Education system: Planned annihilation of intellect

 

Pic by Anura Pradeep Dambharage

His village not having electricity came as a blessing in disguise for him. The battery powered radio was his window to the aesthetic beauty of the song. “I grew up listening to the radio since we did not have electricity until 1996. I remember listening to the musical program Aradhana on SLBC’s Welanda Sevaya at night, leaning onto my father,” recalled Rajee Wasantha Welgama.

Welgama wrote the much admired Me Tharam Siyumalida Kalugal, proof that the contemporary Sinhala song industry is not completely bereft of talent. “I was able to visualize the songs with the music and those words created an aesthetic image in my mind. Those mental images helped me to remember the lyrics,” he said. He pointed out that some of the new generation songs lack this quality. This is why it is very difficult to remember the words of a song, he explained.

Welgama was born in 1981 in Pelenda, Kalutara District and received his primary education from Pelenda Maha Vidyalaya. Upon passing the grade five scholarship exam he entered the Mathugama St. Mary Maha Vidyalaya in 1990. “The first poem I wrote was sent to Vijaya, a children’s newspaper, when I was in grade three. I was very eager to read the paper and it encouraged me to write,” he recollected. He also recalled how his father encouraged him to engage in creative writing. With his father’s support he published his first poetry collection; ‘Mage Nirmana’ (My creations) when he was just ten years old.

“This was when late president Ranasinghe Premadasa’s Gam Udawa, Presidential Mobile Service came to our village and I got the opportunity to present my small book to him,” he said. After passing his Advanced Level examination he was selected to the Colombo Law Faculty in 2001. He presumes that this is when he started receiving recognition for his creative work. “I was inspired by the lyrics of Rathna Sri Wijesinghe, especially Gunadasa Kapuge’s songs,” he said. This was the age when he started to move with the society, noticing its various facets with financial challenges, university experiences and disappointments in love.

Me Tharam Siyumalida Kalugal was originally written for the We Diya Nilla Art festival organized by Rajarata University in 2004 and it was also awarded with the title ‘best poem of the festival.’ “It was Darshana’s idea to request Sunil Edirisinghe to voice the song. I was more than happy to agree, since Mr. Edirisinghe was a beloved artiste,” added Welgama.

Dharshana Ruwan Dissanayaka, who composed music for this song is another offspring of the contemporary field of music. In 2011, the song was awarded the best singer, lyricist and music composer awards at the State Music Award. “There are about eight different ragas in the melody Darshana composed. If you listen carefully you will be able to hear the sound of the stonemason’s hammer,” said Welgama, admiring its music. “It is a labor of love, a collaboration of the singer, lyricist and musician. This is why the song became a very sensitive, touching song for the listeners,” he added.

Me Tharam Siyumalida Kalugal, can be given two different interpretations; a Buddhist philosophical interpretation about life and a political interpretation of the dilemma that the traditional artiste faces. Welgama begins the story with a hypothetical situation where he goes in search of the man who carved the eyes of the Avukana Buddha statue. He is amazed by the fine work of the artiste, unable to imagine how a rock could be tender enough to be molded to depict the serene expressions of the Buddha. Welgama appreciates the competence and talent of the early artistes through his lyrics.

මේ තරම් සියුමැලිද කළුගල්
හිතන්නටවත් බැරි නිසා
මම ගියා අවුකන බුදුන්ටත්
දෑස් දුන් මිනිසා සොයා...

The man who created such masterpiece remains unnamed. Welgama finds the stonemason near Kala Wewa. As he sits on a mat in clay porch, under the shades of an Illuk tree, he watches the waves of Kala Wewa, dying and rising. The artiste sees the uncertainty of life observing the waves. Welgama depicts the misfortune of the many Sri Lankan artistes who often do not get the credit or appreciation for their work.  

කලාවැව ළඟ ඉලුක් හෙවණක
මැටි පිලක පැදුරක් එලා
රිදුම් පිරිමදිමින් බලයි ඔහු
මැරෙන ඉපදෙන රළ දිහා

Welgama tries to show how this artiste, who represents artistes as a whole, fails to give priority to his personal needs because he is immersed in his art work. When Welgama asks him about his love, the one he carved in rock at Isurumuniya, the artiste replies that he has not found his love yet. Hence he is unattached. Welgama succeeds in securing the listeners’ sympathy for the stonemason by this exhibition of signs of loneliness.

ඉසුරු මුණියේ ඔබ තැනූ
පෙම්බරිය කොතැනද කියා
මා ඇසූ විට හිනැහුණා ඔහු
තාම තනිකඩ යැයි කියා...

Commenting on the lyrics Welgama reiterated that the situation depicted in the song is the real condition of the genuine Sri Lankan artiste. “Many artistes who have created masterpieces wait for the bus, while a third party who made money from his hard work earns big bucks,” he lamented.

He expects that his own case filed in courts against a reputed music production company, which did not seek his permission to reproduce the song - Me Tharam Siyumalida Kalugal, will deliver a landmark judgment. He believes that whatever the judgment; filing this case will cause the third party think twice about reproducing music. “My intention is not to receive any compensation. If I wanted money I could have done something easier without going to all this trouble,” he said.

Welgama believes that the triage; lyricist, music composer and singer, claim an equal right to the ownership of a song according to the intellectual property act. “I am a lawyer and this company tried to rip me off. Imagine the situation of the other innocent artistes. I am ready to accept any decision but this is an issue which should have a precise court judgment. People can’t continue to make money from other people’s work like that,” he reiterated.

