Dr Premasiri Khemadasa Emperor of Sri Lankan Opera who revolutionised music in Sri Lanka reminisced on 87th birth anniversary – By Sunil Thenabadu
Image Source : premasirikhemadasa.com
The testimony that music induces sensation is apparent. Certain melodies are embedded in our memories for ever. The power and the ability to change us and modify the world is always linked with a soundtrack of one genre or another. Music is a lustrous light that enters through the ears , routes through the body, similar to blood that streams inside its veins.
When times get rough, the music carries us through the darkest of nights, like a narrow boat drifting off at sea through a cloud of indecision. For over fifty years of composing Dr Premasiri Khemadasa fused Sri Lankan folk elements, Indian ragas, and western classical forms into glorious melodies that captured the deepest longings of the people who shaped his life. His fusion of several genres of music was unique to native Sri Lanka and the whole world too. Many foreign musicians in many parts of the world had endorsed his musical elements to be captured by counterparts in overseas countries too having never stopped creating music which was comparable to a duck taking to water.
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Young Khemadasa Perera born on January 27th 1938 in the village Talpitiya in Wadduwa, as the last child in a family of thirteen siblings, Father was Simon and Mother Allen Perera had been brought up with many odds with severe financial constraints Khemadasa has had his education at St. John’s College Panadura and at Sri Sumangala College Panadura.
Father Simon Khemadasa had expired when he was only seven years which left mother a huge burden to bring up the family which she was able to meet with the meagre income received from a few milking cows. To consolidate the family income the eldest brother had commenced weaving mats, having left school early after a conflict with the Principal had travelled in the Fort bound trains playing the ‘bamboo flute ‘gifted to him to earn an additional income. Khemadasa has had a passion and lust for music when he was only six years old. He was determined to pursue a career in music by learning to blow the flute.
Khemadasa is the only known Sri Lankan musician who practised the crafted opera. His famous operas include ‘Manasawila’, ‘Doramandalawa’ and ‘Sondura Varnadasi’. Everything about Khemadasa is drawn in grandmaster strokes., harmonising instrumental music with human sounds. His pioneering effort was effective in his very first Sinhala opera ‘Kalemal’, which was a significant element in his career. Perhaps the most salient feature of Khemadasa’s music is the use of western classical music with use of ‘folk ‘rhythms’. He had affirmed that Music doesn’t lie. ‘If there’s something to be changed in this world, then it could happen through music’. His Opera’s began to change in the Classical music to unique intensity.
For Khemadasa his large-scale operas have been some of the most successful ventures in Sri Lankan culture. He wrote groundbreaking musical scores for over 150 films, including many of with Sri Lanka’s signature, internationally acclaimed classical films. He also wrote music for an award-winning BBC documentary In the Agni opera, you can listen to a one-and-half-hour musical performance giving the impression of a gigantic epic theatre because of its huge sonic canvas. Each new melody, harmony and rhythmic change is monumental and there is nothing to compare with it in the contemporary musical marvel.
He has successfully conducted his music in Beijing, Paris, Prague and Vienna. He received dozens of awards for his contribution to the music of his country. As a philanthropist and educator, Khemadasa started the Khemadasa Foundation to train young adults in music free of charge as he did not want poor children to deprive of learning. His students came from small villages all over the island. Even now it is still in existence run by his wife and daughters.
Khemadasa’s debut as a film composer came with Sirisena Wimalaweera’s ‘Roddie Kella’. With his musical score for ‘Bambaru Ewith’, he introduced a style of music unacquainted with Sri Lankan cinema until then. He then began collaborating with acclaimed director Lester James Peries handling the music for films like ‘Golu Hadawatha’ and ‘Nidhanaya’. Dr. Khemadasa’s contribution to teledramas also brought outstanding masterpieces to the public. In collaborating with director Jayantha Chandrasiri has turned out remarkable ventures whereas the themes he created for Chandrasiri’s television series ‘Dandubasnamanaya’ had shown unprecedented power of captivating.
There’s something universal about the creative arts that’s good for health, and mental health. Visual arts, drama, literature, and music, despite their differences, all have some things in common which make us feel, provide meaning, accelerate reflection, and bring us all together. Music connects us; one soul to another. When we move to the same rhythm, we momentarily live in harmony. In all societies, a primary function of music is collective and communal, to bring and bind people together. Khemadasa was a vigilant inspired force swayed via humanism, which lay deep in his heart. A repertoire of scores written for teledramas including ‘Weda Hamine’, ‘Sathara denek. Senpathiyo’, ‘Akala Sandiya’, ‘Gangulen Egodata’, ‘Ella Langa Aalawwa’ ‘Pura Sakmana’ and ‘Asalwesiyo’, ‘Sadisi Tharanaya’ ‘Bambaru Ewith’. stage play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ’Angara Ganga’ and ‘Aesop’ bestowed the public with memorable musical familiarities.
As a philanthropist and educator Khemadasa started the Khemadasa Foundation to train young adults in music free of charge to which students came from small villages across the country,The foundation continues through the efforts his wife Latha and his two daughters Anupa and Gayathri.A state funeral was accorded to him when he died in year 2008 when thousands of mourners from all religions, ethnic groups and classes paid respects.
The bottom line is that in all cultures, all over the world, music has a special place among humans, and it affects us in characteristic ways. In those times when the day seems bleak, the melody of Khemadasa guides us through the darkness to the light, which lies at the end of the tunnel. Music’s power is undisputable. It is used to evoke every emotion. It has been used to rally patriotism in times of war, as anthems of change during protests, as lullabies at bedtime, as remembrances at funerals, to calm us in turmoil, and as a refuge from the chaos of the world around us. It is hard to believe that another Dr Khemasiri Premadasa would ever be born in the world. May he attain Supreme Bliss of Nirvana.
Sunil Thenabadu in Brisbane
email sthenabadu@hotmail.com
WhatsApp 0061444533242
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