Taking the sitar on a journey to blues, jazz -- and beyond
ACCLAIMED Sri Lankan composer and musician Pradeep Ratnayake has made a name for himself through his ingenious renditions of Western music on the sitar. SIPHILISELWE
MAKHANYA speaks to him ahead of his performance in the Durban City Hall on Thursday night.
What link does your music have to your personal background and what is your earliest memory of music?
My home was filled with musical instruments because my parents liked music. I used instruments almost as playthings and one day, when my father saw me play the esraj — an Indian instrument that is played with a bow — with my fingers, he bought me my first sitar, which is also played with the fingers. He also found me a teacher — DA Devage, who was a really great teacher. I gave my first performance at the age of 10 in the National Museum auditorium. So you could say music has been pretty much in my life right from the beginning. The raga my mother had listened to when she was pregnant with me, Rag Desh, is still my favourite raga.
What are the difficulties traditionally associated with judging Eastern music by Western standards and how have you negotiated them?
For me, music is sound. And in sound I find unity. When I get really great musicians to play with, who can produce beautiful sounds, I do not think about the tradition of music they belong to. But I do study as much as I can the rules of different traditions. I know the West has so far loved the work I have done there.
What do you consider your single most inspired composition?
Since I compose many types of compositions, it is a bit difficult to answer that question. I love the Kuveni [ Kuveni Concerto for Sitar, Cello & Orchestra], of course, and that’s a symphonic work.
Then I have composed for smaller groups like quartets and quintets — with instruments you don’t usually see together, like a grand piano and a sitar and a Sri Lankan drum — and each has its own distinct flavour. For example, Eastern Blues is in a blues style.
There are some with a light rock element and then there are many with jazz elements. Folk music is also something I love — the Kuveni Concerto is inspired by a folk melody — both Indian and Sri Lankan. I composed the Kuveni while I was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, New York.