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| Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe |
‘I am glad I became second’, Visharada Nanda Malini received
a letter from the veteran musician Victor Ratnayake right after an interview of
her was published on a newspaper. Recalling the story published a few years
ago, she said that she is blessed to sing with maestro Ratnayaka in Ramya Theerthaya
on January 25. “I was more than happy to accept Sirara FM’s offer to sing with
Victor on stage. This is the first time we are singing on the same stage in Sri Lanka and after the legendary show at London in 2002,” she
added beaming.
“When I was a little girl, I came first in a singing
competition named Airship produced by Ariyasena Millawithanaachchi and
presented by Prosper Fernando at Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). I won
an air ticket to Bombay.
My father was a tailor, how could he afford such luxury for me?”
And so she took the air ticket and went in search of the
company near the clock tower at Fort, with her father. “I remember asking them money
in exchange of the ticket.” They were kind enough to comply. When they got the
money, the first thing the father and daughter did was to have glass of Saruwath.
She suggested to her father that they should buy an electric iron. “I was young
but I had noticed his struggle with the coconut shell iron.” But what she forgot
was that they didn’t have electricity. “You silly girl,” her father chided her lovingly.
With the money they managed to purchase electricity for their
small house at Hatewatta, Kotahena. “I also bought a hot water flask for
Thaththa, his tea always went cold at night,” she continued. But this little
girl did not foresee that the boy who came second in the competition will also
become a maestro one day and the two families will become very close friends.
“We didn’t know each other then, in fact I don’t remember who sent me to that
competition,” she added. In fact until she revealed this story to a newspaper,
both of them didn’t know that they had competed with each other that day.
Nanda Malini was born to a rural family of nine siblings in
1943. After their move to Kotahena, she was enrolled at Sri Gunananda Vidyalaya,
where her talent was recognized. “We lived with minimal facilities. But our
parents tried to teach us morals despite our situation. There were days that we
had to skip meals. Sometimes I had to share my clothes with my sister. However
that was not my father’s concern. He wanted us to get the best education
possible. My school also had limited facilities,” she said. “Although my
parents didn’t observe my talents, my school recognized it. The teachers were
always honing our interest in the arts and literature. At school I participated
in many dramas and singing competitions. We went to sing devotional songs for Vesak
and people used to invite girls from our school to their weddings to sing Jayamangala
gatha.”
Nanda Malini proudly acknowledges that she is a product of
SLBC and soon made her imprint as an A grade singer. Margret Perera, a teacher
of her school foresaw that she had a prosperous road ahead of her. She took her
to SLBC and introduced her to the Lama Mandapaya which was presented by
Karunarathne Abeysekara and Sarath Wimalaweera at the time. “Unlike today,
there weren’t any interviews at SLBC. If the child was talented anyone could go
and introduce them there. However I didn’t get a chance to sing a song for a
year.” Her first song was written by Asoka Kolambage and music composed by DD
Danny. The song has been a hit since she first sang it. After 55 years she
first sang her debut song, Budu Saadu, Budu Saadu; it’s still popular as if it
was sung yesterday.
According to her meeting Pundit WD Amaradeva was a turning
point in her life. Observing her talent in Lama Mandapaya Pundit Amaradeva invited
her to sing in a movie, Ranmuthu Duwa in 1962. Ranmuthu Duwa was the first color
full-length Sinhalese language film to be produced in Sri Lanka. It
was produced by Shesha Palihakkara and directed by Mike Wilson, who also made
his debut as a feature director with Serendib Production Company. The movie was
able to win the best music, singer (male and female) at the Sarasaviya Film
Award Ceremony in 1963. Nanda Malini became the Best Playback Singer (Female)
for the song Galanagangaki jeevithe.
Since then, Nanda Malini has sung for 116 films and won 12
Sarasavi Awards and 11 Presidential Awards. She was able to win the best female
singer award at the SLIM Nielsen People’s Award continuously for the past six
years.
Whilst many women in Sri Lanka demand their position and
equal rights as men, Nanda Malini, citing her own life story said that a woman
will receive her rightful place in society through will and commitment. Therefore
there is no need for women to riot, demanding their position, she points out.
“It comes naturally. If a woman knows how to be satisfied with what she has, if
she knows how to plan her finances and more importantly if she could become
independent,” she continued. “We didn’t have many dresses when we were young.
Some days I had to wash my school uniform, iron it at night and wear it again
the next day. Our father taught us how not to envy other people who had plenty of
clothes.” This is why, she explains, that she still tries to live a simple
life.
Nanda Malini admitted that there is a dearth of quality songs.
She spoke how thoroughly SLBC screened the lyrics and graded the singers. “They
standardized the song with the help of a panel of veterans. That’s how they
maintained quality,” she reiterated. “There was a time when people knew me only
by my voice; they didn’t know how I looked. There are people who still
remember. I remember one person telling me that they used to listen to those
programs with lights off. They’ve tried to imagine ‘Nanda Malini’ singing with
the help of a picture they had seen in the newspaper,” she said. According to
her, another major reason for this loss of quality is money. “For the first
five or six years at Lama Mandapaya, the singers were provided only transport
and a cup of tea. Today, the child knows how much he or she is going to earn when
they receive the invitation,” she said woefully.
