India-Sri Lanka Foundation supports Lankan ‘Beat Drummers’

The India-Sri Lanka Foundation supported the participation of a 10-member ‘Beat Drummers’ troupe from Sri Lanka led by Sachintha de Silva at the World Percussion Festival, organised by the Krishna Prerna Charitable Trust and the Times of India Group in association with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in New Delhi from 22 -26 February 2013.

The three-day long World Percussion Festival brought together some of the best and renowned percussionists and musicians from around the world. It opened with a performance by renowned percussionist Pandit Bhawani Shankar and his group, Pakhawaj Dharohar.

The concluding act on the first day was a performance by Sri Lankan group ‘Beat Drummers’. Beat Drummers performed a mix of traditional and fusion pieces using traditional drums such as gata bera, pahatharata bera, thammatam and daul. They also used the beadhoo and udukei drums, and instruments that have been created by them. The performance of the Beat Drummers from Sri Lanka was very well received by the audience and the group also performed in Kolkata.

In order to promote greater understanding of the unique cultures of the two countries, the India-Sri Lanka Foundation plays a catalytic role in promoting cultural exchanges between India and Sri Lanka.

Some of the recent projects which were funded by the ISLF includes visit of famous photographer Benoy Behl to capture images of Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka, the visit of flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia to participate in the Colombo Music Festival, the organisation of  ‘Divine Ecstasy’ – a cultural event with a combination of cultural performances and workshops by T.M. Krishna, Alrmel Valli and P. Unnikrishnan in Jaffna, coinciding with the annual Nallur Temple Festival, staging of a dance drama titled ‘Blood relation born by Thambapanni’ in Ladakh, India, participation of 27 members of various theatre groups from India at the Colombo International Theatre Festival 2012, re-staging of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s dance-drama ‘Shaap Mochan’ in various parts of Sri Lanka, and partial support to the staging of ‘Samhara’, a dance drama by Chitrasena Dance Company and Nirtyagram Dance Ensemble from India.

The India-Sri Lanka Foundation was established by a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of India and Sri Lanka in 1998 in order to foster India-Sri Lanka relations through the enhancement of economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation and to promote greater understanding between the people of the two countries.

Further information about the activities supported by the India-Sri Lanka Foundation and forms for submitting proposals for consideration of the India-Sri Lanka Foundation can be viewed at www.hcicolombo.org.