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| Pic by Sakuna Gamage |
Though they fly from flower to flower, they are not
butterflies. Though they suck the nectar from the flowers they are not bees.
They are just poor human beings who make a living by beating the coconut flower,
trying to feed their starving kids, overwhelmed by immense hardships that life
entails. While on a train from Colombo
to Matara, Kumaradasa Saputhanthri, veteran lyricist, noticed that there is
more to the nectar producing process of a coconut flower. To him it was as if the
tears of the flower were rushing out, as if in sympathy for the life of the
toddy tapper, turned into nectar.
“The train used to stop for a while before the Kalutara
station. On the seaside I could see the toddy tappers at work. One day I saw a
little girl coming to one of the tappers who was ready to climb a tree. She was
dressed in a school uniform. She worshiped the man and he stroked her head. She
left with her books and the man climbed the tree. I remembered this incident. I
was wondering what would happen to the girl. ‘She will not be able to get a
government job in the future. She will have to get married to another toddy
tapper and her life will be the same,’ I thought,” said , Kumaradasa
Saputhanthri. “After about 12 years, I went in search of them. The toddy tapper
was already dead. Villagers said he died after falling from a tree. The girl was
still in the village, married to another toddy tapper just as I predicted. I
felt sad for them. This story later became the song Malin malata igilunata samanalayin nowe,” he explained how the much
admired song Malin malata was
written.
Kumaradasa Saputhanthri was born in Aththudawa, Matara. He
lived in his grandparents’ house since his father worked in Colombo. His father had to travel from Colombo to Matara to see little
Kumaradasa, which was not an easy task. When Saputhanthri turned seven, their
parents decided that they should all move to Colombo and live there. Therefore they moved
to a rented house in Kotta Road.
Their home was located near Gothami Viharaya and this closeness encouraged a
great bond between this family and the temple. He first learned to read at the
Gothami Viharaya from its chief incumbent at the time. He received his primary
education from Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Kotta Road. “It was called Jaadi iskole at that time. Later we
moved to a house in Rajagiriya, but I didn’t have to change schools. But I had
to change schools when our father wanted us to move to his village, Beruwala
since he wanted to look after his father,” he recalled.
He entered Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya after moving to Beruwala.
As a child, he was amazed by the natural beauty of the village. “There were
fields and cinnamon gardens where we could play all day,” he said. He had to
stay home after finishing his ordinary level exams since there were no advanced
level classes in his school at that time. Again, his father decided to bring
his child to Colombo,
so that he could obtain higher education. They moved to Welikada. With the
support of his uncle, who lived in Kiribathgoda, he received admission to the popular
Institute of Commerce. He also joined the Jethavana Piriven University
and continued his Advanced Level. “I met few friends there who changed my life.
I was inspired by their socialist political ideologies and my priorities shifted
accordingly. I passed my advanced level exams too, but my interests were no
more educational,” he recalled.
As a young man inspired by socialist ideologies he joined Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He remained an active member of the
party for long. When the JVP spilt in 1970s, he chose GID Dharmasekara’s
faction and continued his work in politics. During the same era, a cousin encouraged
him to write to newspapers such as Lankadeepa. “I also got the opportunity to go to Sudarshi Sinhala
Cultural Center.
It was headed by Dayananda Gunawardena and Chandra Kaluarachchi back then. I
received their blessing and my interests started deviating from politics to
arts,” he reminisced.
He remained as a member of Dayananda Gunawardena’s drama team
for a long time as a set designer and a makeup artiste. “I even got a chance to
act in Jasaya saha Lenchina,” he reminisced his time working with
Gunawardana. “There was a time when the actors boycotted a show. But Mr.
Gunawardena was so confident that we could do the drama without them. I was beside
myself, I finally got to act. Fortunately there weren’t any dialogue,”
Saputhanthri explained how he enjoyed working with Dayananda Gunawardena.
With the invitation of Dayananda Gunawardena, Saputhanthri
joined the programs in Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) where he
started writing songs instead of poems. “Sunil Edirisinghe, Edward Jayakody and
Rohana Weerasinghe helped me immensely at SLBC,” he iterated. Unlike today, as
he said, he received plenty of opportunities and the blessings of the seniors
to blossom as a lyricist. Since then he has written hundreds of memorable songs
for almost 40 years. Speaking of his
achievements he mentioned the Presidential Award he received as the best
lyricist for writing Ran malak lesa dev
bambun during President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunge’s regime. It
was also selected as the best patriotic song of the decade. With this
recognition, he staged his debut show, Malin
Malata and along with it,
published a collection of his lyrics. “I continued to hone my abilities.
