transcurrents

Clash of Generations in Sinhala Music World

August 11th, 2007

by Revata S. Silva

‘The old’ most of the time create displeasure among the new and ‘the new’ bring uneasiness among the old.

W. D. Amaradeva would have been a stranger to the pre-independence Ceylonese musicians and decades later the rise of someone like Rukantha Gunathilleka with his bambarapahasa eclipsed the Amaradeva-led tradition in stutters.

The period from late 1980s to mid ’90s saw drastic economic changes taking place in Sri Lanka setting the stage for a wide rift between the old and the new generations. The exposure of Sri Lanka to the Western socio-economic forces could have been the catalyst for that change. Rapid expansion of (the private) media, development of mass communication including the advent of the internet, e-mail and mobile phones, deterioration of the traditional cultural values were predominant features of the changing Sri Lanka.

Well-known older generation lyricist Lucian Bulathsinhala once said in a radio interview that the new people asked how the moon sets radiating purple colours. He was referring to his popular ’70s duet Dampaating la sanda besa yanava sung by the late Gunadasa Kapuge and the late Malani Bulathsinhala.

“We spent those late night hours on the beaches with our musician friends and we’ve seen the moon setting smoothly emitting a purple light.” Will Kelum Srimal or Vasantha Kumara Dukgannanrala or any other present day lyricist or musician ‘waste’ their time in serene beaches in the dark? Mad? Neither these new guys nor their fans would do that.

Arts in the ’60s or the ’70s appeared rather traditional. Those men were not technologically advanced and their simple lifestyles allowed them to be at peace with their environment. They had time for observing dew drops falling caressingly on soft petals of beautiful flowers tickling as they did as the hearts of lovers.

But things began to change with the economic liberalisation and the advent of new technology. Computerised music put every musical trend before it to a lesser complete one, at least from the listeners’ standpoint. The digital, synchronised music laid the technological base for the Bathiya & Santhush age.

The younger generation has neither originality nor novelty in their songs or music. They’re artificial. They’re insensitive. This is an oft-heard complaint by the old timers. They’re only capable of copying all the previous (old) music trends and they know only to “wrap” the age old “Sirisangabodhi” or “Adahagannabe” in a digitally recreated tempo adding some ‘blah, blah’, we are told.

As a counter to this kind of criticism, the young ones point out that H.R. Jothipala, an outcast during his time, proved his critics wrong by becoming a legend posthumously. And, how could one follow old methods in a world dominated by computers, they ask.

The new artistes, in fairness to them, are not solely responsible for the so-called ’sexualisation’ of culture. Admiring Jothi, CT or Clarence is OK, but music has to be allowed to evolve, they argue. Sensible and tenable!

Times change, So does music. That is the way with the world. The entire universe is in a state of flux. Rukantha is now regarded a trend-setter but he was considered more a musical oddity when his cassette Bambarapahasa was released in the early ‘90.

What’s the broader picture we could see in this, so to speak, clash of generations? The economic system and technology always change taking their toll on arts and media and even human relations. See what television has done to our families. But there is one important thing. However, notwithstanding these changes, human feelings remain intact.

But there is a problem specific to our times. Artistes succumb to commercial pressure more than in the past. We see Bathiya or Santhush more in advertisements, promoting various retail goods and services in sharp contrast to the way they relate to use emotionally in a song like Chandanie Payala. They are beginning to look more like salesmen than musicians to their fans. Artistes have to settle their bills like all others and for this purpose they need dosh but the present trend is suggestive of the fact that they are overstepping their limits.

The problem today is that there is hardly any artiste who is trying to ‘fight’ against this covert, unhealthy, yet complicated socio-economic system that has turned against the existence of their own spiritual and unique medium. In this scenario, there is no great difference between the old and the new generations here in Sri Lanka. All of them, save one or two, have become conformist and are swimming with the tide, .

“Won’t you help to sing…,

These songs of freedom…?

’cause all I ever have,

…Redemption songs…”

- Bob Marley

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