Sunday Times 2
Moments with the legendary Amaradeva
View(s):By Satharathilaka Banda Atugoda
As a silent admirer of the late pandit W.D. Amaradeva, I paid my last respects to a maestro at Independence Square with a heavy heart, wishing that he be born among us, in this blessed land, before he attains the supreme bliss, as sung by him, ‘Sasara wasana thuru nivan dakina thuru, Pinketha hela ran derane yali upadinnata hetu wasana wewa’.
While bringing my palms together in veneration, my mind went back to the many meetings, musical performances, I have enjoyed, and lived with his lyrics and voice at least for a few moments. The first of such soirees was at the Kurunegala Town Hall, in the1958-59, period when the great musician took us all to a world of our dreams with songs like, ‘Ipida mere yali ipide nothira sasara sagare,’. It was an extraordinary picture with his nimble fingers and hands moving in waves in keeping with the words sung.
There was total silence in the audience, as Amaradeva led them to a meditative trance. As a pupils in the university entrance class, we felt that here was a guru who would create a national music tradition. Amaradeva had returned from his music studies in Bhathkande in India. I, as a close relative of the late W.B. Makuloluwe, who spoke of ‘deshiya sangeethaya’ with us, and built traditional music, looked to Amaradeva in the same light. It was the era of nationalism ushered in 1956, in which we all were ardent acolytes, and supporters and we imbibed anything nationalistic and yearned to meet Amaradeva more.
It was during the 1960 -1964 period at Peradeniya University that we had the opportunity to meet him with more refined lyrical pieces. Invited by the Gandharva Sabha and Sinhala Sangamaya, we had occasion to greet him and share a few words. The music soirees were at the open air theatre and the youthful undergraduates, especially, asked for encores on songs like ‘Pinamuko kalugange, Kiri bebalena hanadpane, ‘Palu anduru nil ahasa mamai, Mindada hi sera wedi salena hada, and Shantha me re yame…,’ the list goes on.
There were emotions rekindled, appealing to the young, on love, sorrow, melancholy, nature and hope for the future. Amaradeva was invited at least twice annually to the campus by some society, to get away from the boredom of academia over-whelming us everyday. Our 60 Peradeniya batch, in fact, hold a peduru sajje annually, where we sing the songs we sang in the 1960s, among which Amaradeva’s creations are at the top; we have published a collection of those songs, along with others, including his lyrics. That is the respect and gratitude we rendered unto him for making our lives so purposeful, during our student days.
More renderings by Amaradeva were organized by us at various places, during our professional lives. We invited him to London sponsored by the Sri-Lanka Associations, from the 1970 to the 1980s. These musical evenings were attended by almost all Sri Lankans living in the UK, and music lovers from other nationalities. Depending on the requests of the audience, Amaradeva sang songs like ‘Hantane kandu muduna sisara’, ‘Irata muwaven indagena isa peeranawa’, ‘Kabaya irila eeta kamak nehe’, ‘Swarna wimaneta eha lokayen’, and of course, ‘Sasara wasana thuru’. He honoured us by accepting our invitations to have a meal with us after the soirees. There were many such evening meetings over dinner. One of the poignant moments I could remember was when he was at our residence. I presumed he would like to hear some songs by him on a long play music disc, which was gifted to me by one of my friends. It was a long play disc, popular at that time and I started to play it on the player when Amaradeva was enjoying his dinner with the others. I thought Amaradeva would be happy to listen to music by him which we enjoy when abroad.. These songs really brought a feeling of nostalgia, especially when away from the motherland. Amaradeva called me and I went to him thinking he will express his happiness to me that we possess these gee-thetis by him. Quite the contrary happened; he asked me, ‘Who is singing that song,’. I knew that something had gone wrong. I kept silent for a moment. ‘From where did you get it’. I said, Sir It was gifted to me by a friend of mine’ ‘Stop playing that tape here’ he said. This is what music thieves do to our songs. When they cannot get the original voice they get it from some duplicate’.
I immediately took the disc off from the player, and apologised to guru. He said, ‘you have nothing to do with it. It is how people live on our renderings’. I felt thoroughly embarrassed, but I realised how fervently the maestro preserved the musical discipline, and lived to perfection, in his songs..
Wherever, we served abroad we invited Amaradeva to our midst. He enjoyed these visits, and especially the visit to India. It must have taken him to his days at Bhathkande with his music fraternity.
I became an ardent follower of his lyrics and songs, and he appreciated it. I never thought he would leave us so unexpectedly, In fact I regret very much we could not call on him recently due to unavoidable circumstances. A great son of our motherland has left us, creating a void which can not be filled.
We can only sing those famous lines, ‘Sasara wasana thuru – Nivan dakina thuru,’ hoping he will be reborn in this blessed land of ours.