Sing with Shihan - Saturday July 1, 2006 (11am to 12noon)
Shihan sang a total of six songs - including a duet (Mal Pibidena) with a fan. His performance was good (I will not comment on the last song As Deka Piyana as I absolutely hate it!) and he appeared to be relaxed and at ease with his fans and interacted with them very well.He was quite smart when answering the questions asked.
The female presenter (Irosha Perera) was the low point of the show - she just didn't let anyone speak!! On several occasions she cut off both Shihan and his fans in mid-sentence and was more like a primary school teacher herding a brood of six-year-olds than a musical show host.
Sing with Malith - Sunday July 2, 2006 (11am to 12noon)
Malith started off the show with an unusual song choice and it didn't get much better from there. His duet with his fan (Ninda Neana Rathriyea) was not great. I felt quite sorry for the boy. He looked uncomfortable and tense most of the time, even though he flashed his mega-watt smile as much as he could.
During his fourth song, the lovely Irosha (who maintained the same low standard she set on Saturday's show) decided to add some flavour by standing in front of him and staring into his face and then cuddling up next to him while he was singing. It was weird.
What is up with Sirasa? With experienced presenters like Madhu and Thanuja, why choose someone like Irosha to host a program that's bound to have many viewers? A few minutes after watching her on Saturday, I actually started to miss Kamal.
Video clips of some of the songs from Sing With Shihan are available at Lankan Music and at YouTube (the picture quality at YouTube isn't all that good).
