2002, I did a long mystery shopper assignment with my wife, at Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Canada. Altogether I gained some type of work experience at 14 Forte hotels located in ten countries between 1971 and 2002. In the years 2003 and 2004, I also did a leadership development consulting assignment for Rocco Forte Hotels in England and Scotland. Thank you for all these amazing opportunities, THF/Forte PLC/Rocco Forte hotels!

A Guest at the Largest Hotel in the UK

In 1979, being the manager of the small 52-room Hotel Swanee in Sri Lanka, staying at THF as well as UK’s largest hotel (1,068 rooms), the Regent Palace was overwhelming for me. The hotel looked after me very well by providing full board accommodation on a complimentary basis for two months. Like most of the major hotels of THF chain at that time, the Regent Palace offered a carvery buffet every day. I was a frequent diner at that sumptuous carvery whenever I did not have my meals at the Cumberland Hotel where I worked.

Although it was the largest hotel in Europe when it was opened in 1915 by J. Lyons & Company, most of the rooms at the Regent Palace were very small, similar to hotels opened before or during World War I. I was surprised that some rooms did not have attached bathrooms, only wash basins. In spite of some shortcomings, I was very happy staying right in the heart of London. It was the most convenient location for me.

The Regent Palace was within close proximity to the Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, West End theatres, Leicester Square movie theatres, Regent Street shops as well as to many museums and art galleries. I was very happy to be there and walked all over London. If it was not raining, I walked to the Marble Arch to work. On rainy days I took the subway or a bus.

Some weekends I had many invitations from Sri Lankan friends, members of my family, a few former guests of Hotel Swanee, and the Swedish and Sri Lankan couple who worked at the Tjaereborg Tour Company’s office in London – Kurt Hansen and Bobby Jordan, who were my friends from Ceysands days. I had a busy social calendar during the evenings and free weekends. I also visited a few of my younger Sri Lankan friends who worked at Wimpy Bars in the West End.

Ranjith Dharmaratnam (Assistant Manager of the Village, Habarana), who travelled to London with me, was trained at the accounts department of another THF hotel – Grosvenor House. As he had family in London, he did not stay at the Regent Palace. One day I unexpectedly met a former work colleague of mine from Bentota Beach Hotel who had moved to the Pegasus Reef Hotel to be the Front Office Manager. Having noticed his potential, THF had sent Srilal Mendis (Menda) for training in London. A few years after his training Menda also became an international hotelier. Menda and I explored most of the tourist attractions in London and surrounding areas during weekends. I also travelled to Windsor, Winchester, Portsmouth and South Hampton.

The late 1970s were not always a peaceful era in the UK. I was shocked to see on TV, that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for the August 27, 1979 murder of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. As the supreme allied commander for Southeast Asia, he had commanded the British troops from his base in Ceylon during the latter part of World War II. For a few days I was glued to the TV in my hotel room, watching news about that shocking assassination.

A Management Trainee of a 900-room Hotel

My work at the Cumberland Hotel was mainly in the Food and Beverage department. It was much grander than the Regent Palace and had a very busy catering and banqueting operation. The public rooms, restaurants, banquet hall and grill room were located centrally. I also spent some time observing and working in the catering department as well as the kitchens, purchasing, receiving, stores, payroll and accounts departments.

I was a regular at management meetings, simply to observe. The most useful meeting I attended was a top-level meeting among managers of 20 THF hotels in London, to coordinate their Christmas and New Year’s Eve events. This was one best practice I implemented soon after returning to Hotel Swanee. I loved to talk with all levels of employees and gathered interesting, historical information of this grand hotel.

Stemming from that interest, five years later in 1984, I wrote a 100,000-word (353 pages) master’s dissertation at the University of Surrey about British five-star hotels. I did my field research at all 16 five-star London hotels. Most parts of my master’s dissertation were later published as a text book for British universities, with my supervisor, Professor Richard Kotas of the University of Surrey, as the co-author. In the early 1990’s I succeeded him as the Director of the Hotel School at Schiller International University’s London Campus.

The island site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, had been acquired around 1925, by Lyons for building the Cumberland Hotel. It eventually opened in 1933. The hotel was a pioneer by including many luxurious features at that time, such as sound-proof, double glazed windows, air conditioning and 900 bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms.

