Pradeepanjalee XVIII A Wonderful Experience of sitar music

Pradeepanjalee XVIII - Pradeep with percussion first half 

Prof. Pradeep Ratnayake continues to derive fresh inspiration for his creativity and creations from a variety of Sri Lankan music cultures

The talent for innovation displayed  by Prof. Ratnayake has been recognized in lands beyond Sri Lanka

The opportunity to listen to Prof. Pradeep Ratnayake and his friends in concert, at  Pradeepanjalee XVIII  staged at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on May 21 was truly a delightful experience for me. 

There seems to be a general consensus, among music lovers in Sri Lanka, that Prof. Ratnayake is the foremost sitarist and creative musician in at present.  In my view, his creativity is two-fold. Firstly, he is a highly talented classical musician  with tremendous creative energy, carefully cultivated skills, which he has fostered from  a fairly young age, and discipline with his own signature style of performance.  He displays his talent and skill not only as a classical sitarist, but he has also shown a consistent commitment and creative prowess in going beyond the boundaries of the conventional gurukula traditions.  He continues to derive fresh inspiration for his creativity and creations from a variety of Sri Lankan music cultures, both traditional and modern, in a very organic way.

Secondly, Prof. Ratnayake possesses an impressive capacity for creativity in fusing classical ragadhari and non-Indian traditions of music and cultural phenomena to create a musical system of his own with a unique identity. His fusion music is not just a mixing of different musical instruments and sound patterns from different cultures. Prof. Ratnayake’s hand fusion leads to a synthesis of different genre; enabling him to produce something that is new, unique, and beyond the familiar.

I am no music critic. Yet, as a mere music lover, I am of the view that it is the combination of those two qualities that has enabled Prof. Ratnayake to produce a strand of musical performance that has a magically enchanting quality.  The talent for innovation displayed  by Prof. Ratnayake has been recognised not only by the Sri Lankan music enthusiasts, but also by audiences outside Sri Lanka as well.

In Sri Lanka, what we are most accustomed to, with regard to the sitar, is classical Indian ragadhari music.  A major characteristic of that tradition is the primacy given to compositions based on the conventional regime of raga, or a new ragas that have been invented out of the existing ones.  Playing or singing a raga is done in accordance with the gharana, that is, the conventions of the teacher’s family or the music school, that the musician belongs to. Often the ensembles that center upon the sitar have the tabla, the tanpura, and occasionally the flute.  In our country we are accustomed to the performance style of Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha playing classical music on the sitar and the tabla.  Very often, we  enjoy classical Indian music, primarily the  sitar music, with eyes closed and retreating to an undisturbed meditative mood.  

Prof. Ratnayake takes as his base this classical Indian tradition with which he is thoroughly familiar and yet transcends its limits.   In Prof. Ratnayake’s concerts, while listening to the music that comes out of the sitar’s strings, the audience also watches in amazement the rapid and dramatic movement of fingers of the sitarist, the hand movement and facial expressions. It brings into fusion both the sight and the sound as a medium of expressing overlapping moods. It is this union of what is seen and heard, the sight and the sound, and its intensely dramatic quality that invite those in the audience also to be participants in what is taking place on stage. This, we may not ignore, is also a point that might offend the sitar purists.

That is why Prof. Ratnayake’s Pradeepanjalee gives such a refreshingly new experience to the Sri Lankan music lovers.

Let me give the a reader brief account of a few concert items performed on May 21.

The event commenced with the playing of a classical raga, yaman, on sitar as a tribute to Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar maestro. Incidentally, Pradeep’s was trained in Shanthiniketan, in Bengal, in the same gurukula tradition to which Ravishankar belonged. Dr. Ravibandu Vidyapathi played pakhavaj, an Indian drum. The second item, called ‘Home Soil,’ was a presentation of melodies from Sri Lanka’s folk traditions with the sitar played by Pradeep, tabla by Peshala Manoj, ghatam and udakki by Isuru Perera. The third was called ‘Roots’ was an assemblage of Sri Lankan folk melodies. Its ensemble of musical instruments included the sitar, tabla, gata bera, ghatam, and thammattam. The last three instruments are Sri Lanka’s folk tradition of dance and music. The last item called ‘Stallions’ was based on the traditional Sri Lankan dance melody, the Thuranga Vannama, which depicts the movements of a horse.  Its ensemble of instruments were Sitar, Piano, Bass guitar, Acoustic Drums, Getabera, Handsonic and Tabla, interspersed with signing by two young vocalists.      

What flows from Prof. Ratnayake’s sitar are his own compositions.  They connect Sri Lankan folk and popular music with the ragadhari system of music as well as the traditions of western music. Compositions brought into Pradeepanjalie XVIII seem to be a mixture of experimental fusion music and ones that have reached maturity beyond the phase of being experimental.     The musicians who were on the stage with Prof. Ratnayake that evening were the best and the most well-known.  Dr. Ravibandu Vidyapathi, a musician and dance performer of great talent and also choreographer, accompanied Pradeep on the Indian drum.  The pianist was the very distinguished Harsha Makalanda.  The tabla was played by a young musician of much creativity and unbound talent, Peshala Manoj.  The others who joined them were Isuru Perera, Alston Joachim, Shiraaz Nooramith, Mithahasini Ratnayake, and Sajani Ratnayake.

Pradeepanjalee XVII was a wonderful musical experience.  As a mere music enthusiast,  what struck me that evening was the effort Prof. Ratnayake has made to give a Sri Lankan cultural identity to the sitar and the music performed on, and along with, it.  I have neither the knowledge nor the critical ability to gauge the success of these creative efforts.  Yet, as an ordinary lover of music, what I can say with some confidence is this: what Prof. Ratnayake has created through his music at the Pradeepanjalee concerts brings wonder and amazement along with a rare experience of aesthetic joy to the music connoisseur and the uninitiated alike.

(The writer is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Colombo)