OBAMA MAADA VIYA
10TH MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO MASTER
The tunes of ‘Udumbara hinahenawa’ echoed through the doorways of Master’s house as we walked in. Six pupils of the Khemadasa Foundation were getting ready for the upcoming 10th memorial concert. Dr. Premasiri Khemadasa, also known as the Maestro of Sri Lankan classical music has done wonders in the local music scene. Blending the orchestral traditions to contemporary music, Master created several masterpieces which remain to be evergreen. This October, the students of the Khemadasa Foundation along with a few known artistes are ready to present ‘Obama Maada Viya’ as a tribute to his 10th death anniversary.
“We decided to do most of his film songs, short excerpts from the Manasa Vila opera, excerpts from the stage drama ‘Angara Ganga Gala Basi’ and some of the songs which are less heard of,” said Gayathri Khemadasa, Master’s daughter and director of the Khemadasa Foundation.
“For example songs such as ‘Mathi Amathi Waru’ from my father’s ‘Killer’ cassette haven’t been reperformed since the ‘80s. One of our main aims is to bring those songs back to the people and also
the whole performance is based on his original music. I feel his songs have been distorted quite a bit and now people feel that those distorted songs are the actual ones. So we are trying to re-establish the actual versions. We have known artistes such as Kasun Kalhara, Amal Perera, Mihindu Ariyaratne performing at this show. It includes both new artistes and those who have worked with him before as well. We also have the Khemadasa foundation students also performing this time.”
Speaking about the challenges in preserving her father’s music Gayathri reiterated on why particular songs were done in a particular way. “I have artistes calling me and saying that they increased the tempo because they thought it should be fast but they can’t decide on it just like that. For example if we take Ammawarune, it was sung with a particular voice so that all mothers could sing it. Therefore no operatic voices added. So people don’t realise such features of a production. There was a crowd that followed my father’s music and if not for that crowd my father wouldn’t have been who he was.”
An exhibition titled ‘Inside Out’ will also take place simultaneously from October 20 for a span of two weeks, where life-size photos of people who have made a change in society will be showcased. “It started in France under my sister’s supervision and will be done for the first time in Sri Lanka. One of the reasons was to show that society is made of all kinds of people. It is done by the Foundation to show that my father is also one of those ordinary people who made a change in society.”