Plus

 

The dazzle fizzles out
With the project 'Light up Colombo' starting on a dim note, the question is how feasible is it
By Marisa de Silva & Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne
Colombo, another Singapore? A city blazing with lights, street hawkers crowding the pavements, selling their wares, children laughing and having fun in parks and playgrounds. A dream metropolis on par with other South Asian capitals such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

This is the vision of Colombo Mayor Prasanna Gunawardena and Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Ravi Karunanayake.

Initiated at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 3, 'Light up Colombo ' was mooted in a bid to revive economic activity and boost the city's night entertainment, providing more opportunities for families to enjoy themselves. Security would be of little worry for those eager to taste the capital's night sights as with more lighting there would now be no dark corners where crime would thrive, the Police said.

Does it work?
How effective is the "open 24-hours-a-day" concept in this country? Sathosa (Cooperative Wholesale Establishments) is one of the few retail outlets open all day through, since February this year. But the move does not seem to be attracting the desired results. According to members of the staff of one of the many Sathosa outlets, very few customers venture in between the hours of midnight and dawn. When they do, their purchases are limited. At best, it is a quick visit for a pack of biscuits as a light snack, for all those "night shifters".

Weekend street bazaars, high-rise buildings alight, the Colombo Municipal Council grounds reserved for children as a children's park daily from 6-10 p.m. and opportunities for self-employment for youth. These were hailed as some of the positive results of this venture.

But back to reality - how feasible is this all? A drive down the supposedly 'lit-up' streets of Colombo last Wednesday night proved a sad disappointment. The much-vaunted lights were not to be seen. In the heart of the Pettah, Sea Street and Main Street, which should ideally have been bustling with the newly introduced "Night Economy", we only saw garbage collection being done. Nowhere had the aforesaid lighting come into play. Only small eating houses were adequately illuminated and seemingly patronised by their usual clientele.

On then, to Galle Face Green. Dark and dismal it remained. Only the faint glimmer of lights from the 'food huts' scattered on the Green, seeped through. Business was understandably not booming, as it was a weekday, said one of the vendors. No clear knowledge of this 'vision' was apparent amongst them. However, when questioned on the pros and cons of such a project, they agreed that it would increase sales and be a tremendous boost for the economy if it could be properly promoted. The owner of the popular 'Nana's' food chain, who has been in the business since 1972, says that nothing can be achieved until we have peace, as only then would the public have freedom of movement.

A family relaxing on the 'Green', said that it would be lovely if such a project could be effectively implemented as that would permit them to shop at their own leisure. But shops and shopping malls in Colombo, save for supermarkets which stay open till nine or 10 at night, at present close their doors by seven p.m. and have no immediate plans of extending their business hours. Establishments, The Sunday Times spoke to said they had not been contacted to make any changes.

Our final stop took us to Kotte and the Parliament grounds, which evidently had 'fused out' since Tuesday night. Around 11 p.m., a few cars were parked by the side of the road, but the 'Food Court' was suffering from a severe lack of light and patrons.

Coincidentally, on September 3, an islandwide blackout was experienced just as the 'Light up Colombo' programme was launched, prompting fears among Colombo residents that the programme would drain precious electricity, especially with another drought period seemingly on the horizon.

Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officials however were quick to deny any connection between the two. This power fluctuation was a regular one, which was due to a technical fault at the Wimalasurendra Power Station, they said. It is with the full approval of the CEB that 'Light up Colombo' was initiated.

One plus point of this venture is the starting up of night entertainment such as 'late night movies'. Ceylon Theatres confirmed that the Regal Cinema would begin its night shows on Fridays and Saturdays with tickets at a flat concessionary rate of Rs. 80/=. The first movie to be screened is 'Mage Vam Atha'.

'Sellamahal', a theatre in Kotahena, has been screening 'late night movies' for the past two years with a good response. Majestic Cinema too introduced this concept recently and has drawn good crowds.

Mayor Prasanna Gunawardena maintains that the 'Light up Colombo' concept will be implemented step by step and then handed over to private developers. But while sounding good on paper, there was little outward benefit to be seen last week, with even the CMC's children's park being dark and deserted. Should not the support infrastructure such as better public transport for citizens venturing out at night, proper venues for hawkers and more shops being open at night have first been planned? Colombo waits...

