Cellist Rohan de Saram, born in Britain to Sri Lankan parents, may be best known for his tenure as a member of the Arditti Quartet between 1979 and 2005.  But before he became part of that elite group specializing in modern music, de Saram, 71, knew his way around the standard classical repertory.  He returned to his musical roots Saturday at the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall in a nearly all-Baroque concert with Sri Lanka-born harpsichordist Preethi de Silva.

In this latest offering by the early music ensemble Con Gioia, founded by de Silva in 1982 (she is also its music director), works by J.S. Bach, Pietro Locatelli, and Luigi Boccherini felt comfortable next to the U.S. premiere of Delhi-born composer Param Vir’s “…beyond the reach of the world…,” a riveting 2009 solo cello piece, and three modernist works for solo harpsichord written by de Silva.

Like his teacher Pablo Casals, de Saram’s powerful expressiveness employs little vibrato.  His grainy sound suited Bach’s Sonata in D major, with de Silva’s delicate accompaniment providing essential support for de Saram’s cello.

Locatelli’s Caprice in D major for solo violin, transcribed by de Saram, displayed the cellist’s fierce concentration and virtuoso technique.  Like the Bach, it was another case of old music sounding new.  At one point in de Silva’s three Pieces for Harpsichord Solo, a blending of South Asian, Baroque, and 20th-century influences, she drummed on each side of the fragile-sounding instrument.

But the night belonged to de Saram, who returned for a compelling account of Bach’s Suite No. 3 for solo cello.  His tone was a bit rough in the Prelude, but in a musician of such restrained eloquence it served to intensify the character of his sound.  As a conductor, Bach was described by a contemporary as being “full of rhythm in every part of his body.”  For de Saram, it was his mouth, so constantly in motion that it once prompted a critic to write that it was “as if he were tasting the notes as he produced them.”

After intermission, de Saram and de Silva returned with passionate readings of Boccherini’s Sonata in A major and Bach’s Sonata in G minor.  In between came Param Vir’s “… beyond the reach of the world …”  This moving 16-minute solo, given a transcendent performance by de Saram, was inspired by 22-year-old Danish Resistance fighter Kim Malthe-Bruun, who was tortured and executed by the Nazis in 1945.  Percussive effects suggested a clock ticking down, while ghostly figurations deepened this memorial to one person’s heroic and horrendous ordeal.  Then, de Saram’s extraordinary dynamic control turned his cello into a whispering soul until only silence remained.

Original article published on May 16, 2010 in the Los Angeles Times.

Click here to access the original article.

Kuwait will hold a ‘Sri Lanka Culture Week,’ jointly hosted by the Embassy of Sri Lanka and Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts, & Letters from today up to May 2nd.  The event, the first ever promotion of its kind, is co-sponsored by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) and the Sri Lankan Airlines (SLA), with the support of a host of well-wishers.

A 28-member cultural troupe from Chandana Wickramasinghe and the Dancers Guild will perform “Sri Lak Rangana” – a cultural extravaganza throughout the week featuring Sri Lanka’s well-known historical and contemporary dance and fusion acts, while an orchestra entertains the guests with classical music.

Kuwait’s Sri Lankan Ambassador, Sarath Dissanayake, played a key role in organizing this event.

A Batik Designer/Artist, Sonali Dharmawardene, a member of the Sri Lankan Troupe is scheduled to make special presentations to audiences of high profile ladies in Kuwait on the theme “Batik, Lifestyles, & Role of Sri Lankan Women.”

Parallel to the main event, a handicraft exhibition will also be held throughout the week, which will feature Sri Lanka’s handicraft, cottage industries, handlooms, masks, bronze items, gems & jewellery, and other ornaments.

It is also significant that an “MoU on Tourism Cooperation” will be signed with Kuwait, which is the second such instrument to be signed by Sri Lanka with a Gulf country after Bahrain.

