Art for the sake of peace
Reconciliation through entertainment
Experience in a war-torn
multi-cultural society
Dr. Michael FERNANDO
One problem that has been discussed throughout the long history of
art theory and art criticism is the function of art in society and its
effect on the life of man. Plato did not want to have artists in his
republic as he thought they corrupt people through their work that
intensify their emotions and slander gods and kings. The Catholic Church
went further and prohibited drama for its followers at one moment and
again made use of it to propagate the religion. Since mid - 19th century
artists and critics have been engaged in a long drawn debate on the idea
"arts for arts sake." (L'art pour l'art) usually credited to Theophile
Gautier (1811-1872). As some theorists think most of the critics have
misinterpreted this idea.
Bharatha Muni saw theatre as a 5th Veda that brings peace, harmony
and entertainment to the whole society irrespective of caste
differences. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) who discussed the problem of
"Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction" and wrote "didactic"
plays finally stated in is A Short Organum for the Theatre "Let us
therefore cause general dismay by revoking our decision to emigrate from
the realm of merely enjoyable and even more dismay by announcing our
decision to take up lodging there. Let us treat the theatre as a place
of entertainment, as is proper in an aesthetic discussion, and try to
discover which type of entertainment suits us best," however without
rejecting the social function of art by stressing on a "new type of
entertainment" suitable for the children of "scientific age" (Brecht on
Theatre 19.. (Ed) Willet John... pages)
It is the later view above that the group of researchers and artists
experimented to explore and exploit as a medium or catalyst in
reconciling the ethnic divide that has been an integral part of the just
completed war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. They have made an attempt
to "discover a type of entertainment" that can contribute to the
reconciliation of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society, that once
lived in harmony, but later having underwent a protracted divisive and
antagonistic process that ended in a civil war.
The experiment had been launched whilst the civil war was still in
progress about two years ago. The group with the sponsorship of the
National Integration Program Unit (NIPU) of the Constitutional Affairs
and National Integration Ministry designed a multi-cultural variety
entertainment show consisting of items drawn from the cultures of three
main ethnic groups of the country namely, Muslims Tamils and Sinhalese
with the object of contributing to the reconciliation among them.
Sinhalese and Tamil populations of Sri Lanka inherit strong bonds in
the fields of religion, art and language. Buddhism and Hinduism, the
main religions of Sinhalese and Tamils respectively have common origins
even though there are fundamental differences between the two religions.
Almost all the Hindu gods are venerated by Sinhalese Buddhists. Hindus
consider Buddha as one of the reincarnations of god Vishnu Sinhalese and
Tamils celebrate a common new year (usually called Sinhala and Hindu New
Year) that is the most important ceremony celebrated by these two
groups.
Music, dance, theatre and cinema traditions of South India and
Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka have heavily influenced the performing
arts of the Sinhalese. Tamils and Sri Lankan Muslims share Tamil as
their mother tongue and this has led to a situation that Tamil language
films and film music have influenced the cultural life of Muslims.
However Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and other ethnic groups such as
Burghers, Malays and Veddas practice their own religious and artistic
activities specific to their own traditions contributing to a
diversified Sri Lankan culture. Furthermore the Tamil populations
concentrated in the North, East Provinces and the plantation districts
too have their different traditions of performing arts while Sinhalese
population in the Central, Sabaragamuwa and Southern Provinces have
dance traditions and ritualistic performances endemic to those areas.
Popular performing genres such as Baila, inherited from Portuguese and
Kapirinna, practised by a small community of African origin, have taken
root in Sri Lankan society irrespective of class and ethnic difference.
In designing the multi-cultural show most of these differences as
well as common features have been highlighted so that a multi-cultural
audience is offered the opportunity to enjoy the performing art forms of
other cultures and also to understand the mutual influence between them.
Several new creations experimenting with merging two traditions such as
Bharatha Natyam and Kandyan dancing were also included in the show.
This show was performed on May 4 in Batticaloa, the main city of the
Eastern Province and on May 6 in Hatton a main township in the
plantation area before multi ethnic audiences. At both performances
opportunity was given to artists from the respective areas to present
items representing the traditions specific to those areas. In selecting
items for the show the designers had made it a point to treat classical
folk or popular forms alike without branding one as "high" and others as
"low". Consideration was given only to the ability to entertain the
audience and to the democratic potential of individual items.
Another show was performed on June 29 at a rehabilitation centre for
ex-LTTE child-soldiers. The inmates were also given the opportunity to
present several items and the children were prepared for the show by a
group of three lecturers from the Department of Fine Arts, University of
Peradeniya.
All these shows were extremely successful and several intelligent and
informed observers were of the opinion that this type of entertainment
was the ideal way to initiate reconciliation among different ethnic and
cultural groups in the country. |
