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| Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe |
Sinhala
is a very powerful language with a wide vocabulary that if the radio,
television presenters, writers or literates wished they could summersault with
words, says this veteran lyricist, writer and journalist. “It is pathetic to
see how poor they are in language while they have the potential unlike people who
speak any other language,” said Bandara Eheliyagoda. He has been in the field as
a lyricist for over 30 years.
Eheliyagoda
was born in Eheliyagoda, Ellawala, Paranagama; a beautiful village. His father
was a farmer. He received his formal education from the village school,
Ellawala Paranagama Vidyalaya. “It was a very small school which had only one
building. Sometimes we used to sit under an Araliya tree to study. I had a
pleasant childhood in a pleasant environment,” he recalled. According to him,
his first teachers of aesthetics were his parents, grandparents, uncles and
aunts. “They used to tell us stories creating an aesthetic background. Stories
about Andare or Mahadanamuththa, how prince Gamunu went to war and the Bali thovil, Kavi madu, Perahera and Shanthikarma,
frequent in the village were great experiences for me,” he reminisced. “That is
how I was nurtured with aesthetic values in the beginning and this is something
the modern child misses out on,” he added.
Even though he is popular as a song writer, his interests
has mostly been theater when he was young. In grade nine he moved to Illippadeniya Maha Vidyalaya, Chilaw and after the Ordinary Level
exam he returned to his home town, Eheliyagoda to study at Eheliyagoda Madya
Maha Vidyalaya. He started to show literary abilities during the time he was at
Peradeniya University. “I was more interested in
stage during that time. The drama I directed; Depa Varu Natha was selected as the best drama in
1981 and I became the best stage actor,” he said. While studying at Peradeniya University he was recruited as an
employee of the National Savings Bank. “I used to travel to Colombo in the weekends to study at Prof
Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s Ranga Shilpa Shalika held at Lionel Wendt,” he
recalled. He also got the opportunity to act in dramatist Clive Shantha’s Kandulu Gas and Nyashtika
Hewath Maha Bala Hatana during the same era. In 1982, he received the best actor’s award
at the National Youth Awards ceremony for the role Pauma, he played in Nyashtika. Simultaneously his poems were published in various newspapers.
Meeting Darmasiri Gamage was another turning point of his
life as he was motivated to improve his writing skills. “I got the opportunity
to write to Mr. Darmasiri Gamage’s Yowun Janatha paper. He established Pahan Wata creative writers circle and I got to play a significant
role in it,” he recalled.
His very first song Thiraya arenawa thiraya wasenawa sung by Sunil Edirisinghe was
first aired on March 26, 1983 on Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s Sarala Gee program, along with his second song Lokayak thanannata. He said he writes songs based
on his life experiences and opined that this can be the same reason his songs employ
different themes from mundane topics like romance. His first song, Thiraya arenawa thiraya wasenawa is based on one of his school
experiences. “Once there was a concert in Eheliyagoda Maha Vidyalaya and there
was a dance item ‘Bathe
Upatha’ (Birth
of rice) performed by girls of Ladies College, Colombo.
It struck me that, it should be us who should perform this that we are the
people who know how rice is ‘born’ by experience in the paddy fields. They
haven’t even seen the process nor do they know how to hold the sickle. This was
in my mind for a long time that finally came out in the from of a song,” he
explained.
He also explained the story behind the song Anna balan bera handin
udam wee - Detha depa selawena andam’. “My father’s elder brother was a
traditional dancer. The whole village gathers to see his dancing. But
unfortunately he got cancer. Nobody bothered to come and see him. He died of
cancer. This made me realize the tragedy of the artiste,” he said. “When my
father passed away, people who attended his funeral mourned that he was a man
who gave food to the whole village. He was a farmer and he was able to do that.
But I, at a rented house living on a small government salary could not afford
to give free food to other people like him. I felt terribly and this feeling
later became Wanni wana pethe,” he added.
With the success of his debut song, Eheliyagoda started receiving
invitations from many singers to write songs for them. Yet, not loosing his
interest on the stage, he joined the cast of Jayalath Manorathna’s Thala
Mala Pipila and created contemporary poems for the play, Andarela. He
also contributes to Andarela as an actor. In 1994, with the toppling of
the government; Eheliyagoda dabbled with diverse fields of work. His top priority
was ‘Sudu Neluma’ campaign. In 1994, he was appointed as the Deputy Director
General of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.