The celebrations will facilitate further promotion of Sri Lanka – Kuwait relations and will help create awareness of Sri Lanka’s rich culture, heritage, dance, music, and much more among the Kuwaitis and the larger expatriate community.

Commenting on the significance of this event, veteran dance choreographer Chandana Wickramasinghe said this was the first time that Kuwait was going to witness the wide variety of Sri Lanka’s dancing prowess.

“There are five concerts during the week.  We are performing with 28 members of our group and that is going to be a novel experimental move.  I have plans to take this event to other parts of the world too,” said Chandana.

Originally published on April 26, 2010 in the Daily Mirror News.

Photo courtesy of the Daily Mirror News.

Click here to access the original article.

Director of the Sinhala film, Bambara Walalla (The Hornet Circle), Athula Liyanage was honored with the Special Jury Award.  The film was selected for this special award out of 2,400 films in the festival.

In addition, Camera Director of the film, Thishula Deepa Thambawita, was honored with Best Award for Camera.

This is the first time Sri Lankan film artists won awards at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival.

Originally published on April 18, 2010 by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

Click here to access the original article.

Taprobane, the new recreational facility and community center was the brainchild of Dr. Walter Jayasinghe, founder of Sri Lanka Foundation.  Upon presenting his idea for a venue at which all Sri Lankans could congregate and host social functions, many of the Sri Lankan community leaders in Southern California rallied behind him in support of such an initiative.  Aside from the evident social aspect that it supports among the expatriate population, the community center is thought to be able to provide a setting in which Sri Lankans of all ages and interests could come together to experience Sri Lankan culture, food, sports and recreation, and events.

After a year’s worth of meetings, budget planning, and site visitations, the board members of Taprobane were ready to welcome the Sri Lankan community to a place to call their own.  Throughout the entire day, Taprobane’s Open House event was teeming with Sri Lankans from across Southern California who came to learn a little more about what the new community center had to offer.

The event was kick-started by a free authentic Sri Lankan breakfast with kiribath and a host of other sides to compliment the morning meal.  Emcees Al Kamalee Jabbar and Sajee Perera hosted the morning performances and presentations, which included a traditional Sri Lankan dance by Palitha Kasthuriarachchi’s dance troupe, performances by the Sri Lankan American band, Heat, and informational presentations and speeches given by Dr. Walter Jayasinghe, Raja Edirisuriya, Jayam Rutnam, Nandakumaran Navaratnam, Asela Ratnayake, Ananda Markalanda, and others.

The presentations given regarding Taprobane covered every aspect of the community center’s proposed activities, funds, and day-to-day operational procedures, allowing for transparency of the center’s functions so that registered members are made aware of what purposes and activities their annual membership supports.

Attendees of the event were able to enjoy authentic Sri Lankan foods for lunch, including kottu roti, biriyanis, hoppers, string hoppers, roast pan, curries, and a beverages stall that served the oft-enjoyed faluda among many other drinks.

Taprobane is set to become the place for social and alumni organizations in the Sri Lankan community to host their annual events, for Sri Lankan youth to congregate and socialize, and for sporting teams to get together, practice, and stage their games.  Without a doubt, Taprobane will prove to be a permanent gathering place for Sri Lankans to get together with new and old friends.

Membership in Taprobane promises access to subsidized rice and curry meals, access to all amenities of the facility, and participation in all center events.  Members are also provided with the opportunity to rent the center’s premises at an affordable rate for business meetings, luncheons, parties, weddings, and many other events.

For more information about becoming a Taprobane member, contact Keshini Wijegoonaratna at keshini@us.tzuchi.org

Visit the Sri Lanka Foundation Gallery to see pictures from the event.  Photography by Andy Samarsena.

