‘Koralawelletaapasaya’ remembers the past
Kicking off the season’s celebrations in style, Neluka Seneviratne and her students will present ‘Christmas Fantasia’ next Sunday, December 8. Expect some beautifully smooth jazz numbers, rousing piano solos, string quartets and ensemble together with some trusty acapella as young singers and instrumentalists aged 5-28 take to the British School Auditorium stage.
Neluka is no stranger to local music circles, having performed and taught for almost two decades. A Fellow of the Trinity College of Music, London in Piano and a Licentiate of the Royal School of Music in London in both Piano and Music as well as a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music in Piano, she has performed extensively in both Sri Lanka and the UK. She moved to the UK in 1999, returning to Sri Lanka in 2001. Having taught for a while, she went back to the UK again in 2003 which was when she met her husband and decided to settle down in London for a while. The pair returned in 2009 with their son, now aged 5, and have lived and worked in Colombo since.
While she travels to the UK every summer to conduct music camps for school kids, Neluka’s career is now based in Colombosomething that she laughs she’s pretty much got no control over! “As soon as I came back to Sri Lanka my old students signed themselves up, and more new kids started showing up,” she grins. “How could I up and move back to London after that?”
This year’s concert is all about the festive season, with Christmassy spirit being the order of the day. Christmas Fantasia’s cast of over 40 will sing, play and dance their way through the show-“Some of them are very nervous,” says Neluka. But the
Way back in 1948 a young violinist of just 21 years of age was picked up to play in an orchestra providing music for a Sinhala film. That was the era when Sinhala films were made in India and with no recording facilities being available here, even the orchestra had to go across to do the recordings. The young man not only played the violin but was picked to play a role and also do some playback singing.
On the eve of his 86th birthday the violinist – then Albert Perera, presently Pandit Amaradeva reminisced on the break given to him by the leading musician of the day, Mohamed Ghouse, who was music director of ‘Asokamala’ – the second Sinhala film. . “He selected me to play in the orchestra but tried me out as a playback singer as well. And then I played the role of an ascetic singing the song ‘bhavebheeta’. When the film was released everyone started calling me ‘Koralawelletaapasaya’, he laughingly said participating in the popular TV show ‘Doramadalawa’ last week. With just a little over a week to go for his 86th birthday (December 5) the programme was a special one to felicitate him
Pandit Amaradeva was pleasantly surprised to see his name in the film’s title list as the assistant music director. “Ghouse Master never indicated to me I was going to be named assistant director. I came to know of it only when I saw the film,” he said.
The evening turned out to be a most entertaining one with the maestro in a relaxed mood willing to accommodate many a request to sing popular numbers heard over a period of over five decades. Flanked by Professor Carlo Fonseka on his left and son Ranjana on the right, he was determined not to disappoint the fans led by the compere, the affable Hasantha Hettiaratchi.The much-in-demand Rohana Weerasinghe provided the lead on the harmonium with Ranjana playing the tabla.
It was good news to hear that a mini studio is being set up at Pandit Amaradeva’s residence to enable him to do voice recordings at leisure rather than rushing to recording studios to keep to deadlines. Father Saman Maximus broke the news during the programme stressing that “this golden voice must be preserved at any cost by providing the facilities need- ed.” Endorsing the sentiments expressed, Ranjana said that the Amaradeva Foundation is actively pursuing the project.
It was only a few days earlier that I had picked up a CD from the SLBC sales counter titled ‘Madhuvanti 1’ with songs sung by Pandit Amaradeva many years ago. It was yet another of his innovative programmes during the golden era of broadcasting when artistes were encouraged to experiment.
The CD comprises 15 songs based mainly on folk themes. The melodies were by Pandit Amaradeva. Mahagama Sekera’s words were simple and meaningful. The programme was a highly successful Amaradeva - Sekera creation.
SLBC should be congratulated for mak- ing available such meaningful CDs to be enjoyed by those looking for quality.
Judging from the maestro’s performance that evening on ‘Doramadalawa’, fans can hope to be continuously entertained with his golden voice.
Pandit Amaradeva, here is a simple wish - ‘sukhidheegayukobhava!’