Pradeep Ratnayake's Pradeepanjalee

In search of a Sri Lankan identity

by Indeewara Thilakarathne and Ranga Chandrarathne

"You have heard glorious music. As you can see Pradeep is a person of enormous talent and I am sure one day would be the Ravi Shankar of Sri Lanka ...

Pradeepanjalee means the offering of your own self. Pradeep is offering his entire self ...and not just his music to the audience. And it is when that happens that the vibrating string of the sitar, the soul of raga and the soul of the musician are one.

Then your soul ... your mind is coloured by vibrant and incandescent colour. And it is the essence of music. "said Nirupam Sen, the Indian Ambassador to the United Nations commenting on Pradeepanjalee in 2004 at Lionel Wendt theatre.

The tenth performance of Pradeepanjalee was held at Lionel Wendt theatre on February 11, 2007.

With the fusion of diverse traditions and techniques, Pradeep has not only changed the traditional notion of Sitar which is often associated with Indian classical music based on Raga but also rendered a Sri Lankan identity to it, a kind of harmony hitherto unknown in the arena of music.

It is a harmonious fusion of diverse music traditions, Indian classical music of Raga, Sri Lankan percussion instruments such as the Tammatama, Udekkiya, Talmpata and traditional tunes of folk music that has, virtually, taken Sitar from its traditional milieu to create enthralling compositions that are well received world wide to the standing ovations.

These are the compositions where East meets the West, classical Raga with jazz and blues, yet with a unique identity which is essentially the heart and the soul of Sri Lanka.

In essence, Pradeep has captured the heart beats of the nation with the subtle and crafty manipulation of the strings of Sitar. It is nothing but Sri Lankan music of highest calibre that would stand the test of time to form 'our' own tradition incorporating elements of all most all mainstream music traditions and even trends in the popular music.

One of the salient features of Pradeepanjalee is the composition where instruments drawn from the popular music, Sitar, saxophone and guitar mingled in harmony to create a most unorthodox piece of melody. The techniques of Jazz have also been incorporated into Pradeep's compositions.

'The wind', one of the creations in the concert has virtually taken the audience by storm. It is also delicate fusion music where Tabla, Sitar and other percussion instruments merged to form the tone picture of a wind that blows hard and soft.

"Mountaineers" renders almost an awe-inspiring feeling deriving the best from the oriental and occidental traditions of music. Guitar, Saxophone and Sitar blend unbelievably well and the tone picture, thus, created addresses to the inner-most feelings, subtly re-creating the freshness that you encounter only when you climb mountains breathing pure and fresh air.

Kuveni is a composition with a melancholy tune. Sitar, ....... and cello contributed to create the atmosphere of sandiness and of course, agony and pain albeit not intensify to overshadow the deep mood. Here Dushanthi Perera (cello)'s contribution is outstanding.

All most all the compositions, the instruments drawn from diverse traditions of music converge in harmony as different colour trends merged together to create a rich tapestry of silk.

Pradeep has really widened the scope of the Sitar that he has mastered since his childhood and brings forth with it, a kind of music which had never been though possible in the arena of contemporary music.

Pradeepanjalee is not only a fusion of the West and the East but also a discovery of celestial tones that spell bound audience any where in the globe making it really a universal yet with equally deep sense of Sri Lankanness , a kind of stamp that carried throughout his compositions. These compositions are master-pieces in their own way.

Inclusion of traditional Sri Lankan percussion instruments in his compositions has added a unique identity to them. Among the percussion instruments, Tabla played by maestro Wijeyratne Ranatunga was pre-dominant and reminded the audience of his sole concert 'Ridma taranga'. It was harmony at its best and also converged of talents from diverse fields.

Kumar de Silva (piano), Alston Joachim (base guitar), Shiraaz Nooramith (drums), Dushanthi Perera (cello), Maestro Wijeratne Ranatunga (Tabla), Mahendra Pasquel (acoustic guitar), Jayantha Dissanayake (saxophone), Ravi Bandu Vidyapathi and Karunaratne Bandara (Sri Lankan and Indian percussion instruments) are also accompanied Pradeep Ratnayake.

Pradeep is considered as one of the most talented students at Shanti Nikhetana as he had obtained the highest marks for Master of Music in 2003 with a First Division pass.

He had the singular honour of becoming the disciple of legendary professor Indrani Bhattacharya, son of Timil Bharan. Pradeep was trained within Maihar gharana. Pradeep is well established in that tradition.

Pradeep is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Languages and Cultural Studies. He had conducted and performed in many parts of the world including at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, the Asia Society in New York and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington DC.