Kgomotso Xolisa Mamaila

At the end of the week, I usually have a good talk over a beer or two with my good friend Thabo for the South African High Commission. With both have a deep love of rugby and an interest in Africa, so they are usually very enriching evening for me. With Friday being a holiday, I dropped in to join Thabo last night and soon after I arrived, Geoff Doidge the South African High Commissioner came over and had a long talk with us. What a remarkable man who was hand-picked by Nelson Mandela at a young age to help him in his work towards breaking down apartheid.

As we were talking a very charming women came over to talk to the High Commissioner and he introduced me to her as" Kgomotso Xolisa Mamaila a very popular South African jazz singer."

As she doesn't start singing until tomorrow, she was happy to talk about her singing and her life.

The 25 year old female singer who was born in a small town in South Africa had a passion and love for music from an early age. In 2000 she went to study Music at Eastside College SA where she majored in vocal training. From that point it had been a continuous journey in the music industry.


Kgomotso has played with one of South Africa’s best Afro jazz bands. In 2007 Kgomotso recorded a single in a collaboration album called “Classix” where she performed with lots of well known names during the promotion of the album. She also performed with Khethi who is an Afro Centric Jazz Musician where they toured a lot of places with the band in and around South Africa. In 2010 Kgomotso was approached by a band named Tonic Stations who were invited to perform and entertain soccer lovers at the Hilton Colombo. And there started her relationship with Sri Lanka.

Kgomotso and myself taken by Thabo last night.

So it was an enjoyable evening but I wasn't so popular when I got home and Naila asked me, "Why are you late?" My reply was, " Drinking with an African woman who is a great Jazz singer." ot the brightest answer.

If you want to see her perform she will be at the Hilton Colombo’s Thorana Lounge from 1st to 30th September every Monday to Friday from 8pm onwards. For a booking call the food & beverage office on 2544 644 or log in to www.colombo1.com or www.facebook.com – The Hilton Colombo.

Fukushima Summer - 18 months after tsunami

September 11^th marks 18 months since the triple disaster hit Japan’s Tohoku region. To mark this milestone, the IFRC together with the Japanese Red Cross has produced a set of communications products telling the stories of survivors’ daily lives in the disaster area. These include a 6-minute mini-documentary, Fukushima Summer, which focused on the life of an 11-year-old girl, Airi, who lives in Fukushima. People in the area are still making use of  scanning equipment, provided by the Red Cross, to check radiation levels in food and in their own bodies and permanent homes are just starting to be rebuilt. The film follows Airi to a Red Cross summer camp in the northern island of Hokkaido for children from all over the disaster area. Here children  gain strength from their experiences and learn to  help their communities on the road to recovery.