Remembering Sunil Santha

S. Pathiravitana

In the early 1940s I was playing around one day with the radio when accidentally I touched a button and out came a well modulated voice singing a song in Sinhala. What struck me at first were the words used - the Sinhala spoken in daily use in contrast with the prevailing 'classical' style used by our popular singers of the 'gramophone era' in our time. Its melody was even more remarkable, it seemed wedded to the words that were being spoken.

Sunil Santha File photo

The song depicted a love scene. Just as the sun was setting, a young man was trying to persuade a coy maiden not to hurry home. Here are the opening words.

Sumano, Sumano,

menike!

koido yannay

kadimudiye,

thavama nan-nay, anduru

vatunnay

poddakata navathin

The coy maiden, however, ignored his request and increased her steps towards home. And the pleading voice followed, blaming himself:-

kalabolen, kalabolen

kalabolen men yanna

yannay ma epa vee dho

Not having heard anything like this before I was quite taken up with the direct and simple speech of common folk being used so musically. The songs of the 'gramophone age' were mostly based on religious themes. Even Rukmani Devi's lovely voice in unison with Rupasingha Master's great and powerful voice mostly battled with the dasabimbara mara sena who came to overwhelm the Buddha. Or again, if the theme wasn't religious then it would be Rupasingha Master's solo performance singing how empty vessels by making the most noise show up the fool - Adu kalay selaveema nisa modaya ge gathi theray

All this was to disappear, however, with the visit of Rabindranath Tagore to this island. Tagore was on a world tour soon after wining the Nobel prize for literature. At several public meetings that were held here in his honour he invited artistes from this country to visit his Santi Niketan.

How much Santi Niketan inspired our artistes may be judged from the number who accepted Tagore's invitation. This was like a death blow to the 'gramophone age' which had upto then been the one cultural source for the inspiration of our time. You can see the revival of a new artistic world in Ceylon merely by reading the names of those who had associations with Tagore's school. There was Chitrasena, Pani Bharatha, Sakalasuriya, Ediriweera Sarachchandra, ManjuSri, Ananda Samarakoon and Sunil Santha.

There were a few others but those listed above along with Lionel Edirisingha who became a music teacher achieved national fame. Ananda Samarakoon, though many may have forgotten him as the man who created our national anthem Namo Namo Matha, also composed popular songs using the spoken language as in enda the menike mammath diyambataa kadanna kekatiya mal, boho lakshanai boho lakshanai pipiccha kekatiya mal. Unlike Sunil Santha he sounded more romantic but Sunil's poddakata navathin and kalabolen, were realistic words.

It may be said that he raised such words to poetic heights.

Another of Sunil's beautiful poems set to music is the description of a village school teacher walking gracefully towards her school. His song says that her soft tread gently lulls Mother Earth and causes the flowers to bloom on either side of the road so blessed is she. This is one of Sunil's songs full of rhythmic beauty. The lilt of the song reproduces the school teacher's equally rhythmic footsteps.

Not being a regular listener to Radio Ceylon it is only by chance that I heard subsequently any songs by Sunil Santha. Later I discovered that Sunil's appearance was being look upon as a possible rival and threat to some of the older artistes.

It is said that one day he found his recordings made at Radio Ceylon all scratched out. This may be one reason why I did not hear Sunil Santha's voice as much as I liked.

This went on until the Ratna Janker episode in Sunil's career. Ratna Janker, an Indian musical expert, was got down by Radio Ceylon to grade its artistes. Sunil objected to being tested by an Indian expert who, he said, knew nothing about the music of this country. His objections were disregarded and Radio Ceylon carried out the grading. Sunil naturally fell out of grace and lost the place he had in Radio Ceylon.

It is a pity that this event had to happen. His music went into abeyance for a time. For a time he was forced to do odd jobs for a living and ended up as a dried fish trader. He had, up to that time, shown a variety of skills with his voice. Some of the lyrics he sang were his own composition like the Pitisara hela guru liya (Village school teacher).

There was also the music of a Bengali boatman that he sang in Bengali. He also turned to modern Sinhala poets of the Cumaratunga school like Raipiel Tennekoon, Arisen Ahubudu and Hubert Dissanayaka and produced some excellent songs.

Lanka, Lanka, Pembara Lanka was another song that Sunil was heard singing now and again. It was composed by a member of the Hela school, Arisen Ahubudu. Pembara Lanka was composed in answer to the request made by the Committee that sat to choose a national anthem for this country. It was submitted to the committee but rejected perhaps because of its Hela twist. The line that seems to have given offence seems to have been the inclusion of the name Kumaratungu among the heroes of Lanka - pulathisi dami siri rahal Kumaratungu panduwan lada Lanka.

In this group of songs Tennekoon's Havilla is the most remarkable. It is the tale of a person whose cockerel had been stolen. The cockerel's emblem appears on the flag of the God Kataragama.

The appeal to this God to destroy this thief who stole the cockerel - 'the same that is the emblem on your banner,' is sung in vibrant Sinhala and listening to it you forget you are listening to a poem, but to an operatic piece.

Such variety and such familiarity with the Sinhala language is given only to a few performers. Sunil Santha was one of them. His early disappearance from our national scene was a great loss to the country.

The musical rhythms he put into the characters he sang about like the pitisara hela guru liya will help to perpetuate his valuable musical memory.