After that he served as the Director of Jana Kala Kendraya for a
long period of time. “I met Vijaya Dharma Sri during this period and I started
to write theme songs and scripts for his tele dramas and also worked as an
assistant director,” he mentioned. Among his teledrama theme songs, the song he
wrote for the drama Dona Isabela hewath Gajaman Nona, during the 1990s,
is unquestionably a landmark song in the history of tele drama. This song, Jeewithe
Kaviyak sung by Nanda Malini depicts Gajaman Nona’s life, full of challenges,
which critics usually miss when they get distracted by the number of marriages
she has had.
He also contributed
to many newspapers and radio channels. He mentioned the feature column in the Lankadeepa
and Muwarada Suwanda in Lakhanda radio as long-standing ones
among them. The tele drama script for HD Premarathna’s Sihina Danawwa
was also written by him. He has won awards as the best lyricist in almost all
the award ceremonies in the country including State Drama festival, Sumathi and
Raigam tele awards. Apart from that he has authored many books. “My first
poetry collection, Kalaya Elamba Etha was published in 1985,” he said. Karaliya
himi nathi ape lamay, Jeewithe kaviyak and Duwe nuba mage
pranayai are the three song collections Eheliyagoda published. He has also
compiled a few biographies including that of Jalayath Manorathna (Ranga Theertha
Yathrikaya – Mano), Deshamanya
HK Dharmadasa (Nawa Lowa Nawa Hiru) and AG Hinniappuhami a.k.a Maliban Mudalali (Hela Welanda Lowa Pera Gamankaru). Swayanjatha,
one of the recently most admired tele dramas was his production.
Eheliyagoda is also a key personality in organizing
cultural events in the country. He is well known in the field as a person who
is always ready to give his hand. “Currently, I am involved in creating a ballet with Channa Wijewardena with the support of Lt. Gen. Daya Ratnayake. The ballet is based on Pandit Amaradeva’s Sannaliyane,”
he reiterated.
“There are two major objectives behind this ballet.
This will be a tribute to Pundit Amaradeva. Money obtained from tickets will go
into a welfare fund for hundreds of disabled soldiers,” he mentioned. This
Ballet, Sannaliyane – Amarasara Gee Geththama will be held on March 28,
at the Sugathadasa Stadium. He is also engaged in a film based on Sri Wikarama
Rajasingha by Sudath Rohana.
He explained a song should always send a message to
the society. A song is a short term experience and it is also a collaborative
effort. “We can’t make the society better in three minutes. But a song can make
people think,” he said. “A song is like a small glass window. People can look
through it. Then they can see what’s outside,” he explained. “A motive behind
any creation should be that. It should be sensitive enough to make people
think. And I don’t see that capability in the new songs,” he said. “Do we feel
the love of a mother when we hear the song ‘Jeewithe mal ape amma inna kal?
See how beautifully Kapuge’s Dawasak pela nathi hene or Victor Ratnayake’s
Aadaraye ulaptha wu amma give that sensation,” he compared.
He stressed that Radio Ceylon was strong and a
great aid for the new song writers, when he was an amateur writer. “We had only
one radio station and it helped various artistes to come out with their
abilities. Heads of the Radio Ceylon in that era like MJ Perera, Livy R
Wijemanne, Thewis Guruge or Palitha Perera were versatile. Similarly, artistes
like Dayananda Gunawardana, Sugathapala de Silva, Wimal Abeysundara, KDK
Dharmawardana, Premakeerthi de Alwis, Daya Alwis or Kusum Peiris were flexible
and resourceful people who have mastered several fields. And they were all
available for us to learn from,” he said. “Most people have limited knowledge
and even though there are over 48 radio channels in the country today, none of
these are fulfilling their responsibilities as Radio Ceylon did few decades ago,” he
reiterated.
