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- Arts Sunil
Santha: The plaintive melody Between 1946
and 1952, Sunil attempted to create a musical tradition of our own
based on the phonetics of Sinhala language- its Hela tradition –
a task no musician had ever attempted. During this short period
Sunil composed and sang nearly 200 songs, all stamped with his own
style and with the power to speak to people’s hearts. He had
only just begun his mission. Never a slave
of the ragadari system, Sunil had the vision to seek assistance
from Bengali, North Indian, Western music and our own folk songs
in his attempt to create a musical tradition of our own. But he
had his rivals who were envious and infuriated with the resounding
success Sunil's music achieved among the people. His rise was
meteoric and he soon became the most popular singer in the country,
his lilting voice and melodies captivating the whole island. Unfortunately
a powerful faction of Sunil's rivals contrived to oust Sunil from
Radio Ceylon. Sunil was banned
from Radio Ceylon in 1952 for not taking part in the Ratanjankar
Test. Radio Ceylon had invited Prof Ratanjankar (Sunil's guru at
Bhathkande) to advise how to create a musical tradition of our own
and to audition singers. The alleged hidden agenda was to undermine
Sunil's efforts. Sunil (later)
described the test as a joke and boycotted it knowing very well
that the Radio Ceylon would ban him. He quite rightly argued that
one cannot expect Ratanjankar (with his Hindustani background) to
advise on how to create a musical tradition of our own. "It is
stupidity to expect a jak tree to bear a coconut" were Sunil's
famous words. Sunil's rivals in the Radio Ceylon celebrated victory
as he went into the wilderness. Some even went to the extent of
vandalising and destroying the discs containing his best songs. Born on April
14, 1915 at Kepungoda, Pamunugama to a staunch Catholic family,
Sunil Santha (Don Joseph John) lost both his parents at a very young
age, his father before he was three months old and the mother before
he turned three years. Sunil was raised by his maternal grandmother
and maternal uncles. Losing his parents at a tender age had a profound
effect on Sunil. He later epitomised
his sorrow in one of his songs titled: "Naethiwoo Mihira". Having served
as a trained teacher between 1935-1939, Sunil proceeded to Shanthinikethan
where he studied music in 1940. In 1941 Sunil joined the Bathkande
University and obtained his Visharad Degree in 1944. He returned
to Sri Lanka in December 1944 and joined the National Radio in 1945
(while living in a two-roomed house at Cotta Road). Ananda Samarakone
through his gramophone recordings had already laid the foundation
for the artistic Sinhala music. But plagiarism and imitating foreign
tunes with meaningless words were the norm at that time, a trend
from which Samarakone himself could not break away from totally.
Sunil was the giant who led the campaign against plagiarism. He
wrote numerous articles, forewords to his books strongly advocating
the need for a musical tradition of our own. Firmly convinced
that the basis of our musical tradition should be the Sinhala language,
Sunil was extremely sensitive to the use of language in his lyrics.
His early songs such as "Olu Pipeela","Handapane"
"Ho Ga Rella Negay", "Bovitiya Dung" and "Kumburay
Peraliya" captured the hearts of all fans for their purity
of language, poetic diction, simplicity and lucidity. These songs
(all written by Sunil in 1945-1946 prior to emergence of Ahubudu,
Fr. Jayakody and Manavasinghe) represent a remarkable landmark in
the evolution of our geeta sahitya in addition to being masterpieces
for their musical content. Sunil is the
first musician who really attempted to make lyrical poetry a part
of our art song. Despite having skills as a lyricist, Sunil put
into music, the poetry of Munidasa Kumaranatunga, Jayadeva (Geeta
Govinda), Rapiel Tennakoon et al. Sunil's rendering of Tennakoon's
celebrated poem "Kukulu Hevilla" is regarded as a gem
of a masterpiece and is undisputedly among the best creations in
the entire gamut of Sinhala music. It is also
clear that it was Sunil's efforts that encouraged traditional poets
to take up writing lyrics for songs. Until Sunil's emergence, poets
always considered writing lyrics as inferior to poetry. (A lyricist
was known as a person who "supplied the words" to a tune).
No poet came forward or bothered to write lyrics for songs. It was
Sunil who introduced Arisen Ahubudu, the doyen of our lyricists
as a songwriter. Ahubudu was a poet in Hela Havula. When Sunil approached
Ahubudu and asked him to write a song about Sri Lanka, Ahubudu responded:
"I am a poet, I cannot write any songs". "A song
in a way is a poem, write any poem about Sri Lanka. I will put it
into music" was Sunil's reply. The result was "Lanka Lanka
Pembara Lanka" and the birth of Ahubudu, the lyricist. One can easily
establish that it is this trend that Sunil started with Hela Havula
poets that encouraged talented poets like Manavasinghe to take up
to lyrics consequently to enrich our geeta sahitya. In an attempt
to elevate the status of the lyricist and to show that the lyricist
has a pivotal role to play in an art song, Sunil paid Hubert Dissanayake
handsomely for providing lyrics for some his songs. He paid Dissanayake
Rs. 900 for 18 songs at the rate of Rs. 50 for a song, a princely
sum in 1947. Sunil also advocated that the social status of the
singer or the artist should be equal to that of an engineer, lawyer,
doctor or a professional. When Sunil
Santha was banned from the Radio Ceylon in 1952 for the "crime"
of trying to create a musical idiom of our own, he responded in
a manner unusual to any artiste or man in contemporary society.
