Ranchi, Dec. 3: From Brij ki Holi to Ganga pollution — the themes were as varied as the festival of colours.

The folk dances staged by students on the second day of this year’s East Zone Inter-University Youth Festival ranged from religious to social concerns.

The third Arab-African folk dance festival launched Sunday (November 22nd) in Mouloud Mammeri Cultural Centre in Tizi Ouzou to the sight of significant crowds of fans and Algerian and international delegations.

My solo exhibition of Prasanna Upali will be held at Lionel Wendt Art Gallery today. This exhibition has a speciality in depicting various actions of the villager.

By Tissa Devendra

"Young girls dressed as Sigiriya damsels performed at the residence of the Speaker…scantily clad young women in the presence of monks" (Photo caption "S/ Times 3/2") The prim disapproval implicit in this account took my mind back to the exquisitely carved dancing girls in Yapahuva’s Dalada Maligawa , Vilgam Vihara, Gadaladeniya and many other ancient temples which portray the vital role that song and dance played in Buddhist festivals of ancient Lanka. Wonderful traditions now almost erased from popular memory after the fell hand of the missionaries of 1505 abolished these "pagan rites". The caption writer’s ill-informed disapproval is a puritanical hangover of this colonial mindset.

By Susitha R. Fernando

"Yuddhetath Evith" the latest concert of the Lionel Ranwala Troupe will be held at 6.30 pm on May 7 and 8 evening at the BMICH.The show in a way of a 'cultural war' is intended to attack the spreading alienisms and eroding of traditional values of the country.

The latest in the series titled 'Gama Aulanggang' is staged in a bid to instil nationalism and an attack on those against indigenous values and embraced alienisms.

As ornately clad flamenco dancers mounted the stage at Ceviche Tapas Restaurant and Bar, the heart-pounding sound of Spanish folk music filled the room.

The dancers twirled in their bright red, floor-length dresses - full of ruffles and frills - as they kept time with their castanets.

Play House - Kotte, a leading children's play producer, presents a two day Theatre Festival for the Young Audiences on December 5 and 6 2008 at Lionel Wendt at 3.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.

The latest creation 'Walas Pawula' (The Bears and Goldilocks) as well as the well received Punchi Apata Den Therei (We Know It Now) and "Toppi Welenda" (The Hat Seller) will be staged during the festival.

The first ever wall paintings of Sudumenike Wijesooriya, a renowned artist and painter will be opened at Sri Sudharshanaramaya Temple, Mahena in Warakapola by Chief Incumbent Ven. Barathi Thera on December 4.

The wall paintings depict many events of the era of the Buddha. The famous Kusa Jathaka and Sama Jathaka stories, Nanda Thera's ordination ceremony and the birth of Prince Siddartha are some of the main religious events, painted in the shrineroom of Sri Sudharshanaramaya.

South Asian classical music is one of the world’s most highly developed art forms, but chances are that the casual listener will have difficulty telling it apart from the more folk-oriented offerings of the Indian subcontinent. Which is fine by slide-guitar virtuoso Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; despite coming from an illustrious classical music family, and despite having studied with the equally illustrious Ravi Shankar, he believes the two forms are closely linked.

by Indeewara Thilakaratne
The rudiments of any musical system could be traced back to the very basic forms of sounds and tones. Those sounds are commonly found in the folk music and among the not-so-formal sound patterns in folk songs. In the ancient times, the folk songs were composed instantaneously and spread throughout the country principally by word of mouth. In the process, the composers of the folk songs who were the folks engaged in diverse trades had altered the wording as well as the rhythms of those songs resulting in the formation of several versions of the same song.