Music and Dance in Sri Lanka

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 20 May 2009, 17:01

What should one hope for after the ravages of war in Sri Lanka? "War is a most uneconomical, foolish, poor arrangement, a bloody enrichment of that soil which bears, the sweet flower of peace."

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 20 May 2009, 17:10

there can never be a good war, or a bad peace - Benjamin Franklin

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 20 May 2009, 19:42

Veeramani Iyer is an excellent composer. Kalakshetra uses many of his compositions.

Arun

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 20 May 2009, 22:24

Arun: Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware that we had discussed his compositions in an earlier thread

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... -iyer.html

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 21 May 2009, 11:31

A disciple of Maharajapuram Santhanam, Yazhpanam Karunakaran used to teach in Singapore for many years and I have a couple of CDs of his, which are both excellent. His voice and music are both stylistically similar to MVS's. Unfortunately I couldn't find any biographical information online, but he does sing once or twice each season.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 21 May 2009, 14:46

The question is whether any SriLankan,whose mother tongue is sinhalese is singing carnatic music? Are they having any system of music as cm or hm?Are they interested in carnatic music? They are supposed to be descendants from North INDIA. MOST OF THEIR NAMES SEEM TO BE OF sANSKRIT ORIGIN. what is their traditional music?In olden days, tamil films used to copy music from hindi films, and sinhalese films from tamil films GOBILALITHA

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 21 May 2009, 15:12

The much acclaimed Iranian artist, Ardeshir Mohasses noted that "One can never change anything by art - the only thing that one can say is that artistes in each period of history leave a record, so that people in the future will know about their time."

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 21 May 2009, 15:52

what I want to know is whether Sinhalese have a music heritage of their own, and not regarding the bitter feelings of Tamils, because of the war and the feivent hope that the animosity will end. My question is purely about music , not politics . What I want to know is is whether sriLanka has got its own heritage musc like Lebanese music ,music of SAUDI ARABIA, CHINESE MUSIC AND SO ON. What kind of music is taught to sinhalese children? Has it a bearing to either cm or hm ? whether they have a system or raagas and so on? GOBILALITHA

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 21 May 2009, 16:51

Gobilalitha: Here are some links that may of interest

Sinhalese music and dance
http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=986

Music of Sri Lanka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Sri_Lanka

Some teachers of music
http://www.hcicolombo.org/icc_teachers.cfm

Pt. K.W.D. Amaradeva http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MqRu3sCNc0
http://www.amaradeva.com/Magsaysay.htm
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2002/10/20/fea06.html

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 22 May 2009, 13:12

A nice article on "Traditional music of Sri Lanka"

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 23 May 2009, 17:28

Carnatic in Colombo - Arunthathy SriRanganathanÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s labor of love - a report by Vincent DÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢Souza http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/news/20060616/colombo.asp

Are the Sinhalese and the Tamils really that different? Dharmasiri Bandaranayake offers us a rhetorical gesture, one that shows that we could just as easily catalogue similarity as difference. http://infoslasc.blogspot.com/2008/06/d ... n-for.html

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 May 2009, 19:34

knandago2001 wrote:
Traditional Kandyan Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzzDeNST ... re=related

Nandagopal - thanks for that clip, and introducing me to Kandyan/Sinhalese classical dance. I had not seen traditional Sinhalese dancing; Madras DD used to broadcast some CM and bharatanATyam concerts from Sri Lanka, but I do not believe that I have seen a traditional Kandyan/Sinhalese dance before. The stance reminded me of the 'cauka' of oDissi and so did the head gear. I also thought that there were some steps that looked similar to a primitive tIrmAnam.

In this clip I navigated to from the one you posted http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELLq4yIP ... re=related, I saw even more similarities - the Kandyan concept of 'magalam' in their dances corresponds to our 'tODaya mangaLam', and the concept of a namaskAram before and after a performance is the same as in our system of classical dance as well - the bharatanATyam namaskAram is of course, a bit more stylized. Also, the starting position of the dance can be considered to be similar to the nATyArambham pose at the start of jatis, especially in pada varNams. One big difference I noted was the lack of hasta mudras - the hands are held in the same ardhacandra or patAka hasta for the most part.

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 23 May 2009, 22:00

Ravi: Thanks for your insightful comments. It was my first exposure to the art form as well and IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m glad you enjoyed it. It is interesting how they have assimilated various elements from other sources. IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ve been trying to find out more about the musical aspects / influences. Would love to hear from others who may be already aware. Meanwhile here are some comments / thoughts about adavus and vannams in Kandyan Dance
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/200 ... 0512531EN1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandyan_dance

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 24 May 2009, 14:19

"Suriyah"

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 25 May 2009, 15:19

Veddas of Sri Lanka
http://members.tripod.com/~hettiarachchi/veddha.html

Ceremonial Vedda Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XDwIubm ... re=related

Danigala Vedda Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7kW4AwK ... re=related

DhwaniB · Post by **DhwaniB** » 25 May 2009, 17:11

knandago, your links make extremely interesting read...just that time is the thief...there is so much to ferret out and absorb..thanks

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 26 May 2009, 22:24

DhwaniB: It has been a pleasure putting this stuff together and IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m glad you enjoyed it.
We went without power for nearly 45 hrs after being hit by cyclone Aila! Am thankful for small mercies like being reconnected to the internet!! More music.. more joy..

Sarath Kumarasinghe plays the Esraj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Cd3jFALcE

The evergreen "Surangani"

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 27 May 2009, 13:48

Valli marries the God of the Mountain - story as retold by Patrick Harrigan
http://vedda.org/valli.htm

Haro Hara - the pilgrimage to Katargama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQZc2HgB ... re=related
http://padayatra.org/2008_py_decline.htm

The temple of Kathirkama Kandan
http://www.vanamaliashram.org/Katargama.html

Katargama Perahera
http://www.kataragama.org/news/sunday_leader_4aug96.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16TTxaQk ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU6FfDZQkpg

Shalu · Post by **Shalu** » 04 Jun 2009, 08:15

knandago2001 - the links made very interesting reading. Truly appreciate your perseverance in getting all this up despite glitches.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 04 Jun 2009, 08:47

knandago2001 wrote: The temple of Kathirkama Kandan
http://www.vanamaliashram.org/Katargama.html

The kadirkAmam temple is felt by some to be one of the true aRupaDai vIDu (instead of pazham udir SOlai)....does any one know the story behind this claim?

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 04 Jun 2009, 15:43

Shalu: Thanks.
Ravi: An intriguing question indeed! I wasn't even aware of this before, but here is what I came up with. See whatyou think.

The "tiru muruga aarruppadai"