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This one wasn’t magic, till the very end. The thing about open mics is that they can be boring, but then you get stuff that really surprises you. This time, at the very end of the night – when many people had left and I really had to pee – this fellow came and started tuning his guitar. His name’s Buddhi and he’s from a Moratuwa-based band called Wagon Park. He sang in Sinhala and English and it was great. He played a few songs, but I’ve uploaded one above. Some of the lyrics are below. This Open Mic was different and I think we need to tweak the format a bit, but I still think it’s worth doing. And it has survived, and happened again. This kid was brilliant, as were quite a few others.

I asked him if it was cool to post and he said whatever, so I’ll upload a few more along with the rest of the night.

The people that we used to be
Is the same as we are now you see
We come from Sri Lanka
Moratuwa our home town will be.

We come from Sri Lanka
Moratuwa our home town will be.

…

We’ll fight for freedom
And politicians aren’t going to like it
We’ll fight for freedom
And politicians aren’t going to like it

We sing our hearts out for you
Nobody seems to give a shit when we do
We only know one way
God only showed us this way

We only know one way
God only showed us this way

I enjoyed the song cause I feel pretty much what he’s saying. Sometimes it feels like nobody gives a shit, but freedom is, at least, entertaining. Or it can be. It can also be boring, but I don’t know if an Open Mic works without that. By now we know who the great acts are – Harean and Ru, Boycy, Ryan, Halik, Thushara, etc. Hania Mariam and Mike, the latter who should rejoin us once Lent is over. Not necessarily the best writers or bloggers, but the ones that transition well to performance. I suppose you could narrow the show down now, but then you don’t get random surprises either. Personally, I don’t know. Sometimes it’s worth the wait.

We have to keep switching venues because people are scared of the political content. It’s a damn hobo existence, but hopefully that will make the thing stronger. I think next time will be in Borella, but at a private house rather than the Punchi Theatre. As this is underground I suppose the location will be passed around on sheets of blotter paper, to be read and devoured.

Thank you to everyone who came out to listen and read. Keep writing and keep reading. Why not?