Golden memories of music sans technology
Many years ago during my teenage years, I used to on occasion ‘cut’ school and make a beeline to the American Library then located in Galle Face Court (the building next to the Ramada Hotel and right opposite Galle Face Hotel). That was the time when the US Embassy was housed where the American Center/USAID is now located.This was in the late 1960s and early ’70s. The library, apart from books and a chance to reach Newsweek or American newspapers with ‘excitement’, had a great selection of records. We would go up to P. Thambirajah (Thambi), one of the best known librarians at the time, and request to listen to a record. The library had the large headphones (now used by DJs) and the sound was great – precise and clear. I was a country and folk buff, born not with a silver spoon but a ukulele, playing drums on the rabana sandwiched between thighs, with raw drumsticks (not the eating variety) but cut from a branch of the many trees in the nearly one-acre land on which was located the large house at Attidiya, Ratmalana where we lived (on a rent of 100 bucks per month!) or tugging the string of a tea-chest skiffle bass.
According to reported data in the 1950s (that’s the great part of the worldwide web –WWW- which last week marked its 25th anniversary), the tea-chest bass was used in skiffle bands which used home-made or improvised instruments. It became popular in Britain most probably because of the large British-owned tea estates in Sri Lanka and India that made tea chests easy to come by. Times have changed now and wooden chests are not the mode of tea packaging anymore.
For those in this generation who may be unaware, the tea-chest bass is made from a plywood tea chest (one side open), turned upside down with a hole made in the centre and a string threaded through the hole coming out from the flat side and tied to the end of an old broomstick. The free end of the broomstick rests on the bottom of the upside down chest and a player pulls the string and varies the sound that emanates (like a double bass sound) while putting a foot on the box to prevent it sliding.
Among my favourite records at the American Center were Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Running down the Road’ and the many albums of Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR). With no digital sound or technology, visitors to the library would frown as they watched us seated at a long table, picking a set of huge headphones, oblivious to the rest of the world, humming and even drumming on the table to the rhythm which others didn’t hear. “Ssssh” …. was often directed towards us by other library users.
With record albums beyond our reach – moneywise — this was the next best alternative to listen to popular choices. We waited with bated breath every month for the release in the 1960s of the book of new songs – ‘Popular Favourites’, which cost a few cents, by the Children’s Bookshop of Wickremasooriya fame near the Fort Clock Tower. Gerard Wickremasooriya also owned the famous Sooriya records label which revolutionized Sinhala pop with the advent of the Golden Chimes, and later the cassette tape revolution.
Those were the days and it was a walk in the park (music-wise) to keep abreast of the developments. I wanted to join a band but my father, a strict disciplinarian, frowned at the idea. Studying was a struggle and was my pet hate; rather it was music and writing, interestingly both of which have dominated my life in the past 45 years.
We didn’t have the tools of the now generation. We were happy with what we had – a rabana, a ukulele with gut strings and a tea-chest bass to perform the occasional ‘gig’ at a family gathering. Baila was at the peak of its popularity with the Golden Chimes and Clarence. The usual bajou or bajow, a boisterous music session with drink and bite was the rave. A walk in the park!
It was the era of Woodstock, Jim Reeves and his golden baritone voice, Elvis Presley and Hank Locklin. Children studied hard to acquire a degree or dropped out of school soon after O’ Levels to do a job. There was plenty of time to play unlike today. The hotel industry had started and everyone was excited to join the flow. There were few worries, most youngsters made merry. A walk in the park!
Sometime in the 1980s when the American Center shifted to Inner Flower Road opposite the Russian Embassy, the library was clearing its ‘garbage’ including the set of valuable records, which by then had been overtaken by the cassette tape revolution. ‘Thambi’ as he was popularly known to colleagues not young Turks like us, asked me whether I would like a few records, which I was proud to own. Imagine owning a CCR record! A walk in the park!
Interestingly, it was the American Library at Inner Flower Road and its then Public Affairs Officer, who aware of my interest in country music, suggested Bob Livingston. That was in 1987 and a year later ‘Country Roads’, the concert for children, was born but it was many years later that Bob, a great country-singing cowboy, finally got on the Sri Lankan stage. Organizing a show in 1988 was no walk in the park owing to the JVP revolt and other violence across the country. In fact, our second show in 1989 was halted half way due to a curfew. Nearly 30 years later, ‘Country Roads’ still lives on and is now, a walk in the park.
Woodstock was a hit and I remember waiting outside the Odeon Cinema at Mount Lavinia in the ‘gallery’ queue for the cheapest ticket possible, with sarong Johnnies and ruffians wearing ‘drainpipe’ trousers. We watched the movie enthralled with heads almost tilted 90 degrees with our seats right in front.
However, all the discomfort vanished when Jimi Hendrix came on screen, Santana did his bit, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the crew took us to ecstasy (not the drug) but pure joy tempered at times by catcalls and wolf whistles amidst cigarette smoke. At interval-time we grabbed an icy-choc selling at a few cents. We were on cloud nine! A walk in the park!
Fast forward today and ‘Popular Favourites’ has vanished, records are artefacts – I saw one the other day at the Upali’s Restaurant in Colombo, but the record player doesn’t work. Just a museum piece, an ornament! Acoustic guitars have been electrified, tea chests are no longer around (does anyone have one lying around as I am looking for one?) and organs can play any sound, you name it, you have it! A walk in the park.
Gone are the days when music was rich; talent and skills were needed to play an instrument. Today you press a pedal and your guitar gives the sound you want which in the days of yore would be a struggle to play it yourself. Technology has taken over the fun part of playing. Backing tracks transform a single artiste into an orchestra. Lip-syncing means you don’t even have to memorize the songs. A walk in the park for the new generation!
Yet technology has helped me to get the lyrics of any song and the video, chords, etc on the Internet. I don’t need to wait for a month now; it’s just seconds away and at the mere tap of a ‘key’ on my computer. Thousands of songs with help to play it like the evergreen Nina and Fredrick hit ‘Listen to the Ocean’ and its powerful lyrics………..“Where evening breezes caress the shore//Like a gentle comforting hand” or “Listen to the ocean, echoes of a million seashells//Forever it’s in motion//Moving to a rhythmic and unwritten music//That’s played eternally.”
It’s like being reborn, reincarnation. A walk in the park for me literally as music is my constant companion now (my wife will hate me for it!) as I listen to Paul Simon, Alison Krauss, the Dixie Chicks, John Denver or the Beatles while taking a leisurely stroll at the Weli Park at Nugegoda and watching cormorants swoop down to catch fish, a pelican sailing on the waters like a stately ship, a squirrel nibbling at something or listening to the constant call of the ‘Did u do it’ (kirala) which adds to the harmony.
Wonderful feelings and care-free remembrances cajoled me to pen these thoughts. Music, memories and a walk in the park! What more does one want from life?
PS: While slim and slick earphones are the ‘now’ thing and so much easier on the ear, I saw a young man with huge headphones at the Weli Park. When will they ever learn? (With apologies to Peter, Paul and Mary the folk trio in the ‘60s famously known for their version of the ballad “Where have all the flowers gone”)