Flying the colours of propaganda has become quite a trend among artists in Sri Lanka, with more and more artists jumping on the bandwagon every day. Among such conditions one does not often come across artists whose product has not been twisted by commercial incentive.
Ajith Kumarasiri is a musician who fits the latter definition of artist. Ajith can be described as an experimental musician, whose music reflects a society driven by greed, corruption and elitism, his hoarse voice and his style of playing, which might be regarded by some as unpleasant can be viewed as a deliberate attempt to emulate the chaos that exists in our society.
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In 2008, Ajith released a collection of his songs on CD titled ‘A 3rd world’. This record was not available for sale but distributed for free, with an intention of paving way for a movement of free music. A 3rd World incorporates elements of Rock and Roll with bilingual lyrics dealing with hard hitting themes such as war, politics, corruption and various other social aspects faced by Sri Lankans. Ajith also acted as music director for the 2008 film ‘The road from elephant pass,’ with all the music in the movie being composed by him. He also received two awards for his work in the movie at the SIGNIS awards (Sri Lanka) for best creative music
director 2010 and best creative singer 2010.
My first formal question of ‘how it all began’ was met with probably the most
interesting answer I’ve ever received for that question. “Normally the administrative people, the government, people in high positions first ask where are you from? What’s your school?,” explained Ajith, defining my question as an ‘FBI question’ that just makes it easier for an observer to categorize a person in a certain way based on ones history without really listening to what they have to say. “I appeared suddenly from the ground I think,” adds Ajith with a laugh.
The last project that Ajith worked on involved working with about a hundred children
aged from 12 to 16 years from IDP camps and other underprivileged children. As part of a three day program, Ajith conducted a workshop helping the children create a song using every day sounds. Ajith explained that he is currently researching and studying about noise and noise manipulation and this project allowed him to experiment with different methods of creating music.
“None of the kids had ever played any instruments before except one girl who knew the basic c scale. I trained her to play piano in the song by showing her the chords she needed to play. The other children used everyday things from their homes like plates and glasses and garbage barrels. So I created a noise orchestra,” said Ajith explaining that the background of this song was every day noise and further adding that he merely gave an idea to the kids and showed them what they can do and they took over from there. Ajith also said that he has more plans to conduct more workshops and noise orchestras and other experimental projects of this nature.
The purpose and the importance of spreading such ideas are important or Ajith puts it “I think it’s time we realized the role of music in the big noise,” Ajith explained that in the mass hysteria created by the ‘superstar concept’ has also created a stale and poor creative environment with lots of repetition and no room for new creations. “In this context we need some other trend from the grassroots level against this idea. We need a powerful alternative that is not really an alternative, it can be the mainstream,” explained Ajith emphasizing further on the importance of honest and authentic creative expression.
Ajith is of the firm belief that artists need to always keep their thought process constant and that they always have to think about their actions. “First they come as an artist and then they become sales representatives this is something that they should think about,” said Ajith referring to the lack of art and the abundance of advertising or ‘adverteasing’ as he likes to call it.
When asked about the support or the lack of it in Sri Lanka for an artist, Ajith explained those artists who give up because of the lack of support are just not really committed to what they want. “If you fall, you will always find people to support you, but some people who support you will have an underlying motive for supporting you. You always have to check on that. When you choose to express yourself artistically, you need to be careful of those things, because the people in power know exactly the importance of art and music.” Said ajith adding that that’s why you see more of them singing and acting every day.
“The unforgettable masters,the presidents, the prime ministers, ministers, the police department and everybody controlling power and delivering power, they realize the importance of real arts and they know how to use it. You can always find people to promote art, but you need to always be aware of who’s promoting you.” This is Ajith’s idea of a real artist, someone who always keeps their thought process constant and conscious.
Ajiths advice to all real artists is if someone wants to promotes you, you have to think twice about it think some more, about who’s promoting you and why? |
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