Looking back, I am extremely satisfied with what I have achieved,” Saputhanthri
said. He currently works as a working director for SLBC.
He believes that some of his songs like Landu owiti kalal mathin or Karakena
rode were influenced by the political ideologies he followed. “I was
travelling with Rohana Weerasinghe one day in his scooter. We observed a few
laborers engaged in road construction in Narahenpita. They were working in the
hot sun, their legs covered with gunny bags. They were hard at work. It got me
thinking. Although they sweat like this, none of these roads will be named
after them. It will be named after some politico who didn’t even know how this
road was laid,” he said, remembering what inspired him to write the song, Landu owiti kalal mathin…aluth paara
hadenawa. He also mentioned how the late poetess Monika Ruwanpathirana also
encouraged him to write songs.
He
considers the song as a weapon capable of reminding people what’s right and
wrong. Yet he lamented
that a politician’s lie is stronger than the messages sent to society through songs.
Therefore, this system where laborers get undermined despite their hard labor,
will be difficult to change. However, he strongly believes that an artiste
should not be involved in party politics directly. “It hinders your freedom. If
you work solely for one political party it will be disadvantageous to his creative
work as well,” he pointed out. “The artiste’s political partiality should be in
his heart. He or she should be sensitive to what’s happening to the society as
a whole regardless of which party is doing more harm or good. But that’s not what’s
happening today,” he added.
He speaks about the underdog in his songs. He has tried to
bring out the feelings of the isolated people in the society through songs. The
lonely boy, who isolates himself from the children going home after school in Issara man giya pasala aril; where a
lonely girl stands in the fork of her parents’ divorce in Santhapa mawathe; or the untold troubles of the child who pushes
his disabled father’s cart, is capable of forcing people to ponder different
aspects of life, which they choose not to see otherwise. He believes that he
has honed this ability through living in the village, interacting with
villagers in their good times and bad. “I always saw people. I felt for them. I
didn’t care whether they were rich or poor,” he reiterated. “That is why they
are mostly about human emotions.”
Separation is one of the most unbearable things in life.
Among hundreds of songs written about separation, Saputhanthri’s Hade kothanaka ho hindi oba - nida nonida
men tops the list. He describes the pain of a man, left by his girlfriend, in
Sunil Edirisinghe’s voice. It is astonishing how he understands the stages of
pain this man undergoes. Only a broken heart would know the pain of another
broken heart. Proving that, Saputhanthri said that he also had tried walking in
those shoes long ago while he was still a student.
“I was in love with a girl from Kiribathgoda during the time
I was in politics. She was from a well-to-do family with powerful relatives who
strongly believed in UNP ideologies. I was known as an active JVP member. And
when they were informed about the relationship, all hell broke lose. We knew we
don’t have a future together and we decided to end it. It was a mutual decision
but it was hard,” he explained how his experiences in early life later became a
great song.
Another notable significance of his songs is that he always
finds connections with nature and environment. He pointed out that the young amateur songwriters lack the skills to see
the connections between life and nature. “This is the result of the
contemporary education system. It has destroyed their senses. Today, young
people would not notice even if the aesthetic hits them between their eyes. The
child imprisoned in this system does not have the time or the patience to
observe nature,” he pointed
out. “I admired and enjoyed the environment in both my villages, Beruwala and
Matara. That’s what’s mixed with the songs,” he added.
He also expressed his grief about the lack of opportunities
in the field for amateur lyricists and drew the attention to the lack of high
quality programs dedicated to broadcasting decent songs. “There are veterans
who are willing to do better at SLBC. But they stay idle because of improper
administration,” he noted. “Recognition for the lyricist is poor in this
country anyway. Good lyricists will further dwindle if this system continues,”
he added. He also said that this frustration could also be the reason for the
absence of new songs by veterans including him. “It’s a shame if it happens. We
still have potential to take the new song to the previously admired quality,”
Saputhanthri concluded.
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