Melody ends stillness

Ubaya WARNAKULASOORIYA

When I saw her the other day at the merit giving ceremony held in memory of the late Sangeeth Nipun P V Nanadasiri, she looked assuredly agile and as unpretentious about her looks as she is in her career of singing. Her silvery hair in a bun and braid hairdo may have added a couple of more years to her age but that there is something still girlishly cute about her is quite comforting to us her fans.

Sujatha Attanayake’s illustrious career as a vocalist spans over fifty years now. She may not have sung passionately to stir up the nationalist frenzy but her sacrifices in the cause of the nation are unparalleled. She lost her son – a Captain in the Sri Lanka Army in the battle against LTTE and we as a nation owe her an irredeemable debt of gratitude to mop up her tears that keep seeping ever since. Her other son too was in the battlefront as a pilot in the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Local music scene

Sujatha became an icon of local music scene quite early in her career and it is to her credit that there were no musical big-wigs or the political patronage to prop her up in her way to mass popularity. It’s her talent, tenacity and training that made her a prolific singer who did sing a series of memorable numbers for the cinema of the day in solo or as duets.

Sujatha Attanayake. Picture by Berty Gunasekara

Sujatha as a playback singer with legendary Jothi added a number of all time hits popularity of which has not faded a pinch many years after they were first recorded for the Sinhala cinema.

When Jothi was labeled as a slum-hum (pichang) singer sans formal training by the so called “Cultural School” (Prabuddha) of critics, Sujatha’s presence in the scene as a classically eloquent singer singing in duets with Jothi at the time served to consolidate Jothi’s image as a gifted singer of the caliber of Rafi. With songs such as ‘Aava Pemwathaa’ which Jothi and Sujatha sang together, the Cultural School of critics had to tone down and put up with Jothi.

Eventually, Jothi looked up to Sujatha as his mentor and she commanded perceptible control over him so much so that he was cautious even to pause for a smoke at times when Sujatha was around. Jothi endured such regimentation with unusual patience out of sheer respect for Sujatha who he knew was there to back him up sincerely along his way to be a prolific singer.

The songs such as ‘Ananda Me Rae Harii Hadaine’ and ‘Madura Yaame’ sung by Sujatha with Haroon Lanthra produced the best of voice combinations in the duets while award winning film ‘Allapu Gedara’ stands monumental in the almanac of all time songs.

Our Sinhala Avurudu without ‘Koho Koho’ of Sanath Nanadasiri and Sujatha or weddings without her solos ‘Malsarata Premaloke Maaligaa Thanaa’ and ‘Punchi Davaswala Nindata Yaddie’ are hard to come by that are etched indelibly in our listening experiences.

Unforgettable singing

Similarly how beautiful it is to have to listen to Sujatha in her singing of another unforgettable melody ‘Aagantuka Kurulla’ that characterizes the young daughters brought up in the Sri Lankan tradition. Coming down to the next generation of singers, it is an interesting story of how Sujatha consented to sing ‘Bonda Mihidum Kandu Ralle’ with Abeywardana Balasuriya for the film ‘Duhulu Malak’ which turned out to be a Sadabahar (ever green) as a lovers’ song in the Sinhala cinematic music.

Ajantha (Ranasinghe) who took Abey to Sujatha to ask if she was willing to sing it with Abey, at a recent TV interview, recalled Sujatha as saying “well, if this boy (Lamaya) can sing on pitch to the note (Sruthiya) well, I don’t mind pairing with him in this song”. This incident alone speaks enough for her heart and humility in promoting the talented young singers.

Whilst being ready to help the up and coming artists, she has also made it clear that she would not tolerate attempts at discourteous and unscrupulous usurp of her songs sung in solos or duets.

She kept out of stage singing not out of conceit as some may think but rather because she valued her time and peace of mind for sake of her family and children. Hers is a modest living despite being blessed with means and opportunity for flamboyance. Constant practice as a singer takes fair slice of her daily routine which she believes is essential for a singer to be assertive and maintain the integrity of singing.

Heart-throbbing chime

Hers is a voice resonant like a distant temple bell chiming. Tinted with a unique mellow it is characteristically heart-throbbing and ideally expressive of sweet-sorrow of love that appeals to the romantic youth as well as those of mature age who keep reminiscing over their youthful days. ‘Parasathu Malwala Suwanda Atheethe’ which she sang as the thematic song for Gamini Fonseka’s film ‘Parasathu Mal’ bears the stamp of this quality of voice and the emotional appeal of the act specific delivery of her singing.

Her versatility as a singer is such that it touched both the acoustically articulate elite as well as the ordinary man in the urbane street or the woman in the shrubby country side. ‘Herde Rasa Malige’ may be an example. It is perhaps because of this intimacy that her songs are often the choice of the TV singing star competitions.

Her prowess of classical tradition of singing too is acknowledged by the discerning in the field of music and to listen to her at that level is to raise one’s souls to realms of infinity.

Sujatha’s vast portfolio of songs has a variety extending from the beats to have us tapping our feet and swinging our hips on one side to the ones that we would like to enjoy in exclusive quietude reflecting over our life experiences, may be love in its characteristic complexity of joy and jeopardy, merry or melancholy; May be, piety where we subject ourselves to divine authority in devotion or those sung in the high classical tradition that raise us to heavens of meditative ecstasy on the other.

She recalls with great gratitude the composers, lyricists who gave her so many songs of beautiful melodies and meaning to sing and the film producers and directors who gave her so much opportunities to shine in her career.

Sujatha is billed to reappear after long absence in the local music scene on May 18 on stage at Nelum Pokuna where we would have that unique opportunity of sweetening our ears, taming our tempers, and unifying with infinity in ‘Sujatha live in concert’.