Pradeepa:

“The wind beneath the wings”

Nelum Mudalige

Out of the songs I have written so far as a fresher to the field, my ‘Earth Song’ (originally I called it the ‘Moon Song’) still fascinates me. I saw a brilliant documentary recently in London, related to “Man’s arrival on Moon”. Some fantastic images of our planet’s gentle rise through the pitch-black depths of the fathomless space, like a blue sapphire, over the horizons of our moon’s barren deserts captured my imagination. ‘What a beauty, what glamour, what elegance’ I thought.

Lyrics began to flow effortlessly through my mind. “‘Prince Earth’, that’s what you are; moon must be the lonely princess dedicated to protect and care for this noble celebrity silently admiring his magnificence”, I thought. My song must be a serenade from the Moon to Earth...and that’s what it was, a love song.

But whose voice is the best to give life to princess Moon’s romantic sentiments? Pradeepa Dharmadas’s melodious voice began to flash in my mind. I knew she was living in the United States at the time. Somehow, I found her telephone number and talked to her over the phone. When she saw the lyrics, Pradeepa was delighted. “We’re planning to go to Sri Lanka soon and I can do this in Colombo” she said.

I wanted to know her price. “No need to worry about money, I’ll do it” she said enthusiastically. Faced with severe financial constraints, I was over the moon.

“Who is going to be the music director?” she wanted to know. “It has to be Khemadasa”, I said. Pradeepa agreed.

Knowing the classical maestro’s choosy temperament, I approached Dr.Khemadasa with much anxiety. The response was unbelievably positive. He instantly knew Pradeepa was the ideal choice for my Earth Song. “Ideally, Pradeepa should play a guitar and perform this on the stage without much backing from other instruments”, he said with obvious approval of the project. “Don’t underestimate our local music-lovers’ capacity to appreciate quality songs; so, let’s do it,” he added.

And that is precisely what Sri Lanka’s musical genius – whose pioneering effort to introduce western classical tradition to Sinhala music is well-known - did to my lyrics by blending Pradeepa’s incredible voice with appropriately simple music.

That was Premasiri Khemadasa’s last creation for Pradeepa before his death on 24 October 2008. (Coincidentally, Pradeepa Dharmadasa’s first song, “Doowillen Sadunu Liye” - that became an instant hit in Sri Lanka - was also a creation of Dr. Khemadasa).

Pradeepa was so thrilled about the outcome of my Earth Song she enthusiastically came forward to voice a few more of my songs straightaway. I am happy to say, she has unhesitatingly included six of my songs in her next CD, scheduled to be out soon.

As a newcomer, I was overwhelmed, even surprised at Pradeepa’s generous offer to sing many of my songs without any financial benefits from me. My gratitude to Pradeepa for the way she gave her hand to lift me is beyond words.

Perhaps, Pradeepa’s own past might explain her enlightened approach to newcomers. She was a teenage girl at Prince of Wales, Moratuwa, when she was somewhat accidentally found and encouraged to learn singing, dancing and acting by the well-known Sri Lankan dramaturge, Somalatha Subasinghe. Somalatha’s persistent efforts to bring out Pradeepa’s latent talents finally led her to stardom.

Since her youth Pradeepa has been a socially conscious radical woman who sang politically controversial songs in the late nineties. The government at the time banned some of her songs. I still remember how Pradeepa defiantly defended her right to sing rebellious songs using the so-called ‘alternative media’ that mushroomed at the time to challenge the State media. She bravely took part in many university campaigns against government repression. (It was during this period that a leftist journalist from a rebelliously political movement at the time, Dallas Alahapperuma, fell in love with this attractive singer and eventually married her.)

I was very lucky to get the support from a woman of that calibre to get my initial breakthrough. As a clear sign of Sri Lanka’s top grade musicians’ willingness to help newcomers with talent, some prominent music directors happily came forward to back me up.

The eminent musician Kalani Perera unreservedly put his musical brilliance at my disposal right from the start, and came up with some amazing creations using my lyrics. For the first time in his career he is now using Pradeepa’s deliciously unique voice to bring four of my songs to life.

I have already mentioned about Dr. Khemadasa’s contribution to my songs. His death was a huge personal loss to me. Again at this point, Pradeepa introduced me to an extraordinarily gifted young musician, Nadeeka Guruge, whose insights and creativity took my breath away. He gave a new twist to one of my best-loved songs, ‘Piya Salana Aththatu’ in unexpected ways. (The well-known English song “Wind beneath my wings” inspired me to write the Sinhala lyrics for this song).

Frankly, Pradeepa’s untold sacrifice to back her husband’s political career – I refer here to her long hibernation away from her beloved singing-career in order to look after her two children and the husband - stirred my imagination to write the words for ‘Piya Salana Aththatu’.

Pradeepa is immensely keen to sing this song, perhaps, due to its personal relevance to her life. “This could be a turning point in my life,” she said. In fact, I think, my sudden intervention to persuade Pradeepa to sing my songs must have, in some sense, contributed to her steady journey back towards the “wonderful world of Sinhala music”. I wish her all the best!