Jagath Wickramasinghe launches his latest CD:

Tackling the current trend

Amalshan GUNERATHNE

Blessed with an arresting voice to go along with his charismatic personality, Jagath Wickramasinhe, the affable soul he is, has woven many musical compositions that can touch your artistic taste buds to the core. He is one of the few to compose some of timeless tunes of our times. His everlasting collection varies from Obe Sina Langa and Isuru Kodewwe to Sagara Tharanga.

Never the one to shy away from expressing his candid thoughts, Jagath joined in to share some of his wisdom about the contemporary music trends.

“We don’t necessarily have to go along with the current trend. We don’t always have to conform to the current trend or system. I am not saying that we should always swim against the tide, which will be like banging our head on a hard rock. But If the tide is taking us to an abyss, we should not follow it.”

Jagath believes that the media have a great role to play in developing people’s aesthetic taste. He perceives media as a force which can either construct or destruct a whole social system. The media have a great responsibility in developing people’s attitudes and their artistic taste. He strongly believes that rather than feeding people with cheap musical progammes, the media should provide them with wisdom and take their aesthetic taste to another level.

“Sometimes we watch what is on TV just for the sake of watching it, not necessarily because we have a liking towards the song. It is a grave sin to fool around with people’s aesthetic sense.” He explained. Jagath was never the person to promote his work through fancy music videos. Inquired about the current trends towards music visuals he was a bit critical: “Yes, it is the current trend. Some believe that a young musician can’t make a name for himself without launching a music video.

But I don’t think that the trend will last for a long time. Sometimes the video can have an adverse effect on the song. Most times the video conveys a whole different meaning to the original song. It harms the core essence of the song. ”

He is still very much excited about the talents of younger generation. At the same time, he feels that the talents should be handled with a touch of delicacy.

“Constructional criticism is always necessary. It is not right to keep our mouth shut knowing that someone is carving out their destruction or doing harm to the music industry. Having said that, ridiculing everything is not right either.

We have to appreciate the good and at the same time as senior artists, it is our duty to show them their wrongs. We have to guide young people and keep them in the right track.” He explained. Jagath has been working closely with many reality shows.

He has judged many reality programmes including Sirasa Super Star, Derana Dream Star, Derena London Star and Sri Lankan Life.

“When we first started Sirasa Super Star, it created a big buzz. Not only that we unearthed a whole new segment of talented younger generation, we also brought nostalgic memories of sixties and seventies back to modern times. Young people again started to listen to the tunes of Priya Suriyasena, Jothipala, Clarence and other senior artistes.”

Jagath is no longer the juvenile youth that he once was. He firmly believes that senior artistes should live an exemplary life for others to follow.

“Every artist has their own followers. People like to imitate their heroes: their clothes, hairstyles and personality.

For instance people who love Elvis Presley and Vijaya Kumarathunga try to build their personality around those idol figures. At the same time some may try to follow the lifestyle of Bob Marley, wearing rugged clothes and using drugs. It is important to live an exemplary life.”

Jagath wrapped up his inspiring speech.

Addition to Jagath’s collection

Jagath Wickramasinghe recently added yet another rich collection of songs to his melodious anthology with the launch of his latest CD titled Sambudu Sisila Gee Daara. The album is aimed at collecting funds for the documentation of the Pali Canons project which takes place at Anuradhapura right now.

“The album is not something that I did for my own benefit. All the money will be given to the project. They are documenting the Buddha’s teachings on rock plates.” Jagath said.

The album features a rich collection of songs woven around Buddhist themes. His daughter Sirini Suhansa Wickramsinghe too gives her vocal contribution to the album. The album is published and distributed by Sri Deveram Vehera Pannipitiya.

“Yes, it is a very important project. May be in another thousand year’s time, people will find those writings and treasure them as priceless archeological entities. It is an effective way of preserving Buddhist teachings.” He said.

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