The Cumberland had been acquired by THF, two years before I did my management training there. I found that some of the old-timers from Lyons had doubts about the changes implemented by THF. During some good weather days, I spent my lunch breaks seated at the nearby Hyde Park observing birds, playful pet dogs and at times listening to speakers on soap boxes attempting to attract larger audiences. I found every corner of this great city interesting.

With my invaluable experiences of luxury hotel operations at the Cumberland Hotel, I began dreaming of one day becoming the General Manager of a large international five-star hotel. As I looked around, I was disappointed that none of the General Managers, at that time, looked like me or came from developing countries. Most of those General Managers in the London five-star hotels had the British professional qualification – Member of the Hotel & Catering International Management Association (MHCIMA). As the HCIMA head office was in London, I decided to visit them to check on my chances of becoming an MHCIMA.

Door Closed at HCIMA

HCIMA had an impressive total of 23,000 members (21,000 British) professional members. It usually took four years of undergraduate degree level studies plus five more years of post-qualification management experience to obtain the professional title of MHCIMA. Then it was the highest qualification in the United Kingdom for hospitality managers. One day, a little bit nervously I visited the HCIMA head office in South London to check my chances of becoming an MHCIMA.

The HCIMA officer who interviewed me, rejected my application, as she did not recognize my three-year diploma from the Ceylon Hotel School, as compatible to a British HND or OND. She insisted that I complete four years of studies with HCIMA, before being considered for MHCIMA qualification. To me a rejection is always a great motivator, which inspires me to do better and at times, find practical short cuts. After that meeting, I decided that I will eventually earn this qualification, to lay a stronger foundation to become the General Manager of a five-star international hotel.

After a few years of further studies and numerous communications with HCIMA, finally I managed to become an MHCIMA in 1984, and a Fellow (FHCIMA) in 1992. In 2004, after serving HCIMA Board as an elected International Zone Representative for three years, I was elected as the worldwide President of HCIMA (now the Institute of Hospitality, UK), and appointed Chairman of HCIMA Ltd, UK, the commercial enterprise of the professional association.

In those two roles, I was fortunate to get a unique opportunity to lead the world’s largest professional body for hospitality managers in 104 countries with 25 international groups and 26 British chapters. For 84 years since the inception of this professional body in 1938, all Presidents were Europeans, except when a Sri Lankan was elected in 2004.

It was exactly 25 years after arriving in the UK as a first-time visitor and a nervous management trainee in 1979, that I was elected by my British hospitality management peers, as their President. The lesson here, for aspiring young hospitality managers, is that: “Treat the sky as the limit. As long as you have a vision for the future combined with hard work and passion, you can make things seem impossible to eventually happen”. At times the light may not be visible at the end of the tunnel, but that should not be an excuse not to dream big and work hard to achieve unprecedented goals. Go, open new doors!

All News Advertisement

Features

Ethnic-related problems need solutions now

Published

16 hours ago

2026/01/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

President Dissanayake in Jaffna

In the space of 15 months, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has visited the North of the country more than any other president or prime minister. These were not flying visits either. The president most recent visit to Jaffna last week was on the occasion of Thai Pongal to celebrate the harvest and the dawning of a new season. During the two days he spent in Jaffna, the president launched the national housing project, announced plans to renovate Palaly Airport, to expedite operations at the Kankesanthurai Port, and pledged once again that racism would have no place in the country.

There is no doubt that the president’s consistent presence in the north has had a reassuring effect. His public rejection of racism and his willingness to engage openly with ethnic and religious minorities have helped secure his acceptance as a national leader rather than a communal one. In the fifteen months since he won the presidential election, there have been no inter community clashes of any significance. In a country with a long history of communal tension, this relative calm is not accidental. It reflects a conscious political choice to lower the racial temperature rather than inflame it.

But preventing new problems is only part of the task of governing. While the government under President Dissanayake has taken responsibility for ensuring that anti-minority actions are not permitted on its watch, it has yet to take comparable responsibility for resolving long standing ethnic and political problems inherited from previous governments. These problems may appear manageable because they have existed for years, even decades. Yet their persistence does not make them innocuous. Beneath the surface, they continue to weaken trust in the state and erode confidence in its ability to deliver justice.