Maestro of Lanka's avant-garde culture
When one thinks of "serious," "classical", contemporary music in Sri Lanka, one name inevitably comes to mind - Premasiri Khemadasa. He is the leading composer of this genre. He writes for "western" instruments and familiar western configurations such as the string trio and chamber orchestra and choir. But, his musical style is a unique blend of cross-cultural musical expression, using unmistakably indigenous sounds and cadences. The result is a universally accessible "global" sound.

Khemadasa takes his rightful place among such contemporary international composers as - Chin Un-Suk of Korea, the late Takemitsu of Japan, and China's Tan Dun. All of these composers have showcased their cultural heritage using a broadly accessible musical language never descending into fleeting trendiness. It would be erroneous to describe Khemadasa's music as an evolution of Sri Lanka's traditional folk music and percussive rhythms. His music is separate and distinct from those venerable art forms.

While he obviously admires and acknowledges their importance, he does not purport to embellish or build on those traditions. Rather, his is a singular effort to musically express the ever-evolving contemporary social, economic and political reality of Sri Lanka as well as its diversity. And this, he clearly feels, can best be done by embracing a wider tonal palette and less ethnocentric sound than that of Sri Lanka's traditional music. Recognition of Khemadasa's music as a legitimate art form in Sri Lanka has been a long time coming. I recall a time when the official custodians of culture in this country were unaware or unwilling to acknowledge its existence.

Just two decades ago, as a student in a music theory and form class at the Julliard Prep in New York, I worked on an assignment that starkly brought home this point.

My colleagues and I were expected to analyze and discuss a piece of serious, "non-traditional" music that sought to portray contemporary societal conditions in our respective countries.

The Japanese student brought in a recording of Takemitsu's 'Requiem for String Orchestra', the Korean student discussed Chin Un-Suk's 'Akrostichon Wortspiel' and the Chinese student analyzed the music of Tan Dun. My exhaustive search turned up only a few poorly recorded examples of bera-pada and kavi, unchanged from the way they likely sounded centuries ago.

The local pundits assured me that the Bera Pada and Kavi were the only representative music of Sri Lanka.

Once I was introduced to Khemadasa's music, it became clear to me that innovative music such as his had been dismissed as merely a bastardization of 'pure' Sri Lankan music. Even worse, certain of his works were actually banned as being too politically incendiary and provocative. Premasiri Khemadasa was embracing a new medium to portray this country's rich and ancient heritage to a receptive contemporary audience. In doing so, he was defying accepted norms and he was disparaged and dismissed for his courage. When he wrote his symphony for chamber orchestra, "Mother of My Time", there was a chorus of disapproval. He was denounced for attempting to destroy the country's heritage because, among other things, he used a French Horn in his musical score. But, the pundits missed the point - Khemadasa was neither writing 'western' music nor trying to improve on Sri Lanka's traditional music. His was, and is, an innovative, constantly evolving expression of the modern day experience of Sri Lanka set in a global context. It is accessible to anyone capable of appreciating music regardless of ethnic, social or political affiliation.

During the last thirty-five years, Khemadasa's output has been prolific and diverse. He has written music for an award winning BBC documentary. His large-scale operas have been some of the most commercially successful ventures in the history of 'serious' music making in this country, Doramadala, his second opera, making over 3.7 million rupees on its opening night alone. Manasavila, his first opera has seen over 150 performances and is still in demand. He has written music for over 125 films, including some of the most ground breaking and memorable scores conceived in Sri Lanka. He has composed experimental music for German Television 'fusing' a soulful Flugle Horn and a raga-playing Viola, long before 'fusion' music became the darling of the Colombo intelligentsia.

He has conducted his music in Beijing, Paris, Prague and Vienna. And, most gratifying of all, he has won innumerable awards for his contribution to the music of his country. As if being a gifted composer and performer were not enough, Khemadasa is also a philanthropist and educator. He is responsible for the establishment of the Khemadasa Foundation, through which young adults are trained and nurtured into serious performers. These students study free of charge - something of critical importance because it gives young people who are not affluent an opportunity they would not otherwise have. For many of them an education of this quality would be out of reach if they had to pay for it. Another vitally important aspect of the Khemadasa Foundation is that it gives the students a ready-made framework through which to perform and showcase their talents. The hope is that, through the right combination of training, nurturing and exposure, these young people will have the chance to blossom into serious performers and artistes in their own right.

In a country littered with self marketed cultural dilettantes and desperados, Premasiri Khemadasa stands out with his remarkable talent, uncompromising artistic integrity and undeniable 'relevance' to the cultural avant-garde of Sri Lanka. Today, he is deservedly hailed as a national icon.


Back to Top  Back to Plus  

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster