Plus

Plus

Kala Korner - by Dee Cee

It was 'Harmony' all the way
Like father, like son, they say. Just as much as Warakagoda senior - Wijeratne continues to make his presence felt, particularly on the small screen, Warakagoda junior - Jananath is fast establishing himself as a fine performer. In 'Harmony', the multi-cultural concert held last week, Jananath did a superb job in presenting and coordinating an item titled 'Across the Barrier' where, as the programme note indicated, Sri Lankan folk music and all classical music styles were explored in a melodious concept.

Jananath opened the item reciting a 'pel kavi', the traditional folk song sung by the farmer while spending the night in a lonely field to be heard by a another distant farmer who would then respond. He then invited T.S. Murugesh and Mohamed Irfan to present folk songs popular in their own communities. The folk music gave way to classical singing - Carnatic and Hindusthan - which gradually gave way to demonstrate the western influence by which time Jananath himself had taken over the western drums. It was a highly entertaining mix with the artistic director of 'Harmony', Arunthathy SriRanganathan herself making, what I presume, was a rare appearance on stage these days.

Her talents are well known and sitting through the programme, I was reminded of the days we worked together in presenting 'Savasangeetha' based on a concept conceived by the late H.W. Jayewardene when he was heading the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Board. It was possibly the first attempt to promote communal harmony using music as the platform. Twenty years ago, it was a novel concept and Arunthathy certainly played a key role in helping to make it a success. It's nice to see her continuing to use her talents to provide superlative entertainment while promoting communal harmony.

"Artistic and cultural work is probably one of the best ways to create identification, recognition, mutual respect and understanding among people. The ultimate dialogue and building of cultural bridges consist of creating something together - the feeling of oneness," she said in a message to the concert.

House full
It was house full, at the Bishop's College auditorium that evening. Many had braved the inclement weather and thought it would be worthwhile coming over. They were certainly not disappointed. And many of them were not the usual audience at a show at Bishop's or Ladies College hall. They were ordinary folk who wanted to get a taste of the rich musical talent we have in Sri Lanka representing all communities.

Just as much as the maestros Ravibandu, Piyasara, Channa, Nesan and others joined to make the evening a grand success, the young performers were excellent in their dancing. 'Sneha' - a fusion of Kandyan and Bharata styles of dancing choreographed by Ravibandu and Abirami Kandeepan, set the pace for the evening. It was followed by 'Divine Bliss', paying homage to Lord Ganesha choreographed by Channa and Abirani. Both were most entertaining as were the items that followed.

Ravibandu has mastered the fusion of drum music. His composition 'Thala Thalam' featured some of the best in the drum scene - Prasanna Rupathilake (thammamattam), Ajith Janashantha (low country drums), V. Jambunathan (mridangam), S. Srikanth (thavil), R. Ratnadurai (ghatam), Nesan Thiagarajan (western drums) and Ravibandu himself playing the 'geta bera'. It was a fitting climax to the show.

Back to Plus