|
Ravibandu Vidyapathi's 25 years on stage :
Artistic monuments of excellence
By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE
|
Kolitha Bhanu Dissanayake
|
|
In retrospective of his trailblazing career, Ravibandu Vidyapathi
stands as a colossus in the contemporary Sri Lankan music scene. His
shadow has cast over many areas such as innovative and experimental
music, preservation of traditional dance and furthering the Sri Lankan
tradition of ballad. Grown up against the backdrop of music, dance and
arts, Ravibandu Vidyapathi, albeit accomplished in diverse areas such as
painting, music and dance, took to dancing under the senior dancers such
as maestro Chithrasena and Piyasara Shilpadhipathi. Although Ravibandu
is famous as a choreographer, one little known fact is that he is also
an accomplished artist like his father Somabandu Vidyapathi.
|
Ravi Sarasavi, a dance and percussion concert which was held at the
BMICH was perhaps, the epitome of Ravibandu Vidyapathi's trailblazing
career which spread over two and a half decades. The concert was
organised by the Araliya Group of the Old Boys' Association of
Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya.
Ravi Sarasaviya, among other things, marked an important milestone in
Sri Lankan music scene as it was one of the rare attempts by Sri Lankan
percussionist-cum-dancer to take Sri Lankan music to the arena of
international music.
Though traditional drums of Sri Lanka have been studied over the
years, they have not been recognised by the international music
industry. For instance, the absence of drums of Sri Lankan and their
beats in electronic music instruments have effectively hampered the
chance of Sri Lankan percussion instruments reaching a wider audience.
Ravibandu Vidyapathi as he celebrates 25 years on stage both as an
accomplished dancer, choreographer and musician, he looks forward to
take Sri Lankan traditional percussion instruments to international
arena in digitalizing the tones and their memorable beats. Over the
years, Ravibandu has been engaged in experimenting with percussion
instruments. The result of the meticulous process is the birth of a
percussion ensemble comprising percussion instruments from diverse music
traditions of the world.
In his march towards modernity from the age of traditional
family-based education system to a digital era, Ravibandu was able not
only to yoke heterogeneous traditions together in a harmonious manner
but also to incorporate Sri Lankan percussion instruments into his
ensemble. It should be stated here that incorporation of beats of Sri
Lankan percussion instruments into electronic music instruments would be
beneficial in the long run, especially to propagate them internationally
and to encourage international scholars to study the tradition in its
authentic form in Sri Lanka.
Deep insight into the subject
|
Ravibandu Vidyapathi |
Ravibandu is marked for his up-to-date knowledge of music, dance and
choreography and his deep insight into the craft. Most of his creations
are embedded with a deep philosophy and reflects the milieu. For
instance, his ballads such as 'Macbeth', 'Judas' and 'Hecabe', 'Gandhari
and Kusumalatha' are not only excellent productions in terms of their
choreography, performance and depth of plots. He has performed diverse
roles in a large number of productions including 'Karadiya', 'Nala
Damayanthi', 'Shivaranga', 'Chandaalika' and 'Rashoman'.
The artist is a forerunner of cultural movement. The very soul and
the style of the expressive art is determined by the perceptive nature
of the artist. Ravibandu through his creations has demonstrated this
quality. It is through the productions that the artist expresses himself
and success or failure of such production is dependent on the
insightfulness of the artist and the methods that he employed to reach
out to the public. It has been observed that Ravibandu has perused a
vision, despite financial cost, since the commencement of his career.
Multifaceted personality
Ravibandu is a multifaceted personality. For he is an accomplished
dancer and a musician. He is well versed in diverse traditions of
dancing besides being a drummer. In him is an enchanting musician who
knows the subtle nuances of beats in percussion instruments from diverse
tradition of music. He has a vast knowledge of music scores that
accompanied such percussion instruments. Given his vision, perception
and intention of up lifting the standards of both classical and
contemporary music in Sri Lanka, Ravibandu Vidyapathi is undoubtedly one
of the great musicians of our time.
(The article is based on a speech by Kolitha Bhanu Dissanayake, the
Dean of the Faculty of Music of the University of Visual and Performing
Arts and the Acting Vice Chancellor.)
|
