Bombs scares, torrential downpour and flooding could not hold back the acts or guests at the Lankan Lounge, held this year at the stylish Digress City in Moorgate, London. This was the third instalment in a series of events designed to promote and showcase artistes of Sri Lankan descent in the UK as well as creating awareness and raising money for charity.  

Doors opened at 9pm and the venue quickly filled up with guests keenly awaiting performances from Asian Dialekt, Loven & Abi, One Souljah, Anusha, RND and Sona Family. In true South Asian style the performances started late but gave an opportunity for guests to sample the tantalising food provided by the Meeting Palace. The artistes who were featured at the event have been busy throughout the year performing at various university shows, concerts and Melas across the UK, but this was the first opportunity to catch them altogether for one night. Worth the wait, the performances went great with full support shown by the crowd. DJ Chippie continued the rest of the night dropping all the hottest dance floor anthems.

The proceeds from this event will be given to Thushyanthy Lingam who is doing a skydive to raise money for a charity called Manitha Neyam (Love for Humanity) - www.manithaneyam.org.  Manitha Neyam Trust was launched in Sri Lanka in 1999 and it has counterparts in the UK, USA and Australia.  The charity’s work focuses on the North East of Sri Lanka. In addition to providing aid to tsunami victims, the charity provides funds to establish and maintain orphanages and homes for hearing and visually impaired children, the elderly and the disabled. This includes provision of food, clothing, medicine, rehabilitation and vocational training. The cost of the sky dive will be covered by Miss Lingam. If you would like to sponsor her please visit justgiving.com/thush.

Those who attended the Lankan Lounge in November 2006 would be pleased to know that the money raised for HelpLanka, a charity which focuses on the South of Sri Lanka was used to finance the mobile library project. For more information please click here.