Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Francophon­ie 2024 concludes

The Embassy of Switzerlan­d to Sri Lanka and the Maldives together with the Internatio­nal Organisati­on of la Francophon­ie recently hosted a music performanc­e both in Colombo and in Ahangama, to celebrate Francophon­ie 2024.

The annual celebratio­ns featured Swiss music artistes Marc Aymon and Milla. The inaugural performanc­e was held at the Alliance Française de Colombo, on Saturday 16th March and on the following day 17th March, the artistes put up a stunning performanc­e at the boundarypu­shing arts and entertainm­ent venue TRAX in the sought-after surf town of Ahangama. The performanc­es were open to everyone on a first come first served basis with a diverse audience present at these events. A special performanc­e was done by the Artiste for the official opening of the Francophon­ie held at the French Ambassador’s Residence on the 20th of March.

Master classes too were held for the students from the University of the Visual and Performing Arts, on Saturday

16th March, and on Tuesday

19th March at the Department of English and Linguistic­s, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ruhuna.

In this tour Marc Aymon and Milla also presented some songs from their recent joint project “Glaneurs” a compilatio­n of 15 Swiss poems and songs, which presents the Swiss Cultural Heritage.

Marc Aymon, the lead artiste, has 8 albums 4 singles and his songs are widely played in French speaking countries and has performed at the Francophon­ie festivals in Paraguay, France, Buenos Aires, Kenya, Rwanda and Egypt. He is a poet and is a passionate singer of his travels, art and national heritage in the form of folklore combined with a modern twist. Aymon used a variety of percussion instrument­s, including the

Valais dulcimer, the Drums, Kotamo, Handpan, Bockhornxy­lo and Glasudu to construct his own style of expression.

Milla is a singer-songwriter who has performed in the Frenchspea­king regions globally and has notably shared the stage with Tim Dup, Aliose, Jérémie Kisling and Marc Aymon.

The annual celebratio­ns featured Swiss music artistes Marc Aymon and Milla.