He was not prepared to cow down to the Indian hegemony or change
his conviction. Neither was he prepared to fall at the feet of the
callous officials who banned him asking them to re-instate him.
Sunil had done nothing wrong. Such was the
independence, dignity and courage of the man that he was prepared
to sell dry fish and textiles and eke out an existence by repairing
old radios and doing odd jobs at home. In reality this meant living
a life of abject poverty. But that is how he lived the rest of his
life. During 1953-1981,
Sunil was engaged in music only sparingly but there is ample evidence
that his gift of composition never waned. Judging from the size
of his output between 1945-1952 alone, we can say that Sunil would
have created a major musical tradition with at least thousand songs
if he were not banished from Radio Ceylon. We have lost as a nation. In 1973 I saw
a glimpse of this fascinating, great man. A second year student
in the University, driven by my passion for music, I visited his
home (an improvised "kukulu kotuwa”) in Dehiyagatha, hoping
to chat with him about music and more importantly to lure him to
make a comeback. I was naive
then for I had no understanding of the injustice meted out to him.
I was struck by his personality, mannerism and speech. To my disappointment,
he was initially very reluctant to speak about music. However, seeing
my eagerness after a while he did speak about music. I recall in
response to one of my queries, he explained what inspired him to
write "nelavee sennay", his most beautiful melancholic
ode to the "Olu flower"- the song he titled "thani
woo mala". Sunil was fascinated
by the Olu flower. It was the sight of an Olu flower laden with
the early morning dew that inspired Sunil to write this most subtle
song which has always remained favourite from my childhood. Even
now I find myself fascinated by this song. Even with repeated listening,
its "rasaya" never seems to diminish, perhaps like a Beethoven
composition. Sunil died
on April 11 1981, heartbroken, six weeks after he lost his youngest
son, 23-year-old Jagath who was drowned tragically in a swimming
pool. It is a tragedy that the media in Sri Lanka do not seem to
play Sunil's songs nowadays. Some of his better melodies (Attanagalu
Velapilla, Vanka Giri Vela Pilla, Heramitiye, Vavul Tohuwa) are
never heard and have probably been vandalised or destroyed. Sunil's vocal artistry and melodies will linger with us as long as Sinhala music survives. So too will be the deeds of the man and his fragrance. Kala
Korner by Dee Cee Prominent film
personalities Gamini Fonseka and Ravindra Randeniya as well as Professor
Sunil Ariyaratne dwelt on the subject. They stressed on the need
for a film archive particularly since the early Sinhala films are
getting lost. Gamini Fonseka was particularly harsh on a minister,
who, he said, promised to lay the foundation stone, finish the building
and open the archive within four years. "I don't think he even
laid a stone," he thundered. The occasion
was the launch of a research study on 'Sandesaya', Lester's second
film, by Roland A. Fernando. The organizers had planned to screen
the film but they couldn't lay their hands on a copy. They had tried
to salvage the few bits and pieces found in the Sarasavi Studio,
but couldn't. They had heard that a copy was being screened in Czechoslovakia.
Why can't we send someone across and get a copy down, the speakers
wondered. Listening intently
was the National Film Corporation's Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa.
He is bound to take some action. Getting a copy of 'Sandesaya' may
not be much of a problem. They may be willing to sell it. The big
job is the film archives. Let's hope he sets the ball rolling and
is able to convince the higher authorities on fulfilling a national
need. Naming the
road It was on Lester's
80th birthday that the government announced that he would be honoured
in three ways: re-naming Dickman's Road, a stamp in his honour and
the grant of four scholarships in the fields of cinematography and
television. After repeated reminders, a stamp was released last
year. The road was not renamed, neither have we heard about the
scholarships. We were also
told that funds would be provided by the State to make a film of
his choice. Leaving aside funds for a new film, there isn't any
news as to when his latest creation, 'Wekande Walauwe' would be
released. The film has been ready for over a year. Super commercial
stuff Delivering
the keynote address at the book launch, he described Lester as 'a
shrewd businessman who produced a highly successful product'. With
'Sandesaya', he taught everyone how to make a commercial film. To
have made 132 copies was in itself an indication of the popularity
of the film. "At a time when Lester was being ignored after 'Rekawa', Cinemas chief K. Gunaratnam gave him a blank cheque to produce a film of his choice. Lester didn't let him down. He gathered a bunch of talented men and did a fine job," Sunil recalled. ‘Tis
the time for kiribath and kevun kiribath Milk-rice:
A preparation of rice in which milk is added to the water in which
the rice is boiled. The slightly sticky rice is laid out as a flat
layer about an inch thick on a plate, and is generally cut into
diamond-shaped pieces. It is used on festive or auspicious occasions,
e.g. in the first meal of the new year. kevun: A Sinhalese
'oil cake' made from flour and sugar or jaggery and fried in oil,
it is traditionally part of the fare in celebrating the new year.
(Extracted from Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka, published by Sterling Publishers, New Delhi & distributed by Sarasavi Bookshop, Nugegoda. Website: www.srilanka-encyclopedia.com). |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
