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| Sunday, 26 February 2006 |
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Not yet another maestro by Ranga Chandrarathne In the business of being creative, the process does not begin nor end
with an
As young as 13 years, Lakshman Joseph de Saram earned a name for himself in the arena of music, making his debut with professor Earl de Fonseka and the Symphony Orchestra of Colombo. He began playing the violin at the age of four under the guidance of his mother, and proceeded to formal studies with Eileen Prins, principal violinist of the Symphony Orchestra of Colombo. He showed his innate talents early in his career, and at the age of 12, was selected as a Sri Lankan representative at the UN sponsored "Year of the child" held in Sofia in Bulgaria, where he performed the Mendelssohn violin concerto. In 1983, he moved to New York City and earned a position at the highly competitive "School of Performing Arts",he also studied violin and trombone at the Manhattan School of Music and Julliard Pre-College.
His fruitful engagement in Sri Lankan music with maestro Premasiri Khemadasa led him to explore traditional Sri Lankan sounds and rhythms, and his subsequent entry into the music world of films and teledramas. His sound track which was completed in 2003, for Buddhi Keerthisena's "Mille Soya" won the prestigious Sarasaviya award for the best music direction and the International "Signis" award for the most outstanding original music for a Sri Lankan film in 2005. He also composed music for Prasanna Vithanage's film " Ira Madiyama. When asked about his aversion to getting a Masters or Doctorate in music, Lakshman says, the defining moment when he decided to leave the formal academic path, was at a master class by a famous professor pontificating on Beethoven. I realized at that point, here I was, an aspiring degree holder, being taught by a multiple degree holder, and we were all focusing on a person who never saw the insides of a school. If someone says he has a PhD in medicine, I understand the validity in that. However, in culture and art, it does seem useless really, almost a distraction. Although Lakshman joked when he said that he would not say no to an honorary doctorate later in life, maybe in indigenous medicine or whatever they give out these days! Commenting on what he thought about the state censoring art, and especially the pulling of the controversial film "Sulanga Enu Pinisa" off the Sri Lankan screens, he said that it never bodes well when elected officials take it upon themselves to decide on what the adult public can and cannot watch or read. It usually signals the beginning of the end. In addition, it is the tiny and narrow mind that thinks, that a depiction of a single Sri Lankan soldier committing a crime dramatized for film somehow condemns and demoralizes the entire armed forces. I know our forces are greater than that. Asked to expound on his approach to music and composing, Lakshman says that composing for film is relatively easy, as opposed to composing an abstract work based on emotion only. I seem to have that ability to hear colour, to hear loneliness etc. That helps greatly when working with visuals he says. On performing live, he says it is not his favourite form of expression, mainly because I don't think I have much that I care to express really, certainly not in public. He does however enjoy playing chamber music with like-minded individuals. Immersing himself in Sri Lankan folk music is what Lakshman has been doing over the last few years. The search for the elemental song of the drunk village simpleton has been illusive he says. It most often turns out to be some variation of a Gypsies' song, which is great when done by Sunil Perera, but un-acceptable any other way. Lakshman Joseph de Saram is currently working on the music for two major feature films, and as a performer, will be touring the United States and Canada in mid 2006. |
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expensive foreign degree, it is for me at least, a never ending saga
of being able to experience and express the "moment" cogently. 
He was fortunate to be introduced to the legendary maestro Sergiu
Celibidache in New York, and Lakshman Joseph de Saram's approach to music
was greatly influenced, particularly, by Celibidache's potent ideas of Zen
Buddhistic thought via the symphonies of Anton Bruckner. 