Welgama believes that an artiste should not only be an aesthetician but also a person who is able to criticize social, economical and political aspects of society. “I don’t call myself an artiste,” said Welgama. According to him a person doesn’t become an artiste simply because he or she creates a piece of art work. “I suppose, a majority in the field don’t fit the bill. The group of people who call themselves artistes in our country is only interested in their revenue. This group will do anything to sustain themselves,” he rebuked.

He also reiterated that people should love artistry, not the artiste. According to him, fans would be disappointed when they realize that the artistes are hypocrites. “There were some people whom we respected and wanted to make our idols. When I see what some of them have turned into now, I am ashamed of ever having respected them,” he lamented. He opined that Sri Lankan artistes do not take responsibility to meet the satisfaction of those who pin their hopes on them.

Welgama published his second poetry collection Dunhindath Duppath Wela in 2005. The song Me Tharam Siyumalida Kalugal is also included in this collection. “This song brought me recognition but it is not my first,” he said. His debut recorded song was Weralu Gaha Yata Punchi Kalaya sung by Karunarathne Diwulgane.

වෙරලු ගහ යට පුන්චි කාලය
කොහේ කොතනක අහන මොහොතක
මාවතේ දුරකථන හදවත නැවතුනා
අනේ අම්මේ කාසි ඉවරයි
ආදරේ බව කියන්නටවත් බැරි උනා...

ගමෙන් ගෙන ආ හීන කවරය
තවම ඇත බෝඩිමේ ඇද යට
සිහින විමසන මදුරුවන් මැද
නිදාගන්නත් බැරි උනා
අනේ අම්මේ හීනයක්වත්
දකින්නට මට බැරි උනා...

කොළොම්පුරයට ඉර වඩම්මන
පෙරහැරේ රිය සෙනග අතරේ
කහ ඉරක් මත හැපී මිය යන
ප්‍රේමයක් මට හමුවුනා
අනේ අම්මේ වතුර උගුරක්
දෙන්නවත් මට බැරි උනා...

‘The telephone heartbeat stopped

just then as I asked

of childhood days 'neath the Veralu tree

Couldn't even say I love you

No Mother dear,
I ran out of coins.

And the envelop of dreams
I brought along

is still there under the bed

I couldn't sleep a wink

with mosquitoes querying

about my dreams -

No, Mother dear,
there wasn't a single dream for me.

I saw love knocked down

at a pedestrian crossing

amidst the procession of vehicles

escorting the sun to the city,

No, Mother dear

I could not offer even a sip of water...’

Mohini; another song written by Welgama sung by Saman Lenin to the music of Darshana Ruwan Dissanayaka perceives Mohini, the she demon who preys on men using her baby as a lure, differently.

ගොර සපුන් ඇහැරෙන ඇදිරියේ

දොළ හඩන තුං මං හන්දියේ

කවුරු එනතුරු මග බලනවද

මෝහිනී මගෙ නංගියේ

මෝහිනී ආදර නංගියේ......

උඹේ දරුවා ගන්න කවුරුත්

නොඑන මූසල මංඩියේ

උඹට දරුවෙක් දෙන්න

ඕනැ තරම් අය ඇති  නංගියේ

උඹට දරුවෙක් දෙන්න

ඕනැ තරම් අය ඇති  හංදියේ...

සුරඟනට අමතකව දරුවන්

හඩද්දී කුණු බක්කියේ

උඹ යකින්නක් උනේ කොහොමද

කියා දීපන් නංගියේ...

‘Wither Mohini dearest sister

there where the road forks

to the rivulet's soft cry

now in the dusk

of beasts' awakening?

For there are men aplenty

to father a child dear sister

with a child no one

offers to hold, to take.

And in this land
where angels pass over

infants abandoned in garbage dumps

by what decree or logic

were you dearest one
singled out for the devil mark?’

Welagama denied the common accusation that the younger generation lacks interest in the arts and literature. He believes that there is a group who lacks interest in literature in every generation. “It is not a problem unique to us. There is a group who are keen on literature today and there is a group who are not. It was the same for every generation before us,” he opined.

“Bedsides, there is a group of people, especially in this field, who are not willing to appreciate the new generation. But there are veterans who make an effort to help the new generation, to exhibit their talent to the world,” he added. “I believe people who are always pessimistic about the new generation are people who are unable to create something new,” he said. It is the same group of people who runs after financial goals who pretend to worry about the future. “Anyway, I don’t think that these low quality creations will last long as the low quality creations of the earlier eras didn’t last,” he continued.

He also drew attention to the fact that the opportunities for the new poets or song writers to enter the field and get recognized are not satisfactory even though there are numerous programs that are used to hunt for talent. “My song receiving attention was a coincidence. Both Dharshana and I received acceptance due to the kindness of a few generous veterans in the field. There are many young talents getting wasted without opportunity. It is hard to be recognized as a lyricist in our society,” he admitted.

Welgama pointed out that there is no use of promoting only the voices of good singers. That voice should be able to identify the plight of our society and address the people. “I doubt whether any of the so-called stars that have this intention and these cheap media institutions also welcome such shallow individuals,” he reiterated.

He explained that unlike previous generations, the new generations have to put extra effort on learning literature because of the weaknesses of the education system.

“The preceding education system produced competent intellectuals,” he pointed out. “The new syllabus only gets students fed up. And it is unfair to expect such an education system to produce intellectuals. In fact it seems more like a well-planned annihilation,” he opined. “There is no point in putting the blame on the younger generations. If they really want to make things right they should reenergize the education system and put restrictions on local media.” Welgama strongly believed that government intervention is necessary to steer it in the right direction. Authorities are capable of doing this, it’s just that they don’t want to,” he said.

 

http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/25631-education-system-planned-annihilation-of-intellect.html