According to him there are many new lyricists in
society who are talented enough to use the language properly with no
opportunity to emerge into the field. “We hardly ever hear Ananda Hewa
Ranhindage, Nilar N Kasim, Gamini Sarath Bandara, Yasanatha Dhammika Bandara,
Ruchira Paranawithana, Dhammika Bandara or Rajee Wasantha Welgama’s names when their
songs are played. This could also be a major reason why they fall silent after
one or two striking creations. That is a catastrophe,” he opined. “They are not
privileged as we were,” he added. He also pointed out that there are no
programs to facilitate the creation of new songs. “Most of the new songs are
shallow. People only need a pen and a paper to write a song today. If there is
a similar standardizing method like in Radio Ceylon this might not have happened,”
he said.
Bandara also said that even though there are few
radio channels still playing quality songs, they are reluctant to play new
songs which should be given recognition. “Even if you take Nanda Malini, there
are new songs which she had recently sung, but the radio channels still play
the same set of old songs of hers,” he said. Similarly he pointed out that
there is no proper method to distribute the new songs to the listeners. “This
is not a weakness of the people who listen to the songs. I still get calls from
people asking where to buy CDs or DVDs but we don’t have a way to take it to
them,” he said. “The singer, writer or the musician can’t take their work from
village to village,” he added. He
believes that the artiste should not remain silent about this but continue with
their work to the best of their abilities.
“The artiste does not consider what they get in
return when they engage in creative work. It’s a difficult task but I’m still
active,” he said. He also said that many contemporary writers and singers write
and sing songs targeting the income they receive from the ‘ring tones.’ “Ring
tones are a way of earning big money. There is huge exploitation of this. But
it is questionable whether we should blame the ring tone culture or try and join
that culture,” he said. However according to him, artistes should not remain
silent and they should continue to work. “At anytime, there was no influence of
a government in the welfare of the artistes and art. Only the active
contributions of the artistes helped themselves.” He also lamented how money
oriented the radio channels of the country is that they manipulate the needs of
the listeners to force listeners listen to them.
He doesn’t believe that a government or authorities
alone could help the contemporary song to come out of this agony. Governmental
authorities have always been passive about this, he said. “Even the radio
channels under the government take after private radio channels. When the
private channel search for ‘stars’, government channels also start their
mission to find ‘the star’,” he said. “I suppose that’s how our country is. If
one makes a new soap bar, someone would copy it within days,” he iterated.
He questioned whether people would care about saving
the song from extinction when they don’t have anything proper to eat. “We eat
poison. There is no authority capable of controlling this. Imagine the
situation of the song. How could we provide good music when there is nothing
good to eat,” he lamented. He believes that there should be a strong legal
system to bring this situation under control.
He also pointed out that the senior artiste should
not feel helpless during their old age. He explained how similar they are to
any other employee of the country. “An artiste is like a laborer who works for
daily wage. They should have thought about their future when they were still
young and strong. They can’t ask the society to treat them well when they are
old just because they were good artists ages ago,” he said. “They should find a
way to safeguard themselves,” he reiterated.
Eheligoda has also written a number of sensitive children’s
songs. His children’s song collection Athu Pathara Pipi Mal launched few
years ago contains a collection of songs which gives a strong message to
the child. The tsunami song, Maha Samudura Namathi Ape Amma sung by
Harshana Dissanayake shows how people still love the sea after the horrible
tsunami. Piyasomage gedara yanna mama hari asai, ane sir me ahanna
and the songs about Puppets or the Yaka have the power to make children
think about the issues of the society in simple terms. It is a misfortune that
we don’t get to listen to these songs in any of the radio channels anymore.
He also commented about the children’s song
literature. He said that there is a connection between the changed school
syllabus and reduced enthusiasm in literature among children. “When we were
studying we were made to study well chosen works of literature and we were made
to study the books or anthologies completely unlike the bits and pieces of literary
works children study today,” he pointed out. He also mentioned that having
subject limitations for student is also unhealthy.
“A science or math student is prohibited from
studying literate at school. It’s not healthy for a child, his or her aesthetic
needs will not be fulfilled,” he emphasized. “A child’s imagination is already
being destroyed by television and radio. The aesthetic environment we had is not
available to them. They are all imprisoned in this complex society,” he said.
“They should all be redirected to books, motivated to read. They should be taught
to engage in their work attentively and with complete understanding,” he added.
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