"Nuwara Eliya The mountain resort"
Nuwara Eliya (City of Lights), also known as 'Little' England', was the favourite hill station of the British who tried to create Nuwara Eliya 
Places of interest in and around Nuwara Eliya
Gregory's Lake - Nuwara Eliya
This lake was fashioned under orders of British Governor Sir William Gregory in 1873. A boat yard now allows visitors to go boating and rowing.
Hakgala Botanical Gardens
The Gardens was firs established in 1861 under the curatorship of three British of the same name - William Nock, JK Nock and JJ Nock. It lies under the Hakgala Peak, between 5000 - 6000 feet in elevation - the highest set Botanic Gardens in the world. It boasts 100 year old Monetary Cypress trees from California, Japanese Cedars, Himalayan Pines and English Oak.
Sri Lanka (from the Sanskrit ???? ???? “Venerable Island”), officially the Democratic
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka before 1972 and as Taprobane in ancient times, is an
island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast
of IndiaBuddhism, Indian classical music and the Portuguese colonizers were the three biggest
influences on Sri Lanka’s music scenario. While Buddhism arrived in 300 BC, after the visit
of Gautama Buddha, the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. The African slaves who came
along with the Portuguese added further harmony to the music of the island. As the
Portuguese brought cantiga ballads, ukuleles and guitars, the slaves brought their dance
music called baila. As seen today, the music of Sri Lanka can be categorised into the
following-Traditional folk music of Sri Lanka
Traditional folk music existed from the very beginning of its race and it under the Buddhist
environment. The ordinary people.wre the one to use this form of music.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval
link between West Asia and South East Asia.[citation needed] It has also been a center of
the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times as well as being a bastion of
Hinduism.The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population; Tamils, who are
concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other
communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the indigenous Vedda people.
The country is famous for the production and export of tea, coffee, coconuts, rubber and
cinnamon - which is native to the country. The natural beauty of Sri Lanka's tropical
forests, beaches and landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage, make it a world
famous tourist destination.[citation needed] The island also boasts the first female Prime
Minister in the world,
Buddhism, Indian classical music and the Portuguese colonizers were the three biggest influences on Sri Lanka’s music scenario. While Buddhism arrived in 300 BC, after the visit of Gautama Buddha, the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. The African slaves who came along with the Portuguese added further harmony to the music of the island. As the Portuguese brought cantiga ballads, ukuleles and guitars, the slaves brought their dance music called baila. As seen today, the music of Sri Lanka can be categorised into the following-
Traditional folk music of Sri Lanka
Traditional folk music existed from the very beginning of its race and it under the Buddhist environment. The ordinary people.wre the one to use this form of music
Local drama music (Kolam/Nadagam/Noorthy)
Kolam is based on low country tunes and it is not a well developed form of music. Limited to very few notes about 3~4 and It is used by the ordinary people for pleasure and entertainment and is limited to very few notes, about 3~4.
Nadagam is a much more developed form of drama evolving under the influence of South Indian street plays, introduced by some South Indian Artists.
Noorthy was first introduced by C. Don Bastian of Dehiwala, taking the cue from Indian dramas. It was John De Silva who developed it and did Ramayanaya in 1886.
Hindustani classical music (Ragadari Music)
In 1934 Ravindranath Tagore visited Sri Lanka with a group of artists and performed a drama. He also laid the foundation stone for “Sri Pali” at Horana and later introduced music, art and dancing. His visit brought drastic changes into the Sri Lankan music scene.
South Indian classical music (Karnataka Music)
This type of Music can be seen in South India and northern part of Sri Lanka and used by the Tamil community.
Tamil and Hindustani Film music
During the early years film production was not in vogue in Sri Lanka and films were imported from India. Film music was copied from the Indian counterparts.“Rekhawa” produced by Sir Lester James Peiris was the first Sri Lankan film produced using Sri Lankan music. “Nurthi" is the first recorded music to come out of Sri Lanka
Western classical music
The British introduced western music to Sri Lanka during their period of rule from 1815 to when the country gained freedom in 1948. Thus, the Sri Lankans learned the art of playing the piano too.
Sinhala light music
Some artists visited India to learn music and later started to introduce light music.Ananda Samarakone who composed the national anthem was the pioneer in this field.