Core Principle

A core principle of governance is responsibility for outcomes, not just intentions. Governments do not begin with a clean slate. Governments do not get to choose only the problems they like. They inherit the state in full, with all its unresolved disputes, injustices and problemmatic legacies. To argue that these are someone else’s past mistakes is politically convenient but institutionally dangerous. Unresolved problems have a habit of resurfacing at the most inconvenient moments, often when a government is trying to push through reforms or stabilise the economy.

This reality was underlined in Geneva last week when concerns were raised once again about allegations of sexual abuse that occurred during the war, affecting both men and women who were taken into government custody. Any sense that this issue had faded from international attention was dispelled by the release of a report by the Office of the Human Rights High Commissioner titled “Sri Lanka: Report on conflict related sexual violence”, dated 13.01.26. Such reports do not emerge in a vacuum. They are shaped by the absence of credible domestic processes that investigate allegations, establish accountability and offer redress. They also shape international perceptions, influence diplomatic relationships and affect access to cooperation and support.

Other unresolved problems from the past continue to fester. These include the continued detention of Tamil prisoners under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, in some cases for many years without conclusion, the failure to return civilian owned land taken over by the military during the war, and the fate of thousands of missing persons whose families still seek answers. These are not marginal issues even when they are not at the centre stage. They affect real lives and entire communities. Their cumulative effect is corrosive, undermining efforts to restore normalcy and rebuild confidence in public institutions.

Equal Rights

Another area where delay will prove costly is the resettlement of Malaiyaha Tamil communities affected by the recent cyclone in the central hills, which was the worst affected region in the country. Even as President Dissanayake celebrated Thai Pongal in Jaffna to the appreciation of the people there, Malaiyaha Tamils engaged in peaceful campaigns to bring attention to their unresolved problems. In Colombo at the Liberty Roundabout, a number of them gathered to symbolically celebrate Thai Pongal while also bringing national attention to the issues of their community, in particular the problem of displacement after the cyclone.

The impact of the cyclone, and the likelihood of future ones under conditions of climate change, make it necessary for the displaced Malaiyaha Tamils to be found new places of residence. This is also an opportunity to tackle the problem of their landlessness in a comprehensive manner and make up for decades if not two centuries of inequity.

Planning for relocation and secure housing is good governance. This needs to be done soon. Climate related disasters do not respect political timetables. They punish delay and indecision. A government that prides itself on system change cannot respond to such challenges with temporary fixes.

The government appears concerned that finding new places for the Malaiyaha Tamil people to be resettled will lead to land being taken away from plantation companies which are said to be already struggling for survival. Due to the economic crisis the country has faced since it went bankrupt in 2022, the government has been deferential to the needs of company owners who are receiving most favoured treatment. As a result, the government is contemplating solutions such as high rise apartments and townhouse style housing to minimise the use of land.

Such solutions cannot substitute for a comprehensive strategy that includes consultations with the affected population and addresses their safety, livelihoods and community stability.

Lose Trust

Most of those who voted for the government at the last elections did so in the hope that it would bring about system change. They did not vote for the government to reinforce the same patterns that the old system represented. At its core, system change means rebalancing priorities. It means recognising that economic efficiency without social justice is a short-term gain with long-term costs. It means understanding that unresolved ethnic grievances, unaddressed wartime abuses and unequal responses to disaster will eventually undermine any development programme, no matter how well designed. Governance that postpones difficult decisions may buy time, but lose trust.

The coming year will therefore be decisive. The government must show that its commitment to non racism and inclusion extends beyond conflict prevention to conflict resolution. Addressing conflict related abuses, concluding long standing detentions, returning land, accounting for the missing and securing dignified resettlement for displaced communities are not distractions from the government programme. They are central to it. A government committed to genuine change must address the problems it inherited, or run the risk of being overwhelmed when those problems finally demand settlement.

by Jehan Perera

Features

Education. Reform. Disaster: A Critical Pedagogical Approach

Published

16 hours ago

2026/01/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

PM Amarasuriya

This Kuppi writing aims to engage critically with the current discussion on the reform initiative “Transforming General Education in Sri Lanka 2025,” focusing on institutional and structural changes, including the integration of a digitally driven model alongside curriculum development, teacher training, and assessment reforms. By engaging with these proposed institutional and structural changes through the parameters of the division and recognition of labour, welfare and distribution systems, and lived ground realities, the article develops a critical perspective on the current reform discourse. By examining both the historical context and the present moment, the article argues that these institutional and structural changes attempt to align education with a neoliberal agenda aimed at enhancing the global corporate sector by producing “skilled” labour. This agenda is further evaluated through the pedagogical approach of socialist feminist scholarship. While the reforms aim to produce a ‘skilled workforce with financial literacy,’ this writing raises a critical question: whose labour will be exploited to achieve this goal? Why and What Reform to Education

