Experiencing cultural fusions with ‘Harmony’

GR Visions Singapore is proud to present ‘Harmony,’ an exhilarating concert of dance and music featuring lead artiste Sharmila Gunasingham, accomplished exponent of classical Indian Odissi dance, and Guy Manoukian, the award winning Lebanese Armenian musician.

Sharmila will be partnered by Ramli Ibrahim, her Guru and the world’s leading male Odissi exponent.  Accompanying the lead artistes will be musicians from Singapore, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.   

It is an array of talent never before seen in such a phenomenal combination.   This historic performance originally produced and premiered in Singapore, will be performed in Colombo for one performance only on the 28 February 2012 at the prestigious Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre.  

Sharmila and Guy both embody the concept of yin and yang at its most essential.  While both have been trained as lawyers confident in the world of reason and analysis, they embody the power of the human spirit to also excel in cultural and artistic talents attaining great heights in the process.   

Audiences in Colombo will be able to witness for themselves this never before experienced cultural fusion on 28 February at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre.   The musical harmony of the Middle East, Indian, and Chinese musicians  will seamlessly fuse together to bring to life the dance of India, the dance of the timeless statuettes of Ajanta and Ellora, sensuous, ecstatic - music and dance harmoniously woven together to enthral and captivate.

Sharmila Gunasingham and Ramli Ibrahim will portray Radha & Krishna the supreme souls of love and ecstasy as they dance together, willed on by the hypnotic Guzheng with its sounds of the gurgling brook.  It is said that Krishna enchants the world, but Radha enchants even Him. Therefore She is the supreme goddess of all.  Together they become Radha Krishna, the ultimate example of harmony and love.





About Sharmila Gunasingham

A multi-faceted personality, Sharmila Gunasingham is a Singapore corporate lawyer involved in international practice. She is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Law Alliance, a Singapore law corporation which is represented through its global alliances in 60 offices in 43 countries worldwide. She is also a public speaker, a philanthropist, a strong advocate of international cooperation and an accomplished exponent of classical Indian dance.

A daughter of a distinguished Sri Lankan diplomat the late Mr. C Gunasingham, Sharmila Gunasingham, a Singaporean by birth and nationality, was raised in the Western capitals of the world, including Washington D.C. and London where she schooled in the UK and attended London University, working with a prestigious London law firm before returning to Singapore, where she made her home and attained great heights in her many achievements.   

To prevent her alienation from her Ceylon Tamil roots while growing up in the West, Sharmila was trained in classical Indian dance from a young age at the insistence of her father, the late C Gunasingham.  

What began as an exercise in cultural relevance eventually metamorphasized into a cultural movement for Sharmila to spread universal messages of peace, enlightenment and the power of the human spirit to break down barriers of race and religion through the soft power of arts and culture. Sharmila has performed with notably famous artistes like Edmund Chen and Sonny Lim, ethnic Chinese; Ramli Ibrahim, a Malay Muslim; and Lionel Sirisena, a Singhalese Buddhist (when communal tensions were at their height in Sri Lanka) and Guy Manoukian, a Lebanese Arab.

Even in her artistic avatar, Sharmila has broken barriers and moved beyond typical interpretations of an ancient classical dance form.  A leading performing artiste, Sharmila has packaged her dance performances in a manner capable of being assimilated by international audiences rather than only Indian audiences. In her ground breaking performances, she has been selected to essay roles as diverse as the goddess of love in and Indian classical dance version of Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and the famous courtesan Ambapali in ‘Enlightenment’ a musical English dance drama based on the 6th Century BC Indian epic story portraying the life of the famous courtesan Ambapali during the Buddha’s era.  

This has led to consistent attendance at her performances over the years by packed international audiences in world class venues from Singapore and all over the world.  Her audiences have included the Movers and Shakers of Singapore society and the international business community, foreign dignitaries, as well as respected spiritual leaders.

Aside from her other performances, Sharmila has also had the honour of being invited to perform in a major cultural festival in South India organized by Gurus and Masters of the Art. She was the only Odissi dancer at the festival, which was attended by an audience of seven thousand people.

Her performance in April 2011 with Guy Manoukian and his Arab orchestra was graced by the President of the Republic of Singapore who led a standing ovation and the performance made history. For the first time, classical Indian Odissi dance as conceptualized and choreographed by Sharmila Gunasingham was performed by her and her accompanying artistes, to the music of Guy Manoukian on the piano, his Arab orchestra (fusing Armenian, Chaldean, Greek, Kurdish and Assyrian music), a classical Indian orchestra and the Chinese Guzheng.

This exquisite melding of music and dance demonstrated the interconnectivity of the Middle Eastern and Asian cultures and gave expression to the co-existing and cohesive nature of our traditions. Indeed, based on audience tributes received, it is apparent to us that the sensual, mystical Odissi dance form of ancient India as performed by Sharmila to classical Indian music combined with Guy’s sensational music led to an exhilarating and unforgettable experience.

The performance is being repeated in Sri Lanka on 28 February at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre and has been titled ‘Harmony’.

Sharmila’s performances are always at their core a spiritual journey.  She envisions her performances not as a vehicle for personal gain but as spiritual journeys that allow her to give back to society in a creative way.  Despite all the innovations that she has fostered through her dance performances, she is a strong believer in keeping the essence of the classical tradition alive.  

It is this eternal dichotomy - between the yin and the yang, between tradition and modernity, between corporate success and cultural fulfilment - that infuses each of Sharmila’s performances with a uniqueness and creativity that keep international audiences coming back again and again.



About Guy Manoukian

Guy Manoukian, known as the maestro of Arabic music, is an accomplished musician, composer and producer.  A child prodigy who began playing the piano at the age of four, Guy began composing at the tender age of eight and performed his first public concert at the age of 16. A lawyer by training, he has been performing professionally to critical and audience acclaim since 1997.  

Guy has performed with his orchestra all over the world to millions of fans. Fusing Arabic with Armenian, Kurdish Assyrian, Chaldean and Greek music, his live performances receive standing ovations in major cities of the world, including Singapore, Dubai, Lebanon and Cairo.  At the prestigious Middle Eastern Beiteddine festival, which draws famous performers from across the world including the likes of Elton John, Ricky Martin and UB40, he performed to high acclaim and was accompanied by the internationally renowned Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra with guest performer Mario Reyes from the Gypsy Kings.    

Guy has won multiple awards, including Best Dance Album at the Armenian Music Awards in Los Angeles, Best Arabic Tune of the Year for the music of Harem (Lebanon 2002), and Best Dance Album at the Arabian Music Awards (Dubai 2003).  His albums, released by EMI, have topped the charts and won him fans across the world.