She also recalled songwriters the likes of Dolton Alwis,
Madawala S Ratnayake, Wimal Abeysundara; musicians like Pundit Amaradeva,
Lional Algama, Somadasa Alwitigala and DR Peiries; orchestra members MW Peiris,
Piyadasa Athukorala, Mervin Wijewardana and M Nadaraja. “They were the best and
we weren’t even aware that we were going to be products of these great people. Program
producers like Palitha Perera, Daya Alwis and Kusum Peiris were always ready to
welcome us. That is how these old songs made their way into the hearts of the listeners.”
She believes that another reason the old songs maintained
the popularity is that the songs were not distorted with visuals. “It went from
the ear to the brain directly. No visuals to distract the listener.”
‘Ma hada uyane
ekama malai pipune,
E mala oba desa balaa hindiddi
sali sali ashawen…’
‘Only one flower blossomed in the garden that is my heart,
and while it looked on you, dancing with desire…’ she sang in example, pointing
out the word power of the lyricists who did not require visuals to get across their
message to the listeners. She opined that this is an era where people believe
that anyone with money could make a song or a visual. “Money is the controlling
factor, it’s for this same reason the song is deteriorating.”
She pointed out that the lack of decent production companies
to invest in song production is another reason for the downfall. She recalled
how companies like Sing Lanka with people like Ananda Ganegoda and Kularatne Ariyawansa
made attempts on song production. The ability to produce a music album existed
at that time as well as the market for it, she explained. “Sing Lanka was a
company which released the best of songs. These companies are bankrupt today
because of the thieves ever ready to copy their decent products,” she lamented.
“Technology is all good. We need to move with the changing
trends of the new world, but there is an ugly side to trend as well,” she
added. She criticized the fact that the laws to protect the song artists are
full of loopholes. “Once, I, Prof. Ariyarathna and Mahagama Sekara’s son filed
a court case against a group who copied our music, which took three years to deliberate.
We won the case, but can we file cases against all such incidents?” she asked.
She is optimistic of the new generation who enter the field
of music. She mentioned that there is a group of people, new music enthusiasts wanting
to take the Sri Lankan song to a new dimension. “They seek guidance and help.
They are keen to talk to us, take our advices. We are also keen to help them
and make a connection with them. We cannot be in this field forever,” she iterated.
She said that the Sinhala song needs the strength of the
young, the advantages of technology and the inspiration of foreign music. “But
it should be our songs, our culture and our music. We must know how to choose
between what’s suitable and what is not.”
She explained how an artiste can take the responsibility of
shaping society. During the war Nanda Malini produced a song album including
Tamil folk songs named, Kunkuma Pottu. Some groups challenged her morality
asking why Sinhalaye Yashoraawaya (the legendary voice of Sinhala) took the
Tamils’ side. “The music album was a loss. But Mr. Ganegoda believed that it
was an essential service at the time. I still believe that it was. This problem
would have never occurred if we knew Tamil language,” she opined.
She believes that the Pavana, a revolutionary musical show
in late 80s also rendered such a service to society. Prof Sunil Ariyaratne
wrote the songs included in Pavana, in an era when the country’s situation was volatile.
“The youth of the country was unemployed and suppressed and the society was
unjust.” She said that this harsh reality was what turned into a series of
songs. Perhaps the messages of these songs were considered a threat. Some of her
songs including Pavana were banned at SLBC and SLRC. Pavana concert was also
banned.
“I had to move out of the country for a while in 1989
because of this.” However she revealed that she was not afraid to continue singing
even though she hit a rough patch now and then. “I believe that it happened
because of the background I came from. I remembered the pain of being rejected
when we went door to door selling what our father sewed. This was voiced
through Pavana. Not persevering with Pavana would have been to neglect our
responsibility,” she said that the wellbeing of society is the motive behind
her singing. “Some Pavana songs are still relevant even in the contemporary
context. We must work towards making those songs irrelevant,” she stressed.
Sangeetha Ashramaya, where Nanda Malini is conducting music
classes for children is also as simple as her, painted white like the white
saree she is always clad in. She is thankful for the children who come to her
classes and their parents, as it is her sole livelihood. “I don’t conduct musical
shows as a principle. In fact I couldn’t release an album for six years,” she revealed.
She also pointed out the importance of music and aesthetic subjects in making a
complete child. “It doesn’t matter how much you feed them, clothe or educate
them, if you are not feeding the child with art and literature, he or she would
never become a wholesome human being,” she said.
She mentioned that she should be grateful to Sirasa FM for
inviting her to Ramya Theerthaya. Shwetha Rathriya; the musical show Sirasa organized
few years ago was one of the most successful shows in the country. She returned
to stage 22 years later after Pavana with Swetha Rathriya. “No one but Sirasa invited
me for a show in those 22 years. And nobody did even after the success of Swetha
Rathriya, therefore I must be thankful to them,” she reiterated. “There is a
generation who has not seen me singing on stage, children who were born in the
1990s. I suppose this will be a great opportunity for them as well to see us on
stage. My invitation is especially for them,” she made an open invitation. “I am
still strong. I can still sing and will continue to do so,” she assured.
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