In exploring why, the government of Sri Lanka seeks to introduce reforms to the current education system, the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, revealed in a recent interview on 15 January 2026 on News First Sri Lanka that such reforms are a pressing necessity. According to the philosophical tradition of education reform, curriculum revision and prevailing learning and teaching structures are expected every eight years; however, Sri Lanka has not undertaken such revisions for the past ten years. The renewal of education is therefore necessary, as the current system produces structural issues, including inequality in access to quality education and the need to create labour suited to the modern world. Citing her words, the reforms aim to create “intelligent, civil-minded citizens” in order to build a country where people live in a civilised manner, work happily, uphold democratic principles, and live dignified lives.

Interpreting her narrative, I claim that the reform is intended to produce, shape, and develop a workforce for the neoliberal economy, now centralised around artificial intelligence and machine learning. My socialist feminist perspective explains this further, referring to Rosa Luxemburg’s reading on reforms for social transformation. As Luxemburg notes, although the final goal of reform is to transform the existing order into a better and more advanced system: The question remains: does this new order truly serve the working class? In the case of education, the reform aims to transform children into “intelligent, civil-minded citizens.” Yet, will the neoliberal economy they enter, and the advanced technological industries that shape it, truly provide them a better life, when these industries primarily seek surplus profit?

History suggests otherwise. Sri Lanka has repeatedly remained at the primary manufacturing level within neoliberal industries. The ready-made garment industry, part of the global corporate fashion system, provides evidence: it exploited both manufacturing labourers and brand representatives during structural economic changes in the 1980s. The same pattern now threatens to repeat in the artificial intelligence sector, raising concerns about who truly benefits from these education reforms

That historical material supports the claim that the primary manufacturing labour for the artificial intelligence industry will similarly come from these workers, who are now being trained as skilled employees who follow the system rather than question it. This context can be theorised through Luxemburg’s claim that critical thinking training becomes a privileged instrument, alienating the working class from such training, an approach that neoliberalism prefers to adopt in the global South.

Institutional and Structural Gaps

Though the government aims to address the institutional and structural gaps, I claim that these gaps will instead widen due to the deeply rooted system of uneven distribution in the country. While agreeing to establish smart classrooms, the critical query is the absence of a wide technological welfare system across the country. From electricity to smart equipment, resources remain inadequate, and the government lags behind in taking prompt initiative to meet these requirements.

This issue is not only about the unavailability of human and material infrastructure, but also about the absence of a plan to restore smart normalcy after natural disasters, particularly the resumption of smart network connections. Access to smart learning platforms, such as the internet, for schoolchildren is a high-risk factor that requires not only the monitoring of classroom teachers but also the involvement of the state. The state needs to be vigilant of abuses and disinformation present in the smart-learning space, an area in which Sri Lanka is still lagging. This concern is not only about the safety of children but also about the safety of women. For example, the recent case of abusive image production via Elon Musk’s AI chatbox, X, highlights the urgent need for a legal framework in Sri Lanka.

Considering its geographical location, Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, the frequency in which they occur, increasing, owing to climate change. Ditwah is a recent example, where villages were buried alive by landslides, rivers overflowed, and families were displaced, losing homes that they had built over their lifetimes. The critical question, then, is: despite the government’s promise to integrate climate change into the curriculum, how can something still ‘in the air ‘with climate adaptation plans yet to be fully established, be effectively incorporated into schools?

Looking at the demographic map of the country, the expansion of the elderly population, the dependent category, requires attention. Considering the physical and psychological conditions of this group, fostering “intelligent, civic-minded” citizens necessitates understanding the elderly not as a charity case but as a human group deserving dignity. This reflects a critical reading of the reform content: what, indeed, is to be taught? This critical aspect further links with the next section of reflective of ground reality.

Reflective Narrative of Ground Reality

Despite the government asserting that the “teacher” is central to this reform, critical engagement requires examining how their labour is recognised. In Sri Lanka, teachers’ work has long been tied to social recognition, both utilised and exploited, Teachers receive low salaries while handling multiple roles: teaching, class management, sectional duties, and disciplinary responsibilities.

