|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Remembering Sunil Santha : A great genius A web site on the Sinhala music maestro Sunil Santha was launched recently. It has details of his life story, a list of his songs such as Lanka Lanka, Olu Pipila, Dakuna Neganahira, Bovitiya Dan, Guwan Totilla, Mal Mal Varan, his song books, CDs, cassettes, articles written by Sunil Santha as well as photos taken by the maestro. by Jayantha Anandappa
In this age of excess production where standards and ethics have plummeted down to alarming levels and with the proliferation of insipid mediocre songs it is refreshing to pen down these lines on Sangeetha Visharada Sunil Santha whose 90th birthday and the 24th death anniversary falls in the month of April. Between 1946 and 1952 Sunil attempted to create a musical tradition of our own based on the phonetics of Sinhala language- its Hela tradition- a task no musician had ever attempted. During this short period Sunil composed and sang nearly 200 songs, all stamped with his own style and with the power to speak to the hearts of the people. He had only just begun his mission. Not a slave of the ragadari system Sunil had the vision to seek assistance from Bengali, North Indian, Western music and our own folk song in his attempt to create a musical tradition of our own. Unfortunately Sunil had his rivals who were envious and infuriated with the resounding success his music achieved among the people. Sunils rise was meteoric and he became the most popular singer within a very short period of time. His lilting voice and the melodies captivated the whole island. Tragically a powerful faction of his rivals contrived to oust Sunil from the Radio Ceylon. They succeeded and Sunil was banned from Radio Ceylon in 1952 for not taking part in the Ratanjankar Test. The Radio Ceylon invited Prof Ratanjankar (Sunils guru at Bhathkande) to advise how to create a musical tradition of our own and to audition the singers. The hidden agenda was to undermine Sunils efforts. Sunil (later) described the test as a joke and boycotted it knowing very well that the Radio Ceylon would ban him. He quite rightly argued that one could not expect Ratanjankar (with his Hindustani background and not knowing a word of Sinhalese) to advise how to create a musical tradition of his own. It is stupidity to expect a Jak tree to bear a coconut were Sunils famous words. Sunil's rivals in the Radio Ceylon celebrated victory as he went into wilderness. Some even went to the extent of vandalising and destroying the discs containing his best songs in an attempt to eradicate Sunil totally and send him and his musical style into oblivion. Born on 14 April, 1915 at Kepungoda, Pamunugama to a staunch Catholic family, Sunil Santha (Don Joseph John) lost both his parents at a very young age. Sunil was raised by his maternal grandmother and maternal uncles. Loss of his parents at a tender age had a profound effect on Sunil. He later epitomised his sorrow in one of his songs titled: Naethiwoo Mihira. Having served as a trained teacher between 1935-1939, Sunil proceeded to Shanthinikethan where he studied music for one year. In 1941 Sunil joined the Bathkande University and obtained his Visharad Degree in 1944. He returned to Sri Lanka in Dec. 1944 and joined the National Radio in late 1945 or early 1946 (which confined to a two-roomed house at Cotta Road). Sunil also had provided the musical score for some of Chitrasena's early ballets and was also known as an accomplished instrumentalist (sitar) prior to his emergence as a vocalist. None of the instrumental works appeared to have survived. Ananda Samarakone through his gramophone recordings had already laid the foundation for the Sinhala art song. But plagiarism and imitating foreign tunes with meaningless words were the norm at that time, a trend from which Samarakone himself could not breakaway totally. Sunil was the giant who led the campaign against plagiarism. He wrote numerous articles, forewords to his books strongly advocating the need for a musical tradition of our own. Despite his ability to create idyllic scenes, Samarakone's lyrics were grammatically faulty with his language lacking poetic diction. Samarakone also used poetic licence to cut, telescope or modify words to match the tune. Firmly convinced that the basis of our musical tradition should be the Singhalese language, Sunil was extremely sensitive on the language use in his lyrics. His early popular songs such as Olu Pipeela, Handapane, Ho Ga Rella Negay, Bovitiya Dung and Kumburay Peraliya captured the hearts of all fans for the purity of the language, poetic diction, simplicity and lucidity. These songs (all written by Sunil in 1945-1946 prior to emergence of Ahubudu, Fr Jayakody and Manavasinghe) represent a remarkable landmark in the evolution of our geeta sahitya in addition to being masterpieces for their musical content. Sunil is the first musician who really attempted