Sri Lanka’s magical mélange
‘Sri Lanka’s diversity of culture’ has become a hacked phrase because you hear it more often than you actually experience that diversity.Samkathana III, Festival of Devotional Music, organised by the University of Kelaniya, will be an opportunity to view the magic that comes out of a mélange of the many cultures and religions of our country.
Two stages of Samkathana have already been held. On October 29 audiences at the University of Kelaniya witnessed a presentation of ritual altars of three important rituals of Sri Lanka. The second segment, held in Sabaragamuwa, Kandy and Jaffna explored lifestyles of different cultures through contemporary literature.
The third performance on December 5 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, will be of a kind rarely seen before, said festival curator Dr. Asoka de Zoysa of the University of Kelaniya.
It’s splendour lies in the richness of the traditions involved. Titled ‘A dialogue between tradition and the contemporary’, the event is composed of many strands, each of them carefully researched, said Dr. de Zoysa.
Among the components that will make up the evening will be texts from the Vessantara Jataka sung while the audience gets to see ancient temple murals depicting scenes from the same jataka. And accompanying visuals of ritual arts of Jaffna will be thevarams, bhajans and stotrams. The most creative and innovative of the acts will be ‘Kuvanna’s Metamorphosis’, a contemporary dance performance – a transformation of the Kuveni asna from Kohomba Kankariya.
Pradeep Guneratne, who will perform with his partner Chathuri Perera, said that he enjoyed working on this act, and added, interestingly, that he would be using selected fluid movements based on hip hop.
Dr. de Zoysa said that much research has gone onto the work, most if it on communities so far flung and little known, including work done at smaller, lesser known kovils in Jaffna and among the descendants of the Portuguese at Wahakotte, and Muslims at Batticaloa.
The event, beginning at 6.30 p.m. at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, will coincide with the launching of the samkathana website by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya.
It is a free event, and all are welcome.
-Y.S.Y