Review

Pradeepanjalee - XV11:

A fitting tribute to Ravi Shankar

by Harsha Makalande

Pradeepanjalee XV11 held on February 23 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre transpired into a delightful evening of music.

Pradeep Ratnayake’s virtuosity on the Sitar was demonstrated to a Sri Lankan audience without any emotions being held back. Pradeep’s characteristic approach to shaping melodic phrases was gracefully served to an audience that understood him, cared for him, and loved him as an artiste of great musical taste.

The significance of this particular Pradeepanjalee was that it was a tribute to the great Ravi Shankar. The opening item of the program was Ravi Shankar’s own Indian Classical Music composition Raga Jogeshwari composed in 1979.

Unaccompanied, the performer painted many impressionistic ‘soundscapes’ in my mind. They conveyed the many discordant aspects of our society as well as the concordant smooth sailing aspects of life.

A doctor in the house, confided in me that for his own sake he did not fancy the discordant part. But as a performing artiste I knew that Pradeep was talking about the harshness in our society. The persistent strumming, hard fourths and fifths seemingly aimed at the bourgeois, told us that we do not respect ‘Right of Way’ on the immaculate roads in Sri Lanka!

Virtuosity

The next item Rag Maad Kamaj, from the repertoire of the usual performer, which was a favourite of Ravi Shankar, ushered in Peshala Manoj, who was educated musically at the Lucknow Tabla Gharana. A technically accomplished artiste Peshala, demonstrated his virtuosity leaving no stone unturned to reach the awed audience.

He constantly, strived to project the versatility of the Tabla, and succeeded. By constantly signalling him, and trying to maintain the communication channels between themselves, Pradeep maintained the togetherness of the ensemble.

In the next item Theme music of Pathar Panchali, Pradeep was getting more into his element. Adding his own harmony and colouring the music in his own inimitable way, made the audience become more intimate with himself. The ensemble too was getting tighter! It was time now for the launch of the CD Santhutti, which was recorded in the USA when Pradeep was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University.

East meets West

After the interval, the second half of the concert began with the very famous piece by Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin, East Meets West. Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, 95

When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth. So aptly immortalised by Rudyard Kipling, these lines speak of the spirit of East Meets West !

Clever performers

The two strong men from the East and West, gave us this brilliant composition and format. Performers have been inspired to create great and greater works by this work of art. Purist have had their castles full of statements ruined by this.

The politics of the world of music, if mastered well, may bring clever performers the top rated awards in the industry. But the realm of this particular category of music which may be termed Fusion, is located in a different parallel universe, and is not stained by all the unethical practices of these “music politicians”.

Whether it received a Grammy Award or not, East Meets West remains a primordial force in the world of music. We cannot talk of all Grammy Award winning music in this manner! Nor of the performers who play in those items!

This evening which ushered in the rains, after many uncomfortable humid days, also brought in Ananda Dabare, Sri Lanka’s world-class violinist to the stage, to perform East Meets West with Pradeep Ratnayake. They both, with Peshala did justice to the great composition.

It was a world-class performance! Some may think that a performance becomes world-class, only if it is performed in New York, but I know that this was a world-class performance, though it was done in Colombo, Sri Lanka! The quality, termed the “Musicality” of a performer, cannot change from city to city!

Flute

Some ‘World-Class’ musicians have been canonised as such by the media, and not by the audience at large! Therefore, I believe that this was a great performance by great performers, and this could be said for the next item called Morning Love, as well.

The composition which had the Flute playing in ensemble with Sitar and Tabla, going into lyrical cadenza, was played by our own Sureka Amarasinghe. Sureka who is well versed in Classical and Jazz, demonstrated her virtuosity bringing the audience to a meditative state of mind that was unique.

The three players worked in perfect ensemble! Sureka has mastered the quality that any performer would pay to achieve, that is relaxing on stage and getting into the depths of yourself!

The audience loved it, including Nanda Malini, a legendary Sri Lankan singer, who was a distinguished guest. Again it was an evening of world class music performed in Colombo!

The next item Panchamse gara which Ravi Shankar played in the Monterey Pop Music Festival in 1967, demonstrated Pradeep’s ability to interpret progressive ideas in music. It was played with Sitar and Tabla. In fact this skill which Pradeep has, is a ‘brake through’ for modern Sri Lankan music. He has succeeded in enriching the repertoire of Serious Music in Sri Lanka by intertwining folk music from this country and others into his compositions.

Orchestral work

His orchestral work, the Kuveni Concerto - a concerto for Sitar, ‘Cello, and Orchestra was premiered by the Neubrandenburger Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany in May 2010, with Pradeep and German ‘Cellist Ramon Jaffe’ as soloist. Pradeep is billed to perform it again in 2014 in South Africa with the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yasuo Shinozaki in 2014.

The evening was gracefully brought to a close with Pradeep and Peshala playing Bangla Kirtan - a folk dhun, a traditional Bengali folk melody that Shankar played with a tablist named Chaturlal who performed with him before the famous Alla Rakha became his accompanist. Peshala was now in his element, and the lilting rhythm of the whole piece was carried by him so expertly and efficiently, and his tone production was excellent...it was music, music, music!

The audience was brought to their feet, and Mother Lanka was proud!