Dr Premasiri Khemadasa Emperor of Sri Lankan Opera who revolutionised music to completely stop copying the Indian masterpieces – By Sunil Thenabadu The statement 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 and 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 many genres of ...