Soneva Fushi by Six Senses Celebrates 15th Anniversary with a Desert Island House Party (Maldives)
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Soneva Fushi by Six Senses Celebrates 15th Anniversary with a Desert Island House Party (Maldives)
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Category: Asia Pacific - Maldives
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2010-10-20
The day dawned clear and bright, the sun rose in the bluest of skies and the turquoise sea lapped gently around the resort’s sandbank. The stage was set for Soneva Fushi’s 15th anniversary party, Barefoot Ballroom.
Guests already staying on the island enjoyed all sorts of party fun. The slow bike race – the last over the line wins – had two heats. The first won by Michael Schumacher, the second by his son. The final saw the two Schumachers and the reigning Soneva Fushi champion, host Ali, in a fiercely competitive battle of wills and straining muscle. The winner Schumacher Junior!
And athletic Mr. Schumacher also played a volley ball match - guests against hosts. Despite the encouragement of Francois Berléand from the sidelines, the hosts were victorious!
The stars of the night, the Jolly Boys – the original Jamaican reggae band, first known for playing at Errol Flynn’s parties back in the 50s – took some time out for a cruise around the island, lead singer octogenarian Albert, sporting a hat bearing the immortal phrase, ‘I thought I was wise until a woman made me realize….’
Jacque’s grandson, Fabian Cousteau, diver and marine conservationist, took guests on the dive of their lives. Having accompanied his Father and Grandfather on expeditions from the age of seven – literally starting at the bottom by scraping barnacles from the underside of the boat - his knowledge of the oceans and stories of the wonder of the deep and its creatures had people enraptured. Especially the one about a Mother Killer Whale teaching her baby how to catch sharks….
Tilda Swinton, introduced one of her favourite movies, at Cinema Paradiso. To Be or Not to Be a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops, starring Carol Lombard and Jack Benny. Praising Carol Lombard’s performance Tilda said, ‘She proves it is possible to be unspeakably beautiful AND funny.’
There was a wine and cheese tasting – 15 of each naturally – and a slow food cooking class.
By 6.30pm it was time for the main event. Guests were ferried to the sandbank in small dhonis, to be greeted with champagne, cocktails and canapés as the sun set around them. As the light of the stars and flaming torches grew stronger and the party began in earnest, guests played pétanque, ate, drank and soaked in the ambience of the Maldivian bodu beru songs played by local band Zero Degree Atoll, along with the sound of the sea and the balmy breeze.
Soneva Fushi’s team of chefs had prepared a feast of fresh fish, seafood, slow cooked meats, Indian dishes and salads, using ingredients from Soneva Fushi’s organic garden. It was a veritable banquet. Sonu Shivdasani, Chairman and CEO of Six Senses and his wife Eva Malstrom Shivdasani, Creative Director, hosted over seventy guests for the dinner. All guests seated at a long U-shaped table on the sandbank. Among the many regular guests invited in thanks of their long years of support were; Michael Shumacher, Tilda Swinton and partner Sandro Kopp, Olivia Palermo, Elsa Zylberstein, Martin Clunes, Fabian Cousteau, Willa Keswick, Paul Smith, Francois Berléand, Sir Simon Rattle, Mark Jones and Giovanni Bignani.
After dinner guests left the sandbank by dhoni and were ferried around the island to Turtle Beach and Cinema Paradiso, transformed for the night into Night Club Paradiso. An amazing array of chocolate puddings and cakes and 60 varieties of ice-cream were served, before the Jolly Boys took to the stage and performed their magic. Their warm and infectious rhythms soon had the crowd up and dancing, although nobody’s moves quite matched the loose limbed snake hips of Jolly Boys, Powder and Albert, who wowed and wooed all the girls…..
After just the three encores the Jolly Boys retired to the chocolate table and well deserved glasses of champagne, leaving the floor to Mark Jones, DJ and producer, who kept the party dancing late, late into the velvet blue night….
One of the last to leave was host Sonu, who enjoyed the party so much that he’s thinking of making it an annual event.
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