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| Sunday, 16 February 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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A craft attuned to market trends Guitar-making requires a high degree of skill and intelligence. For Dharmasena Haturusinghe it is a labour of love. by Chamikara Weerasinghe Dharmasena Haturusinghe of New Tone Musical Instruments has introduced an industry to this country with the sheer skill of his hands. He has established a local tradition and made a name for himself in the field of guitar-making.
Today, he makes guitars, the quality and standard of which can match any guitar in the world. With more than 45 years in the industry, the dedicated craftsman businessman has developed the art all on his own without any formal training. At present, he makes all types of guitars - acoustic, semi-acoustic, electric lead, rhythm and bass guitars, 12 stringed guitars and Spanish or classical guitars. He also makes a few violins. New Tone Musical Instruments, located at People's Park, Pettah, is Sri Lanka's oldest guitar manufacturing company, founded in 1969. While others gave up on the industry in the face of an influx of imports, unable to keep up with quality and technological developments, Dharmasena weathered the competition to stay in business. We met 65 year-old Dharmasena at his guitar factory, at Vihara Mawatha, Kolonnawa. I asked Dharmasena who was clad in a simple tunic collar shirt and a white sarong how he ventured into this industry, and learned this craft. "When I first got involved in making guitars at a small guitar workshop at Gampaha, I was no more than 15 or 16 years old. I was looking for a job then driven by financial constraints," he said.
"As a matter of fact, I had to learn the craft and its methodology all by myself, for the art of making guitars is not passed on to anyone indiscriminately," he explained. "I put my heart and soul to acquiring a knowledge of the instrument, which in return taught me self discipline and patience," he said. Building a guitar takes intelligence and extensive application. "One may call it a meditation," he says. "I map out the design of the guitar, its body, neck, head, colour, the fingerboard and everything in my head. It is a process which may take one to two months. I do not make any detailed diagrams. It's all in my head although I may use a rough sketch or two. No sooner I complete the design I set to work on it," the gifted craftsman said. Currently, Dharmasena's son, Keerthi assists him at work. He told us of his determination to carry on with his father's tradition. He says his father put everything he had into this industry and has worked all his life at it. But, sadly, this industry does not get much State support. He has come a long way on a difficult road. Even, today, he takes delight in making an instrument as he did in his youth. "If not for this I would not have lasted in this industry for so long," claims Dharmasena. "Although I am not so worried about what we make of this industry in terms of rupees, I am worried that our talents have not been recognized on a clear platform to serve the country," the craftsman said.
Dharmasena shared with us an unhappy experience he had at the early stages of his career. "In 1969, I wrote to Germany's Hoffner Musical Instruments, a company with which I have some connections today, for a scholarship to improve my skills. I was persuaded to do so by a head of an American delegation for the development of South Asian Region, that undertook to bear my expenses for the scholarship. He was prepared to spend some money on my business projects." "The process took a few months and the scholarship was in the pipeline when the government changed in 1971. The new government declared a policy, not to take any foreign assistance, and as a result the American delegation left the country, I lost my scholarship and a possible fortune," he remarked. Commenting on the present trends in the local guitar market, Dharmasena says, "There is a bad habit among our customers to go after attractive foreign labels rather than a good make of an instrument." Because of this trend, many local music stores sell substandard products with attractive foreign labels, which are bogus, to mislead the customers. Even a guitar made of gold means nothing as a musical instrument if its fingerboard is not properly attached. The reason being that it results in playing difficulties, and also produces inaccurate notes." One of New Tone's most memorable events, was a demonstration of their musical instruments at Music Craft 1996, an exhibition organised by the Industrial Ministry. New Tone's first exhibition of musical instruments was held in 1965 at the Race Course Grounds, Colombo, in association with "Harmonics". |
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