Northern Spring

(Vadakkin Vasantham)

Jayanthi LIYANAGE

Music was a fitting overture to evoke the re-awakening of performing arts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya at Uthuru Vasanthaya (Vadakkin Vasantham) Mega Cultural Show held at Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Hall of BMICH on the evening of January 20.

Violins, Veenas, Mirudhagums, Thabla, Morseng, Flute and Organ showed off with a flourish Violinist Kalabooshana Radha Krishnen and his nineteen instrumentalists in a delightful session of traditional music. Music heralded the mega show awaited with bated breath by many who wished to see the Tamil and Muslim schools and Performing Arts Institutions of the Northern Province showing their multi-hued colours after a lull of 30 years.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa graced the occasion as the chief guest while other distinguished guests included Douglas Devananda and Commanders of Army and Navy.

Cultural and aesthetic identity is an essential aspect of social life, mentioned Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri in his address to the audience. We are building an environment in which people will be able to pursue their own cherished cultural values and traditions in the way they desire, being the brainchild of the show, he made it clear.

"We were born naked. Later, multi colours coming from elsewhere made us different. These differences caused a conflict. Now let us rally around to comfort our ailing Motherland using our blood-spattered hands," was a dance named 'Multi Colour Coats' taking to stage with tribal fan fare. It revealed the futility of conflict and the importance of raising to her feet our Motherland drenched with the blood of those killing each other to assuage differences. Kalainilaa Performing Art of Vavuniya presented the act.

The participation of the massive troupe of dancers of about 400 from the North alone made the show worthwhile. Folk performances are usually group acts. Another lively dance was "Paati Koothu, the war story of King Paati and the three emperors of the lands Chera, Chola and Pandya. Paati is on legend as one of the charitable kings in the sub-kingdom Parampumalai.

The show also had a Kavadi dance, a Tamil-Sinhala-Muslim-Burgher mixed folk dance reviving agriculture, fishery and art, Spring dances, Mannar folk dance mixing Bharath, Vapilai, Peacock and Shawl dances and another dance produced by Kalasoori Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan bringing together Bharatham, Kathakali, Odissi and contemporary styles. These were among the repertoire of 16 items delighting the senses of audiences thirsty for traditional performances originating from the North.

The cease of warring marks the rising of repressed traditions and arts in the Northern Province. Spring has dawned for performing arts which could not surface during hostilities raging in the now thankfully spent past. This platform for Northern Province artistes to highlight their talent and versatility could also afford them to carry their performances overseas much like how their Southern counterparts had done. What was on offer were very traditional songs and dances not performed in that simple guise on a public stage for many years. This cultural show was also a manner of linking the Northern people with the Southern people.

Earliest footprints found!

A very important scientific discovery relating to evolution was made recently in Poland. The earliest known footprints made by Earth's first four-legged creatures have been unearthed by scientists.

Apparently, the fossilized tracks were left as further as 395 million years ago by several primitive animals up to eight feet long.

They are being hailed as a 'missing link' in one of evolution's most spectacular transitions - the shift from water to land, which we all learned in school.

The findings have stunned scientists because the footprints date to 18 million years before four-limbed vertebrates known as tetrapods were known to have existed. Tetrapods, a group that includes humans, were thought to have evolved from fish via an intermediate stage.

The tracks were found in the Holy Cross Mountains in south-eastern Poland, one of the oldest ranges in Europe, and have a distinctive 'hand' and 'foot' shapes with no evidence of a dragging body.

The lack of a body drag is explained by the fact the creatures were still floating in the water while walking on the muddy bottom.

Palaeontologist Dr Philippe Janvier, of the National Natural History Museum in Paris, said the tracks 'show the first tetrapods thrived in the sea, trampling the mud of coral-reef lagoons.'

'This is at odds with the long-held view that river deltas and lakes were the necessary environments for the transition from water to land during vertebrate evolution,' he also added.

- Chamari Senanayake