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Mahagama Sekara harnessed poetic tradition

by Malini Govinnage

"Rhythm is repetition. History too is a repetition. An event, that has taken place once, happens over and over again in a certain rhythm.

In nature, as well as in music and dance forms rhythm takes its course round and round repeatedly, nonstop.

Nigh and day

Seasonal changes

Rise and ebb of tidal waves

Rain!

When clouds become cool with the drop in temperature in the atmosphere, it rains. Rain water flows along and fills tanks and oceans. The water evaporates, rise up into the sky, to form clouds. Clouds come down as rain again.

It is in a circular tempo that the waves reach the shore. Journey of planets too is circular.

Ashta Loka Dharma (Eight worldly conditions)

Circle of Samsara

Your palm can feel the rhythm of your heartbeat. Rhythm of the birdsongs touches your ears. Eyes can see rhythm of flora and waterways. From the manner branches and roots of a tree are spread, from the pattern of leaves in a branch, from the design of veins in a leaf, we can understand this rhythm.

When leaves of a Bo-tree move in the wind, we can hear the rhythm of air waves. In the desert, rhythm of air takes the form of sand waves, and in the sea, the form of water waves. 'Samudra Ghosha Viritha' is the poetic rhyme named so because it is the pattern of sea wave rhythm. Artist's pin stroke of a sea wave is that rhythm converted to drawing.

Life - unvierse - rhythm. I feel they are all one". Thus wrote the poet Mahagama Sekera of rhythm.

Above is a word to word translation of the back page blurb of the posthumous publication of the poet's doctoral thesis: (Rhythm qualities of Sinhala prose and verse literature)

These few lines sum Mahagama Sekera's philosophy of life which is also the philosophy reflected in most of his works of art - especially poetry. Life - universe and rhythm - all are one says he. We find rhythm everywhere in every work of art, in nature, in life and also in death. Death seemed to be the favourite theme in his poetry.

Writing the foreword to the thesis of the late poet, which is the only such so far that was awarded a doctorate posthumously of the researcher by the University of Jayawardanapura, Professor Vimal G. Balagalle says: "Awarding the posthumous doctorate which was the first of its kind from this university seems to be a salutation from his destiny for he had been writing much poetry on death."

One can cite many instances from his poetry on the theme.

Death (Beauty!)

I will tell you today

I won't die

Was born again

And can't flee from life

Now, what I like more is life

It is more beautiful than you

Look

Whole unvierse is a song

I'm a part of it.

(Nomiyemi (I won't die) - translation))

Writing about death seems to be a celebration of life for him. His philosophy of life which was the philosophy behind his literary works was nurtured by Buddhist philosophy both Theravada and Mahayana.

Agonizing is life

Useless empty

No meaning in it

'Why laugh, what happiness'

(- Prabuddha)

In 'Prabuddha' which is his last work, one can see this influence.

There are reflections of the text 'The Tibetan book of the Dead'. In which death is viewed as a beautiful experience for the wise, the brave and the good to help end journey of death and life.

While the emergence of philosopher poet in Mahagama Sekera was a development towards the middle and latter part of his poetic life, from the beginning he was an artiste who went in search of new avenues. Though he emerged in the Colombo Era, he took only the positive aspects of Colombo poetic tradition which were very few.

Following the same old route rooted in convention does not mean honouring the old poetic tradition. In one of Mahagama Sekera's early poetic fiction "Rajathilaka", 'Lionel and Priyantha' Mahagama Sekara explains this succinctly".

"Many who argue about tradition cling onto unimportant aspects of a poem, which is the form of the poem. They forget to examine the most pertinent aspect which is the subject matter or the experience expressed in the poem. They forget to examine whether these latter aspects are in accordance with the tradition."

For him, tradition was not something which should be protected untouched like an antique. By thoroughly examining and studying both our prose and verse literature, he realized that poetic tradition is not a static thing and that constant, non-stop change was one salient characteristic of it. Tradition which does not move forward is devoid of life he believed. He studied our classical and folk poetry, read works of the East and West and, he pursued study of oriental philosophies. These helped a style specific only to him to be born in his poetic self.

He did not regard similes and metaphors as essential accessories in a poem.

According to him experience itself expressed in the poem adds beauty to it.

Sekara clearly understood the difference of blindly following classical rhymes in poetry and the poetic discipline one acquires from studying them analytically. And he had realized the vast disparity between respecting the tradition and the blind pursuance of an old or existing system.

By profession, Sekara was a teacher. For sometime he was the principal of the Aesthetic Institute then known as Heywood. He was a poet, lyricist, playwright, novelist, artist and a filmmaker. Many of his works were published posthumously by his family members. His last piece of work was 'Prabuddha' - a poetic fiction in which one could see the peak of his poetic maturity and philosophy of life. He died at the age of 47, on Monday the 14th 1976. His 27th death anniversary falls today.

His short poetic career is full of lessons for young poets of today. He showed by example that amateurs to poetry should study our classical poetic tradition, before it is discarded as non-progressive, and that they should be familiar with our folk poetry tradition. Mahagama Sekara had carefully examined these traditions including the poetry of Colombo and Peradeniya schools.

