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| Tuesday, 13 April 2004 |
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Sunil Shantha : The voice eternal Immortality is no easy achievement in any sphere. The Musician, Artist,
Writer, Painter, Composer live as long as their work are I thought of penning these few lines in appreciation of my favourite Music Maestro Sunil Shantha, whose 89th birthday and 23rd death anniversary falls this month. Sunil Shantha was a man of principles. He never bowed down to anyone. He stood his own. He was a great artiste, who never sold his soul for Rupees and Cents or for any other financial gain. He was a compassionate man, who possessed a sense of humanity. Way back in the mid 1970's, I met him and invited him to be our guest artiste in the "Aradhana Swara Dhana", programme sponsored by Bank of Ceylon. This Musical Programme was the brain child of the then General Manager BoC, the present Governor of the Central Bank A.S. Jayawardane, who had a marked aesthetic facet to him. On his instructions, along with then Legal Chief of BoC, I.A. Gurusingha we met Sunil Shantha. I was then, the Public Relations Manager and was presenting the Aradhana musical show. Giant musician This giant musician was living in poverty at Dehiyagatha, close to Wattala, Colombo-Katunayake Road. For his livelihood, he was repairing radios and other electrical items. I could not believe my eyes. His home can aptly be called a "Kukulu Kotuwa". His life long partner Leela was there to look after him. There were no chairs to sit. A "Booruenda" and a table were the only luxury items. All over the place, there were many radios, brought in for repairs. Aradhana programme He welcomed the two of us. After a friendly chat, I invited him to feature in our Aradhana programme for a few months as our artiste. I conveyed to him, that the Bank of Ceylon is prepared to pay a sum of Rs. 10,000 per programme. There were four to five programmes per-week. Sunil Shantha thanked us profusely and turned down our request. Then, I raised the amount to Rs. 15,000.The words he uttered to me still linger in my mind. "Mr. Epasinghe, now I cannot articulate musical notes properly. Therefore, I am not fair by you and the Bank to take this assignment. One day I must die as Sunil Shantha. I do not want to tarnish my good name. There are many up and coming young artistes. Please feature them in your prestigious programme". Mr. Gurusinha and I failed our mission. But, our respect to this great artiste grew to greater heights. We must never forget to mention the support given by Leela, his wife who has been a tower of strength to him throughout all the ups and downs of his life. Great Sunil Shantha attempted to create a Sri Lankan Musical culture based on its "Hela Tradition", between the period 1946-1952. During this short-spell, he composed and sang nearly 250 songs. They were all stamped with his melodious tone and his own rhythmic style. In his attempt to create a musical tradition of our own, he sought assistance from Bangali North Indian, western music and our own folk songs. His lilting voice and the melodies captivated the whole island. Unfortunately, Sunil's rivals ousted him from Radio Ceylon in 1952, damaging the whole musical culture in our land. Radio Ceylon invited Prof. Ratnajankar to advise how to create a musical tradition to Sri Lanka. Sunil argued correctly, that a foreign expert cannot advise us, as he is not aware of our culture and folk songs. He made a fine comment "It is stupid to expect a Jack tree to bear Coconut". This was the end of road for this great artiste. He went to wilderness. Some vandals even destroyed the discs containing Sunil's best songs. Born on April 14, 1915 at Kapungoda, Pamunugama, to a Catholic Family, Sunil Shantha (Don Joseph John) lost his parents at a very young age. The maternal grandmother and uncles looked after him. With sheer courage and determination he became a trained teacher (1935-1939). In 1940, he proceeded to Shanthineketan and studied. In 1941, he joined the University of Bathkanda and obtained his "Visharadha" Degree in 1944. In 1945, he joined the Radio Ceylon. I doubt very much whether there is any artiste other than Sunil Shantha, who became so popular in such a short period of time. He was very sensitive on the language used in his lyrics. Some of his early popular songs Olu Pipila, Handapane, Ho Ga Rella Negay, Bowitiya Dan Palukan Vare, Suwada Rosa Mal Nela, Kokilayange, Mihikathanalawala captured all music lovers for the purity of the language, poetic diction, simplicity and lucidity. Sunil Shantha himself was the lyric writer to some of his songs. Huberth Dissanayake composed some of the lyrics. Then, the renowned scholar Munidasa Cumaratunga, Raipiel Tennakoon, Father Marcelline Jayakody, Arisen Ahubudu contributed a lot for his success, as lyric writers. Man of self-dignity He was a man of self-dignity. When he was banned from Radio Ceylon, he was selling dry fish, textiles, repaired old radios and was doing odd jobs at home to exist. He never went behind politicians or higher-ups to gain position. The greatest musician that Sri Lanka produced passed away on April 11, 1981, heart broken, six weeks after his youngest son - Engineer Jagath was drowned tragically in a swimming pool. Today, we very rarely hear his popular songs on the airwaves. Therefore, it is high time, that someone responsible, like the new Minister of Information and Media take some note of it with the intention of restoring the proper perspective to our musical culture. - Premasara Epasinghe |
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allowed to live.
For example Wren lives in St. Paul's, Shakespeare at Old Vic, Rembrandt at
the National Gallery, Mozart at Saddler's Wells. As long as the Music
reverberates in the heart of our people, the name of SUNIL SHANTHA remains
undying.
