Ridee Rekha - 2015 Birmingham Sunday the 20th September @ 3pm

‘Ridee Rekha’, a musical consort between the legendary Dr Victor Rathnayake and Visharada Sunil Edirisinghe, will be held on the 20th of September 2015 at 3pm in Birmingham for the very first time. They will be joined by the prominent music director Suresh Maliyadde and his combined orchestra from both Sri Lanka and the UK.

“Ridee Rekha is to be followed on from ‘Gee Amaa’ - London biggest annual Sri Lankan musical event. The same orchestra and the songs will be showcased on both shows and therefore Ridee Rekha and ‘Gee Amaa’ will be identical.”

The distinguished Dr Victor Rathnayake started his journey from a very young age and was the first artist to successfully commit to a one man concert named ‘SA’. ‘SA’ was first held in Lumbini Theatre in July 1973. After 1450 concerts spanning 39 years of success home and abroad, Dr Victor Rathnayake ended his concert series in 2012 in Lumbini Theatre, where it all started. During this time he has won many awards for playback singing at many state festivals. His voice is described to be a ‘melodic lunacy’, ‘exquisite insanity’, and it has crossed all boundaries of class, race and religion as the spellbound audience became one, humming to ‘Api Okkoma Rajawaru’.

Visharada Sunil Edirisinghe meanwhile is a critically acclaimed classical musician and a winner of the presidential award for playback singing 1983 for ‘Maya Miringuva Piruna Lo Thale’ from ‘Adhishtanaya’ film. He debuted as a playback singer in 1969 singing ‘Sandhakada Pahana’ for his brother, Satischandra’s film: ‘Matara Achchi’, the song itself was composed by Dr Victor Rathnayake. Sunil studied music at Visharada P.V. Nandasiri's Academy of Music and University of Laknaw, India in the early 1970s. In 1975 Edirisinghe graduated with first class honours from the prestigious Bhathkhande Academy of Music in India. In 1980 Edirisinghe released his first cassette ‘Chandra Mandala’. Today, Sunil Edirisinghe remains as one of the renowned vocalist in Sri Lankan classical music.

The Music Director of Ridee Rekha, Suresh Maliyadde is one of the youngest and most experienced individuals in the Sri Lankan music field. His experiences from concerts around the world will be brought to make Ridee Rekha 2015 a foreseeable success. He will bridge the gap between the famous musicians in Sri Lanka and those who are joining the orchestra from the UK. His orchestra will be a collation of well experienced and young talents including V. Hemapala Perera (or Priyantha Dassanayaka), Nihal Kalubowila, Mahendra Pasquel, Rukshan Gunawardana, Ransith Mudduwa, Prasad Orlando, Ajula Gunasekera, Nuwan Perera, Tyron Emerald and Sanjeewa Gunasekera.  The concert will be organised by Waruna Lelwala who has previously organised a vast amount of television events when he was working for the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC).

This symphony is a masterpiece collaboration between two maestros of Sri Lankan music and an invaluable orchestra for the very first time in the most diverse city of Birmingham. The prestigious Birmingham University, Elgar Concert Hall which regularly hold classical musical events, will play home to ‘Ridee Rekha’ as well. Ridee Rekha will be an unforgettable evening for the Sri Lankans living in the Midlands.

- Sasini Lelwala