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| Sunday, 29 May 2005 |
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A Beat of Her Own
by Rikaza Hassan
When she first picked up the dolak at the age of six, neither she nor her family had any idea where it would lead to. A present from her father, she used the instrument more as a plaything, an intriguing yet different toy from the usual dolls and cars of other average kids. It led her to try out the tabla in the school eastern music room where she just created her own beat, tapping on it and caught the ears of her teacher. She is now not only the only tabla player in the school but also one of the few females to take up the instrument in a sphere dominated by the male kind. Sachini Vishanthi Peiris was born on the 11th of August, the youngest of three girls. A student of Visakha Vidyalaya since the days of grade school, she is currently nervous about her first sitting at the Advanced Level Examinations that are coming up. She has already passed the first of five levels of the Indian 'Bath Kanda' music examinations which lead to one acquiring the title of 'Visharada.' The instruments she plays are as varied as they are many. The tabla, dolak, thammatama, udakkiya, maddalaya, dhawla, rabana, geta beraya, pahatha rata beraya are among them. She is also fluent with the congo and bongo drums as well as any kind of drumming instrument. But it is singing to the beats of the tabla as she plays it that she loves best of all.
Lending her a helping hand in realising her dream is Visharada Manoj Pieris who coaches and advises her whenever he is around. "He spotted me on TV in a programme that I participated in on Rupavahini and contacted me. He's been quite a big help." So how have her parents felt about her deviating from the norm? "They've always been quite supportive especially my mother. She always accompanies me to recordings and such." And her two elder sisters? "They are very helpful. They're both in the hotel industry but they help me in whatever way they can." "I'm very grateful to my music teacher at school, Mrs. Udeni Samarasinghe. She's been my teacher since grade 6 and is always ready to help with my queries, holding classes after school for me and so on. I'm the only person in school sitting for eastern music at the Advanced Levels." Sachini has participated in many music competitions and festivals, here and abroad. Even now, with examinations just round the corner she is busily engaged in Bhakthi Gee singing at school and outside. In 2001 she represented the school at the International Celesta Competitions in India where she played five instruments alternatively. The Visakhian orchestra were awarded the Critics Award for their orchestral performance. It was during this visit that she purchased her very own tabla. Sachini also took part in the Netherlands Music Festival last year. She even did a stint as an actress when she played the part of Subha in a children's teledrama. How hard does she work on her playing? "I practise playing the tabla for at least a half hour everyday." She has been working harder since being caught up in the tsunami though there "was hardly any damage to the house and my mother and I, who were at home at the time found quite safe higher ground," she assures. The tsunami however did damage her notebooks and she had to recopy all
her lost notes. Singer, instrumentalist and actress, this young lady is a
whirl of artistic talent. Her dreams are big and go far but are definitely
attainable in consideration of her achievements so far. As she takes her
first steps towards becoming a real musician and conquering the world with
her compositions let us wish her all the best. |
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Shy at first, even introverted at times, she
prefers silence to making conversation. She gains her confidence however,
only when she is singing, her vocal chords thin. Or when making music flow
from the beats of her very own tabla. She may have accomplished in much
less time what others had taken so long to do, but this young adult is
still very much her amma's little girl. 
Her ambition is to become a musician, not just singing and playing but
to compose her own songs and music as well. She even enthuses about mixing
eastern instrumentals with western compositions to create a kind of fusion
music like those that is the rage right now in the pop and hip-hop scene
in Sri Lanka. What about university? "I want to go to university
definitely" she says determinately. However, this girl has no plan of
finishing her tertiary education in Lanka but rather has hopes of studying
in India or Japan. 