And, he showed that the power of inspiration alone is not enough to be a good poet. For the power of inspiration to take root and grow into a flowering tree, one should pursue knowledge, and most of all, that the poet should be a person who is analytical of human nature and the nature of the world.

We could find all these qualities in Mahagama Sekara's poetry.

So he has become a living icon in the not very long annals of modern Sinhala poetry, but his untimely death left a big vacuum: Had he been alive for some more years he would have developed a poetic tradition which would be capable of expressing the complex experiences of the man in this age.

CandoCo Dance Company to perform in Sri Lanka

Much as we'd like to think overwise, disability is still something that makes many people feel uncomfortable.

Is it a knee-jerk response to anything outside the "norm", or the simple reminder that the human body can be fragile and susceptible to illness and accident? Either way, anything that thrusts disability to the public eye has to be applauded. Formed in 1991 by artistic director Celeste Dandeker, the CandoCo contemporary dance outfit started life as an open class at an integrated sports centre. Ten years later the company has established a firm foothold on the British dance scene, attracting award winning choreographers, such as Venezuelan Javier Frutos and New Yorker Doug Elkins.

The past decade has seen CandoCo dance its way to being one of the leading integrated companies not just in Britain, but also worldwide.

The company was created to celebrate excellence in dance but without allowing their performances to become obscure or pretentious, bringing innovative dance to the wildest possible audience while also integrating physically disabled and non-disabled performers.

The 11 member company will perform 2 shows in Colombo and conduct 3 workshops in collaboration with the Sunera Foundation.

There Performance schedule will be Wednesday 16 and Friday 18 January 2002 - 7.30 p.m. - Bishop's College hall Tickets are available at the British Council and at the venue.

A half hour with Rajiv

by Aditha Dissanayake

The spotlight focuses on the figure in the middle of the stage. A hush falls on the audience. Slim, dressed in a blue ethnic suite, Rajiv Sebastian lowers his head, raises his eyes and gazes into the faces in front of him. He begins to sing "Loke jeevathwannata lassana oona way..."

Admit it! He is no Elvis Presley. He has the face of a red Indian warrior than of a pop star. So, what has Rajiv got which boyfriends, husbands and colleagues lack? Why do the hearts of all descendants of Eve - and I mean All (from teenagers to school teachers, sub-editors to pensioners) -go skipping when Rajiv comes on stage? How does he make all the women listening to him feel he is singing only for her?

His business card says he is Rajiv J Sebastian. What does the J stand for? Joseph. comes the answer." Sebastian. Is that a Portuguese name?" "I don't know" says Rajiv. "All I know is that I am a Sri Lankan". I am glad he is. If all of us described ourselves the way Rajiv does, we would have no problems, I tell myself.

Rajiv does not mind stating his age. He is thirty-nine and was born on 23rd June 1963. But, stating a very moving, understandable, reason as an excuse, he refuses to speak more about his personal life. He speaks instead about his career. And when he begins there is no stopping him.

His first job after he left St. Sebastian's says Rajiv was as a Transport and Accounts Clerk in a private firm. Later he had become a Sales and Operations Manager. In 1990 he had performed for the first time in public at Akase Kade, where the General Manager, David Crusz had summoned Rajiv, half way through the performance and asked him to play twice a week at his restaurant. That had marked the beginning of his carreer as a musician.

As he speaks I observe how he moves his head to one side in slow motion the same way he does on the stage while singing a song like, Kelani Vihare. Whenever I stop writing and gaze up at him, he gazes back at me with that same, fierce, intense stare seen on TV.

"Why do you pronounce Sinhala words differently when you sing? Why do you say "mge" instead of mage?" I ask him. "No I don't" protests Rajiv. I accuse him for having an accent. I wish to find out if I could make him lose his temper. But he remains as cool as an ice chock and says " I speak Sinhala the way Sinhala should be spoken. And I speak English the way English should be spoken."

But five minutes later, he does lose his temper. In a mysterious, unexplainable way, I get the name of the Entertainment Director of the Hilton, wrong. "He is Harold Seneviratne" I had written Nandana Dalugama. He says he never said the words. I could have sworn he did.

From then on he begins to speak even more slowly, as if he is talking to a ten year old. He speaks of two 31st nights which were great successes. He recalls singing a song of Clarence on stage for the first time in 1999 - the song Loke Jeevath wannata. He speaks enough about his career, to fill five pages of note-book paper. Here is good material for a biography.

Meanwhile, I try not to stare at the horseshoe hanging from a chain round his neck. Is that a good-luck charm?. "No. I don't believe in luck" says Rajiv. "I believe in confidence".

Something he has in abundance. Rajiv is proud that he has earned Mrs. Wijewardena more than 1.5 million from his work on Clarence.

He recalls how Clarence had once walked up to him, patted him on the back and said " I have no son. I have only a daughter. But now I have found one who will carry my name". Had Clarence lived to see Rajiv perform today, he would have probably seen Rajiv, as the son he never had.

In conclusion, the final impression after my half hour with Rajiv - there are three Rajivs.

The one seen on stage. The one seen off-stage, in public. And the real Rajiv, whom, maybe, no one has ever met.

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