to make lyrical poetry a part of our art song. Despite having skills as a lyricist, Sunil put in to music poetry of Munidasa Cumaratunga, Jayadeva (Geeta Govinda), Rapiel Tennakoon et al. Sunil's rendering of Tennakoons celebrated poem Kukulu Hevilla is regarded as a gem and is undisputedly among the best few creations in the entire gamut of Sinhala music. It is also clear that it was Sunil's efforts that largely encouraged traditional poets to take up writing lyrics for songs. Until Sunil's emergence, poets always considered writing lyrics was inferior to poetry. (A lyricist was known as a person who supplied the words to a tune). No poet came forward or bothered to write lyrics for songs. It was Sunil who introduced Arisen Ahubudu the doyen of our lyricists as a songwriter. Ahubudu was a poet in Hela Havula. When Sunil approached Ahubudu and asked him to write a song about Sri Lanka, Ahubudu responded: I am a poet, I cannot write any songs. A song in a way is a poem, write any poem about Sri Lanka. I will put it into music was Sunil's reply. The result is Lanka Lanka Pembara Lanka and the birth of Ahubudu, the lyricist. One can easily argue that it is this trend that Sunil started with Hela Havula poets that encouraged talented poets like Manavasinghe, Madawala Ratnayake and Mahagamasekara to take up to lyrics consequently to further enrich our geeta sahitya. When Sunil Santha was banned from the Radio Ceylon in 1952, he responded in a manner unusual to any artiste or man in contemporary society. He was not prepared to cow down to the Indian hegemony or change his conviction. Neither was he prepared to fall at the feet of the callous officials who banned him asking to re-instate him. He had done nothing wrong. Such was the independence, self dignity and the courage of this man, he was prepared to sell dry fish, textiles and eke out an existence by repairing defunct radios and doing odd jobs such as photography at home. In reality this meant living a life of abject poverty. But that is how he lived the rest of his life. During 1953 and 1981 Sunil was involved in music only sparingly but there is ample evidence to show that his gift of composition was never on the wane. Songs for Lester James Peiris Rekava (1956), Sandesaya (1960) and the songs he created when he briefly returned to broadcasting in 1967 demonstrate this point. Emba Ganga, Valakulin Besa, Dakuna Neganhira, Tikiri Liya belongs to this second phase. There was another, the final phase to his tortured musical journey. He returned to SLBC around 1978 again briefly, during which Sunil took up the seemingly impossible task to set the short-syllabic Sigiri Graffiti to melodies using just four notes. Critics consider these melodies to be the work of a rare genius. In a country where futile musical experiments are being raved about, it is tragic that these beautiful melodies despite opening vistas and directions to our music are lying in the SLBC archives totally ignored. In my personal collection I have some of these Sigiri songs, and I can reassure you that these never fail to impress me for their beauty. Judging from the size of his output between 1945-1952 alone, and the ease at which he could compose using different, contrasting styles, it seems reasonable to conclude that Sunil would have created a major musical tradition with a few thousand songs if he were not banished from Radio Ceylon due to the stupidity of the officialdom. We have lost as a nation by banishing him to wilderness in 1952 when his mission had just begun. In 1973 I saw a glimpse of this fascinating, great man who sacrificed his cherished profession and the God given gift for the sake of upholding his professional independence and in his determination not to sell his soul. A second year student in the University of Peradeniya, driven by my passion for music, I did visit his home (an improvised kukulu kotuwa) in Dehiyagatha. I wanted to chat with him about music and more importantly to lure him to make a comeback. I was naive then for I had no details of the injustice meted out to him. It is a tragedy that the media in Sri Lanka do not seem to play Sunil's songs nowadays- the gamut of songs that laid the foundation for the Sinhala art song. Some of his better melodies (Attanagalu Velapilla, Vanga Giri Velapilla, Heramitiye, Pathima Mihira) are never heard and probably vandalised or destroyed. In my private collection I have nearly 50 of his songs that I have recorded lovingly from different sources taking lot of trouble- a collection that never fails to console me. Sunil's vocal artistry and melodies will linger with us as long as Sinhala music survives. So too will be the deeds of the man and his fragrance. We are indeed lucky to have witnessed his brief sojourn on this earth. Now cracks a noble heart. Good Night Sweet Prince, And flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.
|
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