World Famous Sri Lankan-British Cellist

Rohan de Saram

and

Internationally Acclaimed Sri Lankan-American Harpsichordist

Preethi de Silva

to Perform Together in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 15, 2010

On May 15, 2010, at the prestigious Herbert Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble will feature the world famous cellist, Rohan de Saram, and internationally acclaimed harpsichordist, Preethi de Silva, in a program of Western and Asian-influenced music by J. S. Bach, Boccherini, de Silva, and Indian composer Param Vir.  These two concert artists, who have known each other for several decades, will collaborate in a duo-recital for the very first time.

Based in London, Rohan de Saram was, for over twenty years, the cellist of the Arditti Quartet, renowned as Europe’s leading champions of contemporary music for string quartet.  In 2005, Mr. de Saram resumed his solo career in order, once more, to perform repertoire from the baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary periods.

Although he has been more recently known as an outstanding performer of contemporary music, it was as a classical artist that Rohan de Saram made his name as a teenager, and in his twenties and thirties.  Having studied cello from the age of 11 with Gaspar Cassado in Italy in Siena and Florence, he was awarded, at the age of 17, the coveted Suggia Award to study in the UK with Sir John Barbirolli, and in Puerto Rico with Pablo Casals – the most renowned cellist of the twentieth century.  In 1957, Rohan was invited to give his Carnegie Hall debut in 1960 with the New York Philharmonic, playing Khatchaturian’s Cello Concerto.

Rohan has performed with the major orchestras of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, and the former Soviet Union, with conductors such as John Barbirolli, Adrian Boult, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, and William Steinberg, as well as with composers conducting their own works such as Luciano Berio.

In December 2004 Rohan was awarded an honorary D. Litt., from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.  A year later, in December 2005, he received the Deshamaniya, a national honor of Sri Lanka, given by the President of Sri Lanka.

Preethi de Silva, founder and director of the Southern California based Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble, has concertized extensively as soloist and chamber musician performing on historical keyboard instruments – the harpsichord and fortepiano (18^th century ancestor of the piano) – in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka.

Preethi studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, the Hochschule für Musik (University of the Arts), Berlin, and at Yale University, where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.  She is the winner of numerous awards and fellowships, including the prestigious Erwin Bodky Award for early music performance.  Her recordings of keyboard works by J.S. and C. P. E. Bach, J. G. Müthel, and Mozart on historical keyboard instruments have received extraordinary international critical acclaim.

Ms. de Silva’s publications include music for harpsichord and oboe, and a book, Fortepiano Writings of Streicher, Dieudonné, and the Schiedmayers, which was published recently by The Edwin Mellen Press, and which received the Adèle Mellen Prize for distinguished scholarship.  She is the lead harpsichordist in Con Gioia’s recording of J.S. Bach’s concertos for harpsichords.  In 2006, she received an Exceptional Achievement award from the Sri Lanka Foundation.

Preethi de Silva is professor of music emerita of Scripps College, in Claremont, California, and adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University.  She will be performing on her custom-built harpsichord, which is modeled after eighteenth-century German instruments – the only one in the United States.

By bringing Rohan de Saram to Southern California, Con Gioia will continue its tradition of presenting performers of international repute.

Find Rohan de Saram and Preethi de Silva performing at the Colburn School of Music.

May 15, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.

Herbert Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of Music

200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (Across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall)

Admission: VIP reserved – $50; General Admission – $30; Seniors 65+ – $25; Students – $15

Tickets available through www.congioia.org and Sri Lanka Foundation.

The international Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards will be held this year at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo from July 2 to July 4.

The country’s Minister for Tourism, Achala Jagoda, revealed that several countries had competed to host the event, but Sri Lanka finally got the nod.  Mr. Jagoda described it as an international achievement, and added that several events such as an Indian business meeting, would be held on the event’s sidelines.

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards are presented annually by the International Indian Film Academy to honor both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood.  Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year.

The first ceremony was held in London at The Millennium Dome.  From then on, the awards were held at locations around the world signifying the international purpose of Hindi cinema.  It has been held in South Africa (twice), Malaysia, Singapore, The Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, England, Thailand, and Macau.

