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| Sunday, 14 December 2003 |
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by Vasana K. de Mel Having attended a large cross-section of concerts at BMICH (Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall), I review Mariazelle Goonetilleke's recent celebration of 30 + 5 years in Sinhala popular music to be very unique and refreshing.
From this vantage point, the typical physical and psychological barriers existent between stage artists and audience were dissolved, establishing unique intimacy. Thus wholehearted performances from colleagues such as Sohan Weerasinghe, Dalreen Suby, Bathiya and Santhush, Wathsala Goonetillaka, and son Teshan Goonetilleke-Rezen - backed by Chandral Fonseka and "Kings" - and with dance choreography by Chandana Wickremesinghe, Ranjini Selvanayagam, Pradeep Ariyawansa, and El Latino produced a memorable evening. The few technical difficulties experienced during performance did not alarm, distract, or deter Mariazelle's fans from applauding enthusiastically with appreciation. Sharing her lasting impressions of Mariazelle's 30 + 5 celebrations, Dr. Zita Subasinghe says, "She did her part. This girl has been so generous to give so much of herself (in concert), which other artistes don't. She practically sang non-stop through the entire three hours. That's a great feat ! (Plus) she was her own compere and she didn't even have a script ! She looked a complete veteran show-woman," (telephone interview with author, November 28th 2003). During the concert an unknown aspect of Mariazelle Goonetilleke's career was unveiled to the delight of her supportive fans. Though Sri Lankan musicians of yesteryear were afforded opportunities to tour and perform abroad, their success was largely relegated to domestic appeal - such as through live performances and concertizing activities, record sales, and airplay. Compounded to this was an overall lack of technology and facilities, or a monopoly of these by a few recording studios and record labels, and government censorship - that resultantly stifled the creative growth of musicians in Sinhala popular music in the 1970s. Today, the contexts where popularity and success can be earned has expanded, through technological advances and privatization of radio, television, and recording studios, to include affiliations with international music networks. Thus, we find several contemporary Sri Lankan musicians enjoying prestige for their emissarial role in promoting Sri Lanka in international contexts. Mariazelle Goonetilleke happens to be among this elite minority group of local musicians who has earned Sri Lanka a place on the map through international concertization. But even more creditable is the appearance of details of her career in Western musicological literature. To date, Mariazelle has been cited in two texts. One is entitled Big Sounds from Small Peoples: The Music Industry in Small Countries by co-authors Krister Malm and Roger Wallis who credit Mariazelle as one of Sri Lanka's few high profile female singers in terms of record sales (1984). The other a dissertation entitled "White Noise: European Modernity, Sinhala Musical Nationalism, and the practice of a Creole Popular Music in modern Sri Lanka," by author Anne Sheeran who aptly contextualizes social, racial, and gender issues underscoring Westernized, Creole/hybrid music in Sri Lanka and describes Mariazelle as "perhaps the most enduring star of baila and Western popular music," (Sheeran 1997:249). The significance of a Sri Lankan musician's career appearing in Western musicological literature is that - in a complicated global village where mass transit (one can travel anywhere, any time, by any means), global economy (one may purchase goods oblivious of their manufactured sites), and cyberspace voyeurism (one could feasibly travel to distant places from the comfort of one's computer on the "world wide web") have eroded previous notions of place and nation - such literature brings tangibility and awareness of little known Sri Lanka to world readers. And the emissary is none other than Sri Lanka's highly cherished female singer/musician - Mariazelle Goonetilleke.Congratulations, Mariazelle, for a memorable concert and a fabulous, multifaceted 30 + 5 years in Sri Lanka popular music thus far ! Vasana K. de Mel is a Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnomusicology, UC LA. |
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From the outset an overall creativity and personal touch, a hallmark of
charismatic Mariazelle, characterized the concert format. In substitute of
using the typical oil lamp were beautiful young maidens poised to cradle
benedictions of light in statuesque form. Bringing together highlights
from her expansive career in music through video presentations of her
career from babe to damsel to diva, interviews with colleagues, family,
and friends (on - and off-stage), and performances by the "Junior
Rhythmiers" who cultivated performance aesthetic in young Mariazelle
- the concert exuded an overall familial atmosphere.
