Five Sri Lankan artistes honoured with Bunka (cultural) awards

Friday, 14 November 2014 02:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The 21st Bunka (Cultural) Awards ceremony organised by the Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund was held on Saturday 1 November at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Colombo 07. The Bunka Awards are presented annually by the Fund, which was established in 1993, on the initiative of the Japanese Solidarity Association and the Japanese Commerce and Industry Association in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan. For the past twenty years, 113 such awards have been presented to mid-career individuals and organisations on the basis of their creative activities in culture and the arts, in order to encourage and promote individual and collective talent in these fields in Sri Lanka. These awards have been presented to artistes in the fields of drama, theatre, dance, music, painting, sculpture and pottery, photography, lyric writing, literature, video animation and visual arts to name a few. This year the following five Sri Lankan artistes received the prestigious Bunka (Cultural) Awards.

Namal Jayasinghe -Theatre
Madani Malwattege - Acting
Tharupathi Munasinghe - Music
Saman Panapitiya - Folk Music
Dr. Thamotharampillai Sanathanan - Painting

Wasantha Ekanayake, Secretary, Ministry of Culture and the Arts graced the occasion as Chief Guest, while Nobuhito Hobo, Ambassador of Japan, Naoto Honda, President of the Japanese Solidarity Association of Sri Lanka and a distinguished gathering of invitees including several renowned Sri Lankan cultural artistes were also present on this occasion. The highlight of the ceremony was the cultural performances by the award winners displaying their versatile talents which merited their selection. The Bunka Awards presentation ceremony will be telecast over Rupavahini shortly for the benefit of the Sri Lankan public.