While Sri Lanka will host the event in 2010, the 2011 event is expected to be held in Toronto.

Originally published on March 26, 2010 on The Hindu.

Click here to access the original article.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan inaugurates the IIFA Voting Weekend 2010, in Mumbai - Courtesy of The Hindu

The first guidebook for the North and East of Sri Lanka has recently been released.

BBC Lonely Planet photojournalist, Juliet Coombe, and Daisy Perry, co-writer of the guidebook, Around The Fort In 80 Lives, take you on a journey less travelled in their recently released book.

Travel begins from the Nalanda Gedige in the Cultural Triangle traveling up north and to the east, going to places which have just opened their doors to welcome visitors from the south and overseas.

Not merely a guidebook for the uninitiated, Around The Fort In 80 Lives speaks of the writers’ experiences and what to expect on a journey to the north and east of Sri Lanka.

“It’s about a beach hut miles from anywhere, where just off shore, up to a thousand spinner dolphins fly through the air or in places like Batticaloa how fish will sing to you through the night.”

The book’s double-page guide sections will reveal not only how to get to these secret spots, but also help you to find quirky places to eat and incredible sites to visit, from hot healing springs to the islands off Jaffna.”

Review By Ashok Ferrey

(Ashok Ferrey is the author of two books of short stories, The Good Little Ceylonese Girl and Colpetty People.  Both were shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize, Sri Lanka’s premier literary award, set up by Michael Ondaatje from his Booker Prize winnings for The English Patient).

A micro-climate is one where exotic species of flora and fauna survive, and to me this is exactly what Sri Lanka’s Galle Fort is: a micro-climate of rare and special people.  According to legend, Galle was the Biblical city of Tarshish.  King Solomon was its first tourist and they haven’t stopped coming since: from Morocco and Yemen, from Holland and Portugal; and today, from just about everywhere else.  It is popular these days to argue that a country should be reserved for its indigenous people.  As a Sri Lankan, I couldn’t disagree more.  This is an island, and if you care to go back far enough, we all came from somewhere else, the many shards of precious stone that go to make up this splendid jewel.

Juliet Coombe and Daisy Perry have deconstructed Galle Fort in the most charming manner.  Here you will find the old man who annoyed his wife by keeping goats in the kitchen and raising the kids in the sink (the goat’s, that is, not the old man’s).  Noor, the diver who harnesses giant octopus, though alas we only have Noor’s word for it.  The betel seller with a face that has more tributaries etched on it than the Amazon.  And the snake charmer who says, “If you see a snake, don’t get hysterical. Just give me a call and I’ll come and relocate it” (Where to? Colombo?).

But the most curious creature here is Juliet herself, who arrived as a journalist to cover the tsunami, was wooed by her now husband pursuing her in tuk-tuks with bunches of wild flowers and rare jewels, and who, on her wedding day, threw her bouquet out to sea praying it wouldn’t return, because that would mean bad luck.  (It didn’t.)

You will pick this book up for the positive cornucopia of information it contains. But you would want to keep it for its 300 pages of photographs, which bewitch and beguile.  But if you visit Galle, be warned: like Juliet you may never want to leave.

Click here to find out more information about the book and where it may be purchased.

Originally published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.

She is a new find to Sinhala cinema – pretty and charming, with a pleasant smile on her lips always.  Some think she is from India because she has an Indian look, but Sheshadrie is very much a Sri Lankan.  She is the daughter of the famous Sinhala director, Dinesh Priyasad.

Though she is from a family related with the cinema industry, she has taken her time to enter the field.  Sheshadrie has one elder sister and one younger sister.  While both her sisters set their foot into the cinema industry and are through with a number of creations, Sheshadrie took her own time to make an entry into the industry.

Sheshadrie makes her film debut with “Yawwanaye Bambary Api” by Udayakantha Warnalasuriya, a film which has just finished shooting.

