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| Wednesday, 18 August 2004 |
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Celebration of music from Brazil to Portugal by Tennyson Rodrigo Few Sri Lankan soloists have gained international recognition in the field of Western classical music and continue to be engaged in their chosen field. Many will recall that from her childhood, Malinee Jayasinghe-Peris was a household name among Sri Lankan music lovers. Her mother insisted that Malinee's surname must signify the family name of both parents-hence the hyphenated surname. She began to show musical talents from early days especially on the piano and eventually became a concert pianist of repute. Regrettably, nowadays we hardly get an opportunity to listen to her live in Sri Lanka.
Malinee's first visits overseas were on scholarship awards to study music. Her marriage to Douglas de Silva, who was first with the Foreign Service and then the World Bank, was more than a milestone in her private life. It provided connectivity to a wide network of music and musicians that was vital for the growth and development of her talents and a career in music. Before she and her husband finally retired in Washington DC, the two of them lived in Portugal for four years. That was a very productive period in Malinee's life. She had the time to perform at many concerts and also get an insight into and an abiding interest in the music and composers of Portugal. Malinee now lives in Washington DC and is an Associate Professor of Music (Piano Performance and Chamber Ensemble) at The George Washington University. She has fond memories of her 'homeland' and expresses intense yearning to be back especially to discover and get to know the emerging generation of local musicians' more importantly, to immerse herself for the rest of her life in the socio-cultural heritage that is very much a part of her identity.
Moreover, there is a deep sense of gratitude for the public of Sri Lanka for having contributed generously to her musical education by way of scholarships. When time permits she manages to record selected compositions particularly by Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican and other Latin American composers. In 2003 she recorded a CD titled "From Portugal to Brazil" which contains an anthology of compositions by Brazilian composers. Her CDs are recorded on the Brioso Label and this particular one has the Catalogue number 85-09-50138-2. This CD has been favourably reviewed in the American Record Guide (ARG) a copy of which Malinee has been kind enough to send me for my attention. As I believe she will be very pleased to see this review carried in the local newspapers, it is reproduced verbatim for the benefit of Sri Lankan classical-music lovers in general and friends of Malinee in particular. From Portugal to Brazil From the 18th Century to the present, Portugal has produced a distinguished but largely uncelebrated tradition of piano music. Brazil was the most prominent Portuguese colony, and its music (especially recently) has taken on considerable cachet, but I wager that many ARG readers have never heard of most of the composers in this excellent anthology. The stylistic range is wide: Carlos Seivas's two 18th Century sonatas (both in D minor) have a Scarlatti tang and a hint of Beethoven; Joao Bomtempo's languid Fandango and Variations, based on Portuguese folk dances, sound a bit like early Debussy; the preludes and folkloric pieces of Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez, Claudio Santoro, Ernesto Nazareth, and Camargo Guarneri are seductive Brazilian dances, by turns elegant and raucous. Peris includes six pieces by Villa-Lobos, by far the most familiar material here, playing them with a refinement and depth of sonority beyond the grasp of the recent competition (N/D 2003) - Sullivan" Yo-Yo Ma goes Latin as well In the last few days of July 2004, Malinee has been working late nights with her recording engineer on her next CD which is being titled "From Spain to Mexico." Her sri Lankan friends will be delighted that Malinee has the drive and energy to keep the Momentum of her musical career at such peak levels. As Sullivan implies, leading figures in the music world are now allured by the exciting resources inherent in the music of Brazil and Portugal. Though Brazil's music culture is an eclectic outgrowth of a highly creative confluence, predominantly of African, Amerindian and European musical traditions, it has acquired a distinctive character of its own. Many foreign musicians, novelists, intellectuals and others have been enchanted and inspired by Brazilian music and the rich diversity of its cultural landscape - Artur Rubenstein, Orson Welles, Miles Davis, John Updike, Aaron Copland were among them. Incidentally, in 1918 pianist Artur Rubenstein 'discovered' Villa-Lobos who in due course became the most celebrated Portuguese composer. Today, many would rank Yo-Yo Ma as the finest among the world's leading cellists. Born in Paris to Chinese parents, Mo and his family moved to the United States to pursue his music studies and eventually became one of the greatest living cellists. The warmth and sensitivity with which he explores alternate musical traditions have made him a distinguished cultural ambassador. Ma has a discography of 50 albums which have won him 15 Grammy Awards. In 2003 he made a recording of Brazilian Music on the Sony Label titled 'Obrigado Brazil' ('thank you, Brazil', in English). This CD was not only Ma's fastest-selling recording ever but also it won a Grammy Award. Obrigado Brazil brings together an all-star ensemble of Brazilian musicians: the brothers Sergio and Odair Assad on guitars, clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, percussionist Cyro Baptista, singer Rosa Passos, bassist Nilson Matta, and Ma's long-time collaborator, pianist Kathryn Stott. The title acknowledges Yo-Yo Ma's appreciation of the creative output Brazilian music has inspired. And so the fascination for Latin flavours continues to flourish among top musicians and recording companies of the world. I believe it's in order if I were to complete this snapshot of references to Latin American and related music by zooming in on the following remarks made by the Argentinean composer Osvaoldo Golijov (extracted from the BBC Music Magazine carrying a story on Golijov's highly acclaimed composition "La Pasion segun San Marcos"): 'I have tried to emphasize the dichotomy between the church hierarchy and the people. On one hand, the church has been the chief source of liberation theology; on the other hand it has given its support and blessing to the juntas. I find a parallel between the lives of Jesus and Che Guevara, not just in the most famous images them both. They shared a kind of fatalism, Jesus saying "One of you will betray me" and Che writing... that the peasants he was trying to help were going to betray him to the CIA... The Pasion roams through the resources of Latin music, featuring salsa, tango and flamenco rhythms... But Bach is never far away in inspiration... where Bach has arias to express an emotion, I have dance: in South American (,) emotion is expressed with the feet even more than the voice.' **** Back **** |
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