Baila:
Originally, Baila consisted of vocals with a guitar and handclaps or otherwise improvised percussion, but now electric guitars, synthesizers and other modern developments have been incorporated. However, it is at the roots of modern Sri Lankan music.
Buddhism, Indian classical music and the Portuguese colonizers were the three biggest influences on Sri Lanka’s music scenario. While Buddhism arrived in 300 BC, after the visit of Gautama Buddha, the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. The African slaves who came along with the Portuguese added further harmony to the music of the island. As the Portuguese brought cantiga ballads, ukuleles and guitars, the slaves brought their dance music called baila. As seen today, the music of Sri Lanka can be categorised into the following-
Traditional folk music of Sri Lanka
Traditional folk music existed from the very beginning of its race and it under the Buddhist environment. The ordinary people.wre the one to use this form of music.
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Aayubowan ! May you live long - greetings from Sri Lanka, my country, the beautiful small island in the Indian Ocean.
"Marco Polo considered Sri Lanka the finest island of its size in all the world, and you'll likely agree after exploring the country's fabled delights. What takes your fancy? Beaches? The coastal stretch south of Colombo offers palm-lined sandy expanses as far as the eye can see. Culture? Try the Kandyan dances, a procession of elephants or the masked devil dances. Ruins? You'll find enough ancient and inspiring architecture in the cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa to satisfy that inner archaeologist, 
we promise. And then there's the natural wealth for which Sri Lanka is rightly renowned. Head for the hill country to escape the heat of the plains, where the coast fades away to reveal gorgeous rolling hills often carpeted with tea plantations. The entire island is teeming with bird life and exotics like elephants and leopards are not uncommon. To top it all off, the people are friendly, the food is delicious and costs are low."
- Lonely Planet World Guide
Aayubowan ! May you live long - greetings from Sri Lanka, my country, the beautiful small island in the Indian Ocean.
"Marco Polo considered Sri Lanka the finest island of its size in all the world, and you'll likely agree after exploring the country's fabled delights. What takes your fancy? Beaches? The coastal stretch south of Colombo offers palm-lined sandy expanses as far as the eye can see. Culture? Try the Kandyan dances, a procession of elephants or the masked devil dances. Ruins? You'll find enough ancient and inspiring architecture in the cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa to satisfy that inner archaeologist, we promise. And then there's the natural wealth for which Sri Lanka is rightly renowned. Head for the hill country to escape the heat of the plains, where the coast fades away to reveal gorgeous rolling hills often carpeted with tea plantations. The entire island is teeming with bird life and exotics like elephants and leopards are not uncommon. To top it all off, the people are friendly, the food is delicious and costs are low."
- Lonely Planet World Guide
Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans and Taprobane, then to the Arabic sailors as Serandip, the tiny yet beautiful island was named 'the pearl of Indian ocean', and gave English language the word 'serendipity'.
The island is around 65,000 square kilometers in area, and had a greatly varying range of landscape, temperature and rainfall. Sunny and hot beaches; nice and cool misty mountains; dark and wet natural rainforests that are as old as the mankind on earth; windy and dry rugged terrains; hot water fountains; animals ranging from elephants to tigers to wild deer - you name it - you can see them all in this small patch of land !
Sri Lanka was famous in the earliest days for gems, pearl and ivory. Later, merchant ships from many parts of the world landed there for spices. After the british occupied the island, it became best known for it's tea. It's one of the chief tea-growing country of the world.
The island gets most of it's rain from southwest and northeast monsoons. The normal temperature is around 25-30 °C, and can go very low - even to zero in the up country. Mostly due to tropical rain forests, it has a lot of animal and plant species, some are unique to the country.
In addition to the long heritage and history, the people in Sri Lanka are best known for their friendliness and hospitality. I personally prefer the southern part of Sri Lanka, where I was born and bred. There are many nice beaches there, and a lot of other places to see and enjoy. Sri Lanka abounds in tropical fruits and the food is delicious, although local cuisine is sometimes known to be too hot for westerners. And in general, living costs are very low.
"To me the beauty of Ceylon lies not so much in its blue seas and golden beaches, its jungles and its mountain peaks, as in its ancient atmosphere. There is no nation, from Egypt of the Pharaohs to modern Britain, in whose literature this island has not at some time been mentioned by one or other of its many names -- Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane, Cellao, Zellan, to recall a few. History lies buried in its sands, and ghosts of romance lurk among its bastioned rocks, for Lanka is very, very old."