Her younger sister, Shanudrie, began to perform very early when she was just three and half years old.  She continues performing, though she is still studying at grade 08.  “My elder sister Dinakshi has performed in several teledramas.  Though I was not engaged in acting, I have presented a children’s program in a private television channel.  I think that was my beginning,” Sheshadrie says.

“My father is a fan of famous singer H. R. Jothipala.  He is always listening to his songs.  If we had a general discussion in the family, most of the times it was about a film, song, music, or something related to art,” she remembers of her childhood.  That graduated her into the creative works.

She, however, began as an announcer in her childhood, which she still continues.  At present, she engages herself in announcing together with her elder sister Dinakshi with a satellite TV channel.  She has appeared in almost 10 commercials.

All three sisters want to stand on their own legs.  In the creative field, they are in, there is no place for recommendations.  You have to prove yourself.  She says “We get chances to act in commercials, teledramas or films, not because of our father who is a cinema director.  For all the creations for which we were selected and preformed, we had to prove our talents to an interview board.  There were some occasions we did not mention our father’s name at the interviews.”

“I had a dream of entering into the cinema through a film of my father.  Though I missed that opportunity, I am happy I got a chance to perform in a film by an experienced and veteran director like Udayakantha Warnasuriya.”

She is also happy that she got the chance in that film to act with famous and talented actors and actresses like Rohan Ranawana, Pubudu Chathuranga, Sangeetha Weerarathne, and several others.  “There are six dancing scenes in my first film and I am eagerly waiting to see the film out,” she says.

The Holy Family Convent in Bambalapitiya is her fist school where she studied her Kandyan dancing lessons.  After finishing her O/Levels there, she went to a private education centre to do her London A/Levels.  She is still studying there for her London A/Levels.  Sheshadrie, who plans to go for higher studies says, “I want to be in the field.  But I will select only a few good cinema creations.  I don’t have an idea of joining for teledramas.”

She also said that popularity is only for a very limited time period, and therefore there is no need to run for it.  The most important thing is whether we have contributed to the industry and creations with an enough justice for those.  On the other hand, popularity comes mainly because of the audience who love us and secondly because of encouragement from the veterans in the field.

“That is the reality and I do not think that anyone would say that is wrong,” she adds.

“I am very much keen on selecting my dresses.  I like fashions.  But I know what to wear and how to wear according to the situations.  Anyway, frock is my favorite dress” she says.

She also says that her mother always accompanies them wherever they go.  It is sort of an encouragement for them.  “Though father is busy in his field, mother was coming with us for all the shootings and other functions wherever those are taking place,” she proudly says.

Originally published on March 9, 2010 on Asian Tribune.

Click here to access the original article.

He completed his studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand with honors, receiving his Bachelor of Music.

Though he played in many bands in New Zealand as a jazz drummer, Suraweera also involved himself in the local expatriate Sri Lankan community there, taking part and performing in various Sri Lankan functions.

Through such involvement, Suraweera found that Sri Lankan traditional drumming was a music art form that he wanted to study further.

After completing his degree at the University of Canterbury, Suraweera received a scholarship to complete his doctorate, and felt it an opportune moment to pursue ethnomusicology – a field he was tremendously interested in.

During the time he spent on his doctorate, Suraweera spent close to six months a year, for three years, in Sri Lanka studying traditional ritual music.

As an offshoot of his doctoral research, Suraweera brought together different musicians to create Baliphonics – a group focused on ritual musical performance and contemporary experimental music.

Baliphonics, according to Suraweera, was an excellent opportunity and outlet for him to share the things he learned about traditional ritualistic Sri Lankan music with his New Zealand colleagues.

From the time he spent in Sri Lanka, it was evident that the ritual music he studied there was fast-disappearing since there were few who knew such music and even fewer to pass it onto other generations.

Suraweera sees Baliphonics as an effort to introduce the essence of one type of Sri Lankan art form to the world without degrading or commodifying it.

