Felicitation of Padma Shri Pandit Amaradeva:

Sri Lanka's musical soul

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

Padma Shri Pandit Amaradeva, was felicitated by the High Commission of India at a ceremony organized by High Commissioner Ashok K. Kantha recently at India House.

The felicitation was held to rocognise the unique and singular contribution of Pandit Amaradeva to the field of music in Sri Lanka and his contribution towards enhancing Indo-Sri Lanka relations through the promotion of music.

He had the privilege of learning music from legendary musicians such as Pandit V.G. Jog and Dr. Ratnajaikar of the Bhatkande Institute in India. Pandit Amaradeva's derived his inspiration from diverse traditions of music; classical Indian ragas, Western classical music as well as from rich Sri Lankan folk music. Pandit Amaradeva is the only Sri Lankan citizen who had been honoured by the Government of India with the coveted title Padma Sri. In conferring the award, Padit Amaradeva was described as the voice of Sri Lanka's musical soul.

Indigenous music culture

It is pertinent to look back on evolution of Sri Lankan tradition or music culture and pivotal role he played in it as vocalist and musician.

Like in the field of cinema, Sri Lankan music scene was also under the overarching influence of Indian music. Although the absence of a truly Sri Lankan tradition of music may contribute to the situation, it was rather the lack of insight and creativity on the part of most of the musicians in the field which, by and large, contributed to making Sri Lanka a dumping ground for cheap Indian music in general and film music in particular.

What most of the popular musicians of the day did was to insert Sinhalese lyrics into popular Hindi notations. Although there was no Sri Lankan system of music, it could have been possible for Sri Lankan musicians to capture the heart beat of the nation in composing music. The ingenuity on the part of Dr.W.D Ameradeva is his ability to recreate a distinctively Sri Lankan tradition of music albeit drawing inspiration from the classical Hindustani tradition.

It was Amaradeva who salvaged Sri Lankan music from the corruptive influence of cheap Indian film music and copied Hindi notations. He rendered much-needed tone and signature to his melodious songs which have now become part of the national heritage.

His contribution, particularly, to play-back songs is legendary. For instance, it is no secret that the theme song of Siri Gunasinghe's seminal work "Sathsamudura" is so inseparably linked to the film that the name Sathsamudura always evokes the melodious and deep voice of the maestro.

At an early stage of his career, Amaradeva had the fortune of working with legendary lyricists of the era. Lyricists like Mahagama Sekera, Chandraratna Manavasinghe, Madavala Ratnayaka, Arisen Ahubudu, Dalton Alwis and Wimal Abhayasundara were the most gifted lyricists of that era. The elegant and poetical lyrics were further beautified as Amaradeva rendered his melodious voice to them.

Intellectual life

According to Ajith Samaranayake, Amaradeva's intellectual life was dominated by a rich assortment of friends and artistes including intellectual giants such as Ananda Samarakoon, Sunil Shantha, Vasantha Kumara, Premakumara, Panibharatha and Sesha Palihakkara.

They used to meet at Chitrasena's studio at Kollupitiya which provided them with a cultural ashram.

The zenith of Amaradeva's achievement during this period is considered the music he composed for Premakumara Epitawela's 'Selalihini Sandesaya' where he was able to render a novel interpretation to the traditional 'samudragosha' metre in which much of classical Sinhala poetry has been written and a novel style in poetry recitation.

Maestro Amaradeva belongs to a rare group of practitioners who were able to bridge the gap between academic excellence and outstanding success on popular stage or on media.

Although he is steeped in the classical Hindustani music, Amaradeva is conversant with diverse traditions of music, both Western and occidental and also with folk music.

At an early stage of his career, he composed music for his own songs. However, subsequently he sang the songs whose melodies were composed by other musicians.

His contribution as a musician to uplift the public taste includes a series of programmes he conducted over the national radio under the titles Madhuvanti, Rasamiyuru, Vijayageetha and Swarnawarna. He also conducted a series of TV programmes Gi Ama Bindu, Gisaraniya, Sanka Padma and Sangeetha Makaranda.

Buddhist plays

The music he composed for Ediriweeera Sarachchandra's Buddhist plays (Vessantara, Lomahamsa, and Bavakadaturava) makes up of his music legacy. Amaradeva's music is appreciated by not only audiences in Sri Lanka but also internationaly as well. Expatriate Sinhala communities in diverse parts of the world are highly appreciative of his songs for the singular reason that they carry the authentic Sri Lankan signature.

However, it should be stated here that though his songs evoke patriotic feelings, they are certainly not categorized into philistine chauvinism that are sometimes associated with the words 'indigenousness and national signature'.

As he is conversant with diverse traditions of music, he experiments with Western music. His experiments and other innovations include using techniques in Western music such as harmonies and counterharmonies for his creations. In addition, he also derives inspiration from South Indian and Tamil musical forms. He composed music for ballet, films, theatre, radio and television.

In recognition of his immense contribution to Sri Lankan arena of music, he has been presented with many prestigious awards including Padma Shri award which was presented to him on India's Republic Day and Ramon Magsaysay award.

His voice, by and large, reflects the spirit of the nation. Amaradeva rendered his tutored voice to many songs that have reverberated in the heart and mind of thousands of Sri Lankans for years to come.