Word, voice and vision of Amaradeva | Daily News

Word, voice and vision of Amaradeva

Pandit Amaradeva is no more. That void cannot be filled by a lesser soul. Why do I think so? My mind goes as far back as early 60s, when I had firm links with the then Radio Ceylon, where young Amaradeva happened to return from India and join the Radio Ceylon’s Music Orchestra following the demise of the Maestro Edwin Samaradivakara. I found the intimacy of personalities of Prof Ediriweera Sarachchandra and Amaradeva as an intellectual aesthetic bond where we happened to be listeners.

They were engaged in lively discussions on matters pertaining to aesthetic and creative forces which tend to elevate humans from the baser levels to higher levels of thinking. Most of the ideas came to be discussed in a Sinhala Radio Programme titled as Kalpana designed and presented by Professor Sarachchandra.

Once I had the chance of listening to the best of Kalpana programmes where Amaradeva participated. The discussion centred round the topic of folk songs and about the concept of folk could in order to mould a better musical culture in the country. Amaradeva came out with a wonderful example. He played one of the folk songs (a lullaby belonging to the Veddah culture). Amaradeva cited basic music pattern embedded in it as the lullaby culture extant in almost every country of the world.

Taking the example of Patara Balati Siri Kunda Vidarana, the Veddah lullaby, Amaradeva opened several vistas linked to human voice as expression. The Veddah song was one of the renderings of Kirihami Mohttala, the text of which was later printed in one of the issues of Sanskruti, Sinhala journal.

As I remember the mood vividly, Amaradeva had been experimenting on the folk song culture and its impact on moulding a better Sinhala music culture. In a series of discussions ensued between the two: Amaradeva and Sarachchandra, quite a lot was gained via the sound medium. The views of Amaradeva were scribed by Madawala S Ratnayaka, who served as one of the senior programme producers. Most of the views were printed in the pages of Sunday Lankadeepa during the late sixties.

As time passed, these articles were compiled into a book titled as Nada Sittama which could be deemed as the only book of that nature. Understanding the nature of music happened to be the most favourite topic of Amaradeva where he excelled and detoured from the then existed copying of Hindu melodies with the excellent tutelage of Master Mohamad Ghousse. He had the chance of being more original melody maker, which culminated in the Sinhala music programme known as Madhuwanthi and Rasadhara. Madhuwanthi happened to be the brainchild of Mahagama Sekara where he enveloped most of his mini poetic works from religious thoughts to more worldly topics that centre round love and death. The enchanting blend of Sekara and Amaradeva gave way to some of the more remarkable songs like Gee Potai Mee Vithai and Sannaliyane.

Amaradeva possessed a musical vision that transcended the narrow barriers of oriental music and Indian classical music. In this direction he was more independent as a creative artiste. While his voice as divine as one could pay a tribute to his possession of a wisdom or knowledge in literature too was a latent creative force. Once as a scriptwriter of the music section of Radio Ceylon, I adapted a few poems of Yeats, Blake and Wordsworth into Sinhala in order to compile a literary programme titled as Loka Kavya Sahityayen. When I handled over the scripts to Amaradeva, he had a close sensitive scrutiny of it, letting off all his other activities. I still remember how his interpretations haunted as at the time, giving vent to a strange blend of an aesthetic sense which transcended the mere word and melody.

In his world of creations, I felt a vein of creative liberation in most of his musical interpretations. Take for example his love songs like Lovturu Ama Mihire and the devotional songs like Buddha Divakarayano, the two lyrics written by Ariesen Ahubudu and Sri Chandraratne Manawasinghe, the best of the creative interpretation is sensitively captured. Amaradeva from my point of view was a creative visionary in the three aspects: lyrics, melody and the vocal interpretation. He was a liberal creative thinker in many ways.

Amaradeva as a teacher was not confined to the narrow issues. I remember his first lecture delivered to the undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya as a visiting lecturer in Mass Communication. HE was trying his best to clarify the semantics or the meaning of voice and noise (Handa saha Ghosava). The communicative factors were quite striking.

For me, he gave the impression of a deep thinking, relaxed teacher or a scholar of many subjects areas linked to each other. HE was well versed in at least three languages: Sinhala, English and Hindi. While possessing clarity in thought, he tried to express them with a musical instrument in hand. This was a colourful event in his life mainly during the 60s and 70s.

The word he selected to sing was his basic premise. He would not even hesitate to alter them in association with the lyricist. He happened to enter a trance in order to fulfill the function of vocal interpretation – I have often observed that. Then comes the final episode of the internal aesthetic of the musical melody. Quite a number of examples could be drawn from his creative activities, especially in the 60s to mid 80s. One whole book could be written on the subject. We honestly miss a not only a great creator, but also an intimate loving personality who devoid of anger and ill will towards others. 


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