Baliphonics is made up of seven musicians.  Three are some of the most respected Bali ritual artists in Sri Lanka – Daniel, Susantha, and Prasantha Rupathilaka.  The other musicians from New Zealand include Misha Marks on guitar, Reuben Derrick on the saxophone, and Isaac Smith on the double bass.

The members of Baliphonics, however, are not just any ordinary musical group that can get together and practice every week; the members live all over the world.  As such, they come together to perform in festivals, the last time having been in Colombo in April 2009.

Suraweera has organized a number of collaborations between Sri Lankan musicians and New Zealand musicians in the past.

In 2004, he took New Zealand band, Mundi, to Sri Lanka to record with traditional percussionists such as Piyasara Shilpadhipathi.

As a result of that, in 2005, Shilpadhipathi and Sunil Edirisinghe each went to New Zealand on separate occasions to play with New Zealand musicians.

To find out more information about Baliphonics, visit their website.

By Neville Weeraratne

ELOQUENCE IN STONE: The lithic saga of Sri Lanka.  Nihal Fernando and SinhaRaja Tammita – Delgoda with photographs by Anu Weerasuriya, Luxshmanan Nadaraja, Christopher Silva, Devaka Seneviratne, and Roshan Perret.

Let me say immediately that I have been overwhelmed by this book.  It is no ordinary publication.  It is a treasury, a devout offering, a declaration of unconditional love; and also, alas, a confession of fear.  The object of this yearning is in danger of ruin even as we gaze upon it and as we wonder at its beauty.  This book is, indeed, a sacred repository of a deeply felt response to a dying civilization.  This is about Sri Lanka.

The book is made up of a fabulous collection of photographic images around which is uttered a hymn of praise, a psalm spoken in awe.  Each of the pictures is a glimpse of a fabled land.  Its people are not far away because the work of their hands is there to speak for them.

It is the extraordinary power of photography that it can freeze time and hold within each frame any chosen moment, any chosen image, individual and landscape.  This is what this magnificent book does, eloquently, simply, and with the ultimate dedication.

It is a prayer uttered by a group of people whose religion is their country.  The altar at which they worship is Sri Lanka, ancient as it is but still alive and full of hope for those who would have faith in her.  Nihal Fernando, the man behind Eloquence In Stone, is the high-priest of this cult.

He asked me, several years ago, to paint a picture for him which would express the joy and pride that I, myself, take in Sri Lanka.  I have, ever since, applied myself to the task of trying to find a single image that would adequately satisfy Nihal’s request.  I have searched the recesses of my mind and my imagination.  The sheer magnitude of the task has weighed heavily upon me and, eventually, I had to abandon it.  It has been an edifying exercise in discovering my limitations.

There is such a great range of subjects to choose from: there are the people, small of stature, perhaps, but handsomely wrought; there is the wild life that inhabits distant places, there is the untamed jungle and there are green, manicured pastures, the sea breaking on golden sands, and the giant boulders that tumble down from the hills.

There is water, conserved in tanks and reservoirs, seas of them, and rivers that cascade down the mountainsides to refresh and sustain the people, and to replenish their land.

And then there are the works of men’s hands: sculptures that emerge from massive granite structures, stone edifices hallowed by centuries of fervent devotion, temples and palaces and fortresses; and yet others to satisfy the individual ego.

But none of these could be put together to make a single painting.  They are a multiplicity of images, each sufficient to still the heart, but each separate and different.  So how does one find a single picture to tell a myriad things even if it was worth a thousand words?

I think Nihal knew where to find the answer to that question a long time ago.  He has worked assiduously at it over the years.  I failed his test, but I think he discovered the source of that joy in stone, a hard and unforgiving thing, but also something that bears the burden of permanence like no other substance can.  I have engraved in my memory a classical Sinhala poem learned at school, which talked of the enduring quality of the line etched in stone (as opposed to one struck metaphorically on water which soon washes itself away).  There is a rich religious symbolism attached to the idea of the permanence and the integrity of rock.

