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| Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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Music Producer, and Rupavahini Producer Sumith C. Dissanayake at the recent Sumathi Tele Awards carried off the award for the best musical program for the year 2003, for his production "Bak Maha Gee Siri".
A few days after winning his award Sumith Dissanayake spoke with Jayamini Attanayake. Q: How do you feel about winning this award? A: I entered this field by chance, just after I graduated from the Kelaniya University with a Mass Media (Special) degree in 1994, and thereafter followed a special training course at the Television Training Institute in the art of Tele Production. I produced programmes such as "Pushpa Peli" "Thurunushakthi Geetha" "Charika Induwarasara" and gained the experience. Before that I contributed to various programmes as a Production Assistant and an Assistant Director. It is certainly a great pleasure to compete with the well-known people in this field and be able to win an award. My endeavour has always been to produce the best. This is my first award and the honour accorded to Bakmaha Gee Siri is a great encouragement for my future endeavours. Q: Could you describe briefly the content of this musical programme? A: The programme consisted of langauge, literature and songs which are vividly expressive of the Sinhala New Year and can be visualised in an imaginary mind. I created it based on a script written by Mahinda Dissanayake, the veteran lyricist. Every aspect of the Sinhala New Year festival unfolds through the conversation between a village canter and a villager returning to the village for the New Year. The songs were also produced based on these roles. The factors such as water, sunlight, the moon which are associated with the New Year were symbolised effectively. Then we selected songs which would fit the scenes and I think we were very successful in this endeavour. The traditional Sinhala customs the songs of the peasants and the various cultural aspects were also be brought out. Q: Was it a difficult task? A: It was achieved with the co-operation and dedication of the artistes as well as the people in the technical side. I express my gratitude to them. Nawaratne Gamage a young musician did an excellent job with his innovative skills, by creating a synthesis of music in harmony with the theme and the plot. I must commend the superb contribution made by the art director Herbert Perera, Rohan Samaraweera and Jayalath with the camera, make-up artiste Chandana Senerath Bandara, Nandadewa Rajapaksha and Patrick Rodrigo, Nandana Rukmal Anuradhi for the editing. Artistes like Chandana Liyanarachchi, Raju Bandara, Sangith Weerasinghe, Champa Kalhari, Shasika Nisansala, Nalin Pradeep Udawela, Damayanthi Jayasuriya, Nelu Adikari should be commended for their commitment and dedication. Q: How did you relate your creativity to the script? A: The success of a creation depends on the system used for the purpose. I did my best to keep the artistic and thematic features of the script in consultation with Mahinda Dissanayake. Everything was planned and explored before visualising the flow. Tracks of paddy fields, chenas, simple country houses, tanks, shrines, chetiyas unfolded the age-old rich culture and the history of this Indian ocean island. The sunrise, the sunset,the waxing moon were filmed to give a realistic atmosphere. Q: Rural life holds a special place for you? A: Though I was brought up in Colombo, I am very close to nature. Most of the people of this country are village based. However much we tried to be westernised, we are glorified in our indigenous values. We need not become slaves of western culture, and we find many resources and values in village based society. Good creations can be made on peasantry, rhythm and tonality. We should try our best to bring out rural values otherwise we can't develop ourselves as a country and a nation. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
An accomplished and multi faceted artiste with a special aptitude for
indigenous orchestral music Dissanayake pursued new paths reflecting
patriotism and national identity in Sinhala songs and folksongs which were
being overlooked.