At present, a total teaching load is around 35 periods a week, with 28 periods spent in classroom teaching. The reform adds continuous assessments, portfolio work, projects, curriculum preparation, peer coordination, and e-knowledge, to the teacher’s responsibilities. These are undeclared forms of labour, meaning that the government assigns no economic value to them; yet teachers perform these tasks as part of a long-standing culture. When this culture is unpacked, the gendered nature of this undeclared labour becomes clear. It is gendered because the majority of schoolteachers are women, and their unpaid roles remain unrecognised. It is worth citing some empirical narratives to illustrate this point:

“When there was an extra-school event, like walks, prize-giving, or new openings, I stayed after school to design some dancing and practice with the students. I would never get paid for that extra time,” a female dance teacher in the Western Province shared.

I cite this single empirical account, and I am certain that many teachers have similar stories to share.

Where the curriculum is concerned, schoolteachers struggle to complete each lesson as planned due to time constraints and poor infrastructure. As explained by a teacher in the Central Province:

“It is difficult to have a reliable internet connection. Therefore, I use the hotspot on my phone so the children can access the learning material.”

Using their own phones and data for classroom activities is not part of a teacher’s official duties, but a culture has developed around the teaching role that makes such decisions necessary. Such activities related to labour risks further exploitation under the reform if the state remains silent in providing the necessary infrastructure.

Considering that women form the majority of the teaching profession, none of the reforms so far have taken women’s health issues seriously. These issues could be exacerbated by the extra stress arising from multiple job roles. Many female teachers particularly those with young children, those in peri- or post-menopause stages of their life, or those with conditions like endometriosis may experience aggravated health problems due to work-related stress intensified by the reform. This raises a critical question: what role does the state play in addressing these issues?

In Conclusion

The following suggestions are put forward:

First and foremost, the government should clearly declare the fundamental plan of the reform, highlighting why, what, when, and how it will be implemented. This plan should be grounded in the realities of the classroom, focusing on being child-centred and teacher-focused.

Technological welfare interventions are necessary, alongside a legal framework to ensure the safety and security of accessing the smart, information-centred world. Furthermore, teachers’ labour should be formally recognised and assigned economic value. Currently, under neoliberal logic, teachers are often left to navigate these challenges on their own, as if the choice is between survival or collapse.

Aruni Samarakoon teaches at the Department of Public Policy, University of Ruhuna

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

By Aruni Samarakoon

Features

Smartphones and lyrics stands…

Published

16 hours ago

2026/01/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Diliup Gabadamudalige: Artistes can stay at home and hire their avatar for concerts, movies, etc.

Diliup Gabadamudalige is, indeed, a maestro where music is concerned, and this is what he had to say, referring to our Seen ‘N’ Heard in The Island of 6th January, 2026, and I totally agree with his comments.

Diliup: “AI avatars will take over these concerts. It will take some time, but it surely will happen in the near future. Artistes can stay at home and hire their avatar for concerts, movies, etc. Lyrics and dance moves, even gymnastics can be pre-trained”.

Yes, and that would certainly be unsettling as those without talent will make use of AI to deceive the public.

Right now at most events you get the stage crowded with lyrics stands and, to make matters even worse, some of the artistes depend on the smartphone to put over a song – checking out the lyrics, on the smartphone, every few seconds!

In the good ole days, artistes relied on their talent, stage presence, and memorisation skills to dominate the stage.

They would rehearse till they knew the lyrics by heart and focus on connecting with the audience.

Smartphones and lyrics stands: A common sight these days

The ability of the artiste to keep the audience entertained, from start to finish, makes a live performance unforgettable That’s the magic of a great show!

When an artiste’s energy is contagious, and they’re clearly having a blast, the audience feeds off it and gets taken on an exciting ride. It’s like the whole crowd is vibing on the same frequency.

Singing with feeling, on stage, creates this electric connection with the audience, but it can’t be done with a smartphone in one hand and lyrics stands lined up on the stage.

AI’s gonna shake things up in the music scene, for sure – might replace some roles, like session musicians or sound designers – but human talent will still shine!

AI can assist, but it’s tough to replicate human emotion, experience, and soul in music.

In the modern world, I guess artistes will need to blend old-school vibes with new tech but certainly not with smartphones and lyrics stands!