I want to argue that Nihal Fernando understood this as an irrefutable fact, and in his many and earnest journeys over Sri Lanka, sought in stone to gather the evidence he was looking for.

I thought Nihal had solved this problem more than ten years ago when he produced Sri Lanka: A Personal Odyssey (A Studio Times publication, 1997).  His canvas was as wide as he had ever wanted it to be.  It was a book over which I went into raptures.  It overcame every difficulty I was faced with in my pursuit of Nihal’s quest by resorting to the multiplicity of images he was able to assemble into one space – and he had done it with every possible grace and joy.  But it would seem that in his mind, it was somehow inadequate and incomplete.

Nihal’s purpose then was to show what he described as his earthly paradise, his blessed isle of enchantment, his Elysium.  He was then like an ancient prophet calling the people to repentance for the evil that had been wreaked upon his beloved land.  He had a dream.

As in the language of a latter-day sage, he held on to that dream.  “This is the dream I have had for the last fifteen years.  I want to tell the story of this country and its people.  I want to make people think about our past and what we are doing to it before it is too late.”

His eloquence has brought together a band of disciples who have seen and understood, and who share absolutely in his disquiet.  This company of enthusiasts – devotees, rather – have gone out over the whole island, scouring it everywhere, high and low, old and not so antique, and in their fervor have produced this truly magnificent book.

Appropriately titled Eloquence In Stone, it carries a subtitle of ‘The Lithic Saga of Sri Lanka.’  I have to confess that I was unfamiliar with the term ‘lithic’ (except as it appears in ‘monolith’).  I found that it means ‘of stone’ and it would seem to be a reiteration of the substance upon which the thesis of the book is built.  It takes you from the prehistory of Sri Lanka through the times of much beauty and great achievement in the course of more than three thousand years, to the collapse of far too many of these accomplishments.

The images are not always of stone as nature produced it or as man remodeled it.  The occasional appearance of people, as of the boys frolicking in the Alawatura Ela in Bulathkohupitiya, is an effervescent interlude giving life and balance to the structure of the collection.

This has been a tremendous undertaking and it has produced the answer to Nihal’s challenge to me.  I could not possibly put together in one composition, however massive its proportions, the vast panoramic dimensions of this book.  It is literally a weighty presentation.   Eloquence runs into 474 pages in a very large format, measuring 12 inches x 11 inches within two stout covers.

Eranga Tennekoon’s design for the book is modern and generous in the space given to the photographs, frequently straddling across two pages.  The pictures are in monochrome and color, and the shift from one to the other enhances the visual pleasure of the entire presentation.

Principal of those who collaborated with Nihal Fernando is SinhaRaja Delgoda-Tammita who provided the perfect text.  With him are the photographers Anu Weerasuriya, Luxshmanan Nadaraja, Christopher Silva, Devaka Seneviratne, and Roshan Perret, who are individually acknowledged by their work.  This is a community of devotees who fulfill their vocation with religious zeal and, if it came to that, I dare say, they would cheerfully have dispensed with this formal recognition.

However, from among these, Anu appears as a leading figure vitally inspired by Nihal Fernando, her father.  She has taken on the burden of Nihal’s conscience gladly, vigorously, and in perfect sympathy with him.  Reading the note at the end of the book, it becomes clear that she has been the mind and the heart behind this awesome enterprise.  It is she who would appear to have held together the various shades of thought, like the harmonious blend of a mosaic, to their logical and, I think, exquisite conclusion.

The book observes a simple pattern.  Following an introduction, the contents are made up a nine chapters beginning with the origins of Sri Lanka and telling of the coming of Buddhism in the third century BCE, Anuradhapura’s ‘golden age,’ the ‘flowering’ of Polonnaruwa, the Ruhuna kings and their demise, the intrusion of the Cholas, and the Pandyans and the sorry end that awaits Kandy and, indeed, our inheