By Sagarika Satapathy
1st September, 2020
Arise Sri Lanka was the island nation's first telethon musical programme, that was organised to raise funds for the Sri Lankan healthcare officials and other frontline workers that are actively engaging in life-saving medical aid amid the COVID -19 outbreak. The event was presented at the Nelum Pokuna in Colombo with live streaming through Facebook and YouTube on Wednesday. The programme took place in collaboration with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health and the assistance of WHO. The musical programme displayed images of the brave Sri Lankan FrontLine health workers who selflessly battled COVID-19. The main objective of the event was to spread awareness of the meaningful steps taken by the Government in successfully combating COVID-19.
The event was held on 29th August 2020 at 6.00 pm at Nelum Pokuna Theatre. The Facebook Page and YouTube channel live-streamed the entire event.
This concert was a huge morale boost to the Sri Lankan communities world over
The impact of the virus has left several thousand feeling defeated by either working hands on to overcome the virus or by having their regular course of life come to a standstill. This tribute to the front line workers by local artists not only brought together communities but also gave them a ray of hope. Several artists and groups including popular names like Mirage, cover Trishelle, Sohan and The EXPeriments performed both covers and original music in the live event.
“'Arise Sri Lanka' was live-streamed to the whole world in order to portray our success in combating COVID-19”, stated Richard De Zoysa, the creator and director of the event. He also suggested that this event outlined the manner in which the government, alongside the armed forces and the health officials collaborated to control the pandemic. He said that their exemplary actions deserved recognition and he was determined to create an avenue where not only all Sri Lankans but the rest of the world could be made aware of the global governments' capability to face a crisis of this nature by being decisive and resolute.
One of the main purposes of putting together this event together was to encourage foreign travellers to visit our country when the points of entry open up.
Sources: UN news, Island news, Sri Lanka.
Edited by Hrishit Roy.