- D. J. G. Hennessy,
Green Aisles, 1949
Sinhala language
I'm a sinhalese in nationality. Sinhalese are the majority in population of Sri Lanka, and claim a history that is more than 2500 years old. It starts approximately in 450 BC, when the North Indian prince Vijaya landed on the island. By then, the country had a culture of it's own, and several tribes who were technologically advanced enough to have their own industries. Later, the indians mixed with the natives; the natives adopted the technologies, some cultural traits and, most importantly, Buddhism from the indians.
The new nation that was built from this fruitful mix was known as Sinhala.
The language of the sinhalese, Sinhala is a member of Indo Aryan group of languages, which consists of languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi and Maldivian. It traces back it's origin to Sangskrit. Sinhala script is phonetic; you can correctly pronounce whatever the word exactly in the way it's written.
Sri Lanka
heaven on earth
Our Heritage
Radio Ceylon to SLBC
We listen to SLBC – the government radio. SLBC stands for Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation which administers the State radio in the country. It was on January 5, 1967 that the Department of Broadcasting was transformed into the statutory form of a State corporation by the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation Act No. 37 of 1966 passed by Parliament. With the new status of a corporation, it gained more autonomy to run its affairs and more flexibility in the operations.
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Gradually the station expanded with the introduction of short wave transmissions for better reception in areas outside a 40-mile radius of Colombo. The building at Torrington Square which houses the main station to this day was built and occupied in 1949. By 1940 the number of license holders stood at 10,000 and two years later had risen to 27,000. (The system of obtaining annual licenses was discontinued a few years back).
Until the corporation was formed, the State radio was known as 'Radio Ceylon.' SLBC continued to rely on medium wave as the primary mode of domestic broadcasting until 1993 when 'the FM Stereo Broadcasting Facility at Colombo' was commissioned with the technical assistance of the government of Japan. By 1999, more than 95% country's total population was being covered by SLBC's FM transmissions with nearly 90% of them receiving all six nationwide channels.
- 'Swadeshiya Sevaya' (Sinhala National Service)
- Tamil National Service
- English Service
- City FM (Sinhala)
- 'Velenda Sevaya' (Sinhala Commercial Service), and
- 'Thendral' (Tamil Commercial Service)
international cricket matches.
community focus.
transmitting in shortwave to the South & South-West Asia and the Middle East, in Sinhala, English, Hindi and several Indian sub-continental languages. Also, there is a medium wave transmitting facility for broadcasting mainly to the Southern regions of India.
Expansion of radio In recent years, broadcasting has expanded at a tremendous pace.
- Asura FM
- City FM
- Hiru FM
- Kotmale Community Radio
- Lakhanda
- Max Radio
- Neth FM
- Rangiri FM
- Real Radio
- Sha FM
- Sri FM
- Shakthi FM
- Sirasa FM
- Siyatha FM
- TNL Radio
- ‘V’ FM
- ‘Y’ FM
- Yes FM
Our Heritage
From Radio Ceylon to SLBC
We all listen to SLBC – the government radio. SLBC stands for Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation which administers the State radio in the country. It was on January 5, 1967 that the Department of Broadcasting was transformed into the statutory form of a State corporation by the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation Act No. 37 of 1966 passed by Parliament. With the new status of a corporation, it gained more autonomy to run its affairs and more flexibility in the operations.
Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation, as it was originally known, became SLBC with the change of the country's name to Sri Lanka when it became a republic in May 1972.
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What began as an experimental project by the Telegraph Department way back in 1923 by a few engineers with the aid of a small transmitter from the radio equipment of a captured German submarine proved successful. On December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service came to be instituted. A Medium Wave radio transmitter of one kilowatt of output power was used from Welikada, Colombo.
Over a period of 40 years, it had turned into a fully equipped broadcasting station. It is significant that the experiments were begun in 1923 just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe and the launch of BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in London. 'Colombo Radio' as it was originally called, was the first ever radio station in Asia. From July 1924, broadcasts were given twice or thrice a week depending on the availability of programme material. News, universal time signals and weather reports were soon added but the limitation was the range and effectiveness of the transmission which depended on a low power small experimental set.
Gradually the station expanded with the introduction of short wave transmissions for better reception in areas outside a 40-mile radius of Colombo. The building at Torrington Square which houses the main station to this day was built and occupied in 1949. By 1940 the number of license holders stood at 10,000 and two years later had risen to 27,000. (The system of obtaining annual licenses was discontinued a few years back).
