Gripping spell of superior aesthetic exponents

Conglomerate of traditions and folk music:

by Indeewara Thilakarathne and Ranga Chandrarathne

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“Traditions meet”, concert of Sri Lankan and Norwegian traditional music was recently held at Ananda College auditorium. It was presented by Concert Institute of Norway and Aru Sri Art Theatre Sri Lanka. The curtain raises with the spell bounding performance by visiting Norwegian troupe ‘Seven Winds’ with its energetic trio Becaye AW (Guitar), Rolf-Erik Nystrom (Saxophone) and singer Unni Lovlid.

They played authentic Norwegian traditional pieces some of which were as old as thousand years. Unni is a leading folk singer from West coast of Norway and Becaye originally from Mauritania is one of the best African blues guitar player and joined with Rolf-Erik (Saxophonist) from Norway.

Perhaps, the most enchanting among them were the composition on themes like rain and movements of a bird. Although the audience could not understand the beautiful poetry, composition of music really touched one. At times, the high pitched voice of Unni dominated the silent audience and at other times, it was Becaye AW’ guitar or Rolf-Erik Nystrome’s Saxophone.

For Becaye, the guitar is like a playmate. He plays it with such fine movements of fingers that it is really difficult to see the change of strings and stressing of the strings. Rolf-Erik Nystrom with Saxophone moves freely on the stage sometimes with closed eyes. Unni’s voice was best at times when she sang traditional Norwegian songs, perhaps, true to their original spirit. They have modified traditional folk songs to suit the modern audience.

Following their performance, the visiting Norwegian troupe played with Ravibandu Vidyapathy’s formidable drum orchestra. The item ‘Traditions meet’ was the most exciting moment of the concert. It was not only a blend of diverse traditions from both Sri Lanka and Norway but also confrontation of two cultures.

For the first two items, Becaye with guitar and Rolf-Erik Nystrom with Saxophone joined the drum orchestra. The orchestra consisted of talented Sri Lankan musicians including Ravibandu Vidyapathy (Sri Lankan drums), Priyantha Dassanayake (Flute), Ruwan Weerasekara (violin) and V. Jambunathan (Mrithangam player).

However, subsequently Unni joined with Sri Lankan folk singers Indika Upamali and T. S. Murugesh. At first each singer representing Sinhala, Tamil and Norwegian folk music sang solos in their distinctive traditions. The climax of the item was marked when the trio sang simultaneously, producing different colours of tone. At times, it was rather a clash of traditions and all the traditions were mixed in a chaos.

However, it would have been a challenge for Sri Lankan performers and visiting Norwegian player as they had to concentrate intensely on separate tunes whilst playing them in parallel with other traditions.

Perhaps, this would have been for the first time, the oriental folk music met with its occidental counterpart in fusion music. Though chaotic, at times, fusion of folk songs from traditions as diverse as Sinhalese, Tamil and Norwegian is a bold attempt. It would have been a challenging experience for visiting Norwegian troupe as well as for Sri Lankan singers.

“Mathra”, a popular folklore group presented several items at the concert. Singapore is about the aping of the West by Sri Lankans. Reminding the audience of the colonial era where Sri Lankans were, for the first time, exposed to Western civilization, through the enactment of a drama with folk songs, Mathra highlighted the generation of Sri Lankan who acquired culture and the mannerism of their colonial masters.

One of the modes of attacking this phenomenon was pinpointing a local leader who mimics the mannerism of the departing British. The item mainly focuses on embracing alien culture by Sri Lankans.

This class of people subsequently distinguished themselves from the ordinary so they are the Singaporians. A significant aspect of the piece was that Mathra has used original folk melodies and Viridu (traditional Sinhalese ballad music) for the composition.

The local leader putting on the British hat pretended that he was really ignorant of Sinhalese. This is a peculiar characteristic of the certain section of the upper middleclass Sri Lankans who are really proud to demonstrate their ignorance of native languages; Tamil or Sinhalese.

Though there are genuine cases, majority of upper middle class men and women’s professed ignorance of native languages and culture is a sham.

Mathra is directed by Saman Panapitiya, singer, composer and lecturer in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Visual and Performing Arts. Costumes for the items presented by “Mathra” were not very soothing and the performance was also not up to the expectation. They could surely have used more traditional flavour instead of resorting to improvisation.

Tamil folk dance (gypsy dance) was one of the colourful items presented by Aru Sri Art Theatre. It really depicted momentous life-style of gypsy community. The performers captured the essence of gypsy community in general and mannerism of the women in particular.

The other item took place on Kamatha (an oval shaped threshing floor in a harvested paddy field). Oiraira Oirama reflects cultural alienism of youth. Piece highlights youth culture which acquires and creates traditions borrowed from the West is not squarely blamed for alienisms but the entire population which had not practiced the indigenous culture.

Indika Upamali’s performance was not the best and she was breathless on several occasions. Audience expected much more from the otherwise immensely gifted versatile singer.

Ravibandu together with his drum orchestra performed well.

However, the glamour created by Ravibandu’s actor like performance with occasional nod was absent from the performance. This noticeable absence contributed to lessen inspiration of the audience. The musical cooperation between the two countries is achieved through transfer of knowledge of music and competency development of music education of the two countries.

As the theme and the focus was on folk music, the concert concentrated on folk music. However, as a measure of breaking the monotony of the show, two items mixed with dancing and songs from Sinhalese and Tamil traditions of folk music have been introduced to the show.

Deshanethru Kalasuri Arundathy Sri Ranganathan’s innovative ideas coupled with Ravibandu’s percussion marvels and Saman Panapitiya’s creativity contributed to the overall success of the concert.

It should be mentioned here that long years of teaching of the trio coupled with practical precision enabled them to represent the authentic traditions of Sri Lanka.

The concert concluded with an energetic performance by drum Orchestra with Norwegian players Rolf-Erik and Becaye. Perhaps, it would be a fitting finale as the Sri Lankan drums echoed in the auditorium.

The Traditions Meet offered a glimpse into the rich folk traditions of Sri Lanka and Norway and commenced rich dialogue between the two countries.