Music

Berklee Celebrates Sri Lanka: Sanchitha's pride

by Mahes Perera

This is the first time young Sri Lankan students who had the opportunity of studying at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, have gone all out to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Sri Lanka. They have done this by way of a music video 'Berklee Celebrates Sri Lanka', which was rightfully released on February 4 - Sri Lankan Independence Day.

The brainchild of Sanchitha Wickremesooriya, who was in Berklee, for studies, the video had input from two other Sri Lankans in the college, Shannon Jacob and Niduk Wijetilleke. The three also had the support and co-ordination of Sandeep Surendiran, who subsequently moved over to Australia.

Sanchitha and Shannon deserve plaudits for not only creating the video but also for forging ahead with determination to achieve their objective.

There was an underlying reason that triggered the creation. "It was merely the frustration of who and what we were. People would always look at us and say 'Oh you're Indian!' and we'd say 'No we're not Indian'," says Sanchitha, explaining that he was part of an ensemble called 'The Indian Ensemble' and they had always seen him performing.

Sanchitha is a vocalist, and as principle vocalist, he says the Ensemble gave him a lot of opportunities. "I got to sing with A.R. Rahman and Vijay Prakash and being with the Indian Ensemble gave met the push to showcase our Sri Lankan culture and music," he adds.

The video 'Berklee Celebrates Sri Lanka' runs for a little more than seven minutes with 50 participants representing 17 different countries. These include participants from the US, Columbia, Luxembourg, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Japan, South Africa, Kenya, United Kingdom, France, Madagascar, Ecuador, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Turkey, all of who had worked together as one unit to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Sri Lanka.

"The music content begins with a chant, an excerpt from Avasara ganne ma by Saman Palapitiya of the group Matra. This is followed by a drum and dance section, choreographed by the guest artistes Nalinda Pieris, Roshan and Dilhan Pinnagoda," he says, explaining what follows is a 'baila' section, with Wally Bastians' Irene Josephine and Freddie Silva's Kundumani. The finale, he says, is Papare music arranged by Shannon Jacob.

"We used a whole string section - 6 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and we had 5 percussionists, a whole rhythm section, brass and woodwind sections," enthuses Sanchitha, explaining that the video was released on the Berklee YouTube channel and that people have taken it and projected it on personal pages. "The music was aired on radio and TV. We received nonstop emails and calls thanking us for the video," he adds.

The objective in creating the video was to promote Berklee in Sri Lanka and to promote Sri Lankan music in Berklee. More programs in this context are in the offing. And says Sanchitha, "We are trying to get Berklee down to Sri Lanka in January 2017, to conduct workshops for the benefit of young Sri Lankan musicians. Berklee travels around the world for auditions. Berklee goes to India for auditions, so coming to Sri Lanka would not pose a problem. It's practical. This video has set a platform for Sri Lankans."

Sanchitha, who holds a degree in Music Business, says it covers marketing management, entrepreneurship as well as the music itself. "It gives a firsthand insight into how a record label functions, how concert are to be planned to gain successful results," he says, pointing out that Shannon Jacob ,who graduated in the summer of last year, worked as a staff at Berklee and now is staff in the admission department.

So would Sanchitha be jetting back to the States to enjoy further success?

"No, I'm not going back. Right now I'm involved in filming a documentary with my family for the National Geographic Magazine. Also my grandfather was the pioneer of Sooriya label and I want to re-launch the label - re introduce the artistes we have heard and introduce new ones. We have so many amazing singers on a low key who don't a following because they do English music.

Concurrently, I'm also filming a documentary on the singers who were featured on the Sooriya label and this should come out very soon. I'm working with my father on this," he said adding that besides these he is also taking on personal projects - projects that require his creative input.

A student of Mary Ann David since the age of four years, Sanchitha was scheduled to sing for her recent show in the Past Pupils and Present Pupils section, but unfortunately couldn't make it in time as he was filming the documentary on the Sri Lankan music industry, with his family out of Colombo.

Listening to him unfolding about his organising capabilities confirms his inherent interest in music.

Says he, "Royal College, Colombo gave us a lot of opportunities. I was the Chairman of the Western Music Club and the Catholic Students' Union.

I had the task of planning the Festival of Choirs, Carol Services and training of choirs. In fact I handed the choir for one year when Miss Surekha Amerasinghe went abroad for further studies. For Hostel Day we raised 2.5 million rupees. I've been organising even before I left for Berklee!"