Until the corporation was formed, the State radio was known as 'Radio Ceylon.' SLBC continued to rely on medium wave as the primary mode of domestic broadcasting until 1993 when 'the FM Stereo Broadcasting Facility at Colombo' was commissioned with the technical assistance of the government of Japan. By 1999, more than 95% country's total population was being covered by SLBC's FM transmissions with nearly 90% of them receiving all six nationwide channels.
The six channels are:
- 'Swadeshiya Sevaya' (Sinhala National Service)
- Tamil National Service
- English Service
- City FM (Sinhala)
- 'Velenda Sevaya' (Sinhala Commercial Service), and
- 'Thendral' (Tamil Commercial Service)
SLBC also operates on a nationwide basis a seventh channel, namely the 'Sports Service,' which is dedicated for sports, but only during the times of major sports events such as
international cricket matches.
SLBC operates four Regional Services, each originating from respective regional studio centres, and five Community Radio services, operated in five specific areas with substantial socio economic homogeneity. All these services largely represent a public service broadcasting format with regional
community focus.
In addition to the above domestic services, SLBC is also operating a host of overseas services,
transmitting in shortwave to the South & South-West Asia and the Middle East, in Sinhala, English, Hindi and several Indian sub-continental languages. Also, there is a medium wave transmitting facility for broadcasting mainly to the Southern regions of India.
SLBC's mission was to maintain public service broadcasting in Sri Lanka, by way of providing the public with the information and entertainment, and fostering the social, cultural and economic development of the country. This policy has been maintained as the core guiding principle of its programming policy.
Expansion of radio In recent years, broadcasting has expanded at a tremendous pace.
With the introduction of radio sets worked on torch batteries, more and more people began listening to the radio. The convenience coupled with the thirst for news as well as treating radio as a mode of cheap entertainment resulted in a huge expansion of the listenership.
At least 18 FM channels operate today. They are:
- Asura FM
- City FM
- Hiru FM
- Kotmale Community Radio
- Lakhanda
- Max Radio
- Neth FM
- Rangiri FM
- Real Radio
- Sha FM
- Sri FM
- Shakthi FM
- Sirasa FM
- Siyatha FM
- TNL Radio
- ‘V’ FM
- ‘Y’ FM
- Yes FM
Dambulla cave temple also known as the Golden Temple of Dambulla is a World Heritage Site (1991) in Sri Lanka, situated in the central part of the country. This site is situated 148 km east of Colombo and 72 km north of Kandy. It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. The rock towers 160 m over the surrounding plains.There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding area. Major attractions are spread over 5 caves, which contain statues and paintings. These paintings and statues are related to Lord Buddha and his life. There are total of 153 Buddha statues, 3 statues of Sri Lankan kings and 4 statues of gods and goddesses. The latter include two statues of Hindu gods, the god Vishnu and the god Ganesh. The murals cover an area of 2,100 square meters. Depictions on the walls of the caves include the temptation by the demon Mara, and Buddha's first sermon.
Prehistoric Sri Lankans would have lived in these cave complexes before the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka as there are burial sites with human skeletons about 2700 years old in this area, at Ibbankatuwa near the Dambulla cave complexes.
Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ, pronounced [ˈkoləmbə] is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins[2] and a city population of 647,100. The Colombo Metropolitan Region, defined by the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, has an estimated population of 5,648,000, and covers an area of 3,694.20 km².
Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. However it was only made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.
Like many cities, Colombo's urban area extends well beyond the boundaries of a single local authority, encompassing other Municipal and Urban Councils. The main city is home to a majority of the Sri Lanka's corporate offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. Famous landmarks in Colombo include the Galle Face Green, the Viharamahadevi Park as well as the National Museum.
Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ, pronounced [ˈkoləmbə] is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins[2] and a city population of 647,100. The Colombo Metropolitan Region, defined by the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, has an estimated population of 5,648,000, and covers an area of 3,694.20 km².
Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. However it was only made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.
Like many cities, Colombo's urban area extends well beyond the boundaries of a single local authority, encompassing other Municipal and Urban Councils. The main city is home to a majority of the Sri Lanka's corporate offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. Famous landmarks in Colombo include the Galle Face Green, the Viharamahadevi Park as well as the National Museum.
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