'Chamathkara' - Magnificent evening of aesthetic excellence

by Jayasumana Dissanayake

It was a magnificent evening of aesthetic excellence named "Chamathkara Sarasanandakara Sandyawa" held recently at the New Arts Theatre of the University of Colombo. It was organised by the Arts Council.

In the recent past our universities were famous mostly not for academic excellence but for violence, boycotting lectures, and battles among rival groups of different faculties which caused even deaths. The alumni of these august institutions were in despair seeing the destruction of reputation and fine traditions that prevailed therein before.

Victor Rathnayake at Chamathkara concert

Though there were many causes for this unfortunate situation some see the distancing of teachers from the students as an important reason. It is needless to mention that teacher-student relationship is a prime concern for a healthy educational environment.

We witnessed a silver lining in the dark clouds of the universities on February 24 in the programme 'Chamathkara Sarasanandakara Sandyawa' held at New Arts Theatre. Students were seen queuing up from 1.30 pm for the event to be held at 3.30 pm.

Just before the starting of the event the auditorium was full to its capacity. Yet more and more students and guests were pouring in. As there were no more seats available they kept on standing unhesitant in the aisles and sides. It was a rare sight at New Arts Theatre not seen in the recent past.

The main event of the day's programme was to felicitate renowned singer- musician Victor Ratnayake for his contribution to music culture for more than four decades. It was a fitting tribute to a musician for whose work was always dreamy, passionate, august and exotic in the most original and exciting way.

Though the song, dance and appreciation took more than two hours in the extra warm evening, nobody raised even a slightest noise.

There was not even a hum other than a warm applause that came from the packed audience at appropriate times throughout the programme. Today though the university students are being belittled in every forum as an unruly and untamed lot, sans good taste and discipline, this occasion proved otherwise.

This reminded me of the poet Weththave's description of maestro Guttila playing the veena. He says, "nodanith daruvan aekayen vaetuna". As women were so absorbed in the music they were unaware that their babies slipped from their laps.

The grand event initiated by the Arts Council was planned, executed and presented by Samantha Herath senior lecturer, Department of Mass Communication and assisted by Deepthi Wickramasinghe, senior lecturer of the Science Faculty. The Arts Council of the university has an illustrious history which runs to university college times in the early 1940s.

It was first named as 'Mela' and later the name was changed to 'Ghandarva Sabha'. An eminent scholar and diplomat Prof. G.P. Malalasekara was the founder president. Prof.Sarachchandra who too was a prominent figure in it recalls the amount of work done by Prof. Malalasekara along with Prof. Chandrasena who was then Professor of Chemistry to develop the taste and skills of students, in his autobiographical notes "Pin aethi sarasavi varamak denne".

In addition to the reputed musicians of the time such as Saranaguptha Amarasinghe and Suryasena, services of prominent artists from India too were obtained to train students.

The present programme is one of such events planned to attract students to listen to good music and develop further their literary taste. Hence, it was not merely a musical programme.

It was a journey through Victor's life in music. Victor is one of the few musicians who acted as a bridge for the Rasikas to reach the wonderful world of oriental classical music through his simplified and innovative versions. Samantha Herath as the presenter of this programme, in his own inimitable style, very competently grasped the audience.

Most of the time his presentation was poetical and at times with full of irony especially when he compared some of the present day lyrics sung by some singers. The theme of the evening was love.

It was more an appreciation of lyrics written by competent writers. When he delved deep into meanings and emotions embedded in the lyrics not only students but also the mature academics enjoyed them thoroughly.

Another remarkable aspect of the day's programme was the narration of Victor's experiences in making of his songs, before he sang each of them was something that an audience would rarely experience.

He named the writer who composed the lyrics and explained the experience which made it possible for him to write it and how he composed the melody, tune and music.

For one of his very popular songs, at the initial stage of his musical career he had composed the music while travelling by train from Colombo to Bandarawela as he was a teacher then he said. When narrating many of his experiences he was living in them instantly as if in a trance.

The programme was colourful and meaningful with the dances added to it choreographed by veteran artist Ravibandhu Vidyapathi and the music conducted by Mahanama Wickramasinghe. Unless more and more programmes of this nature are planned to involve students, it would not be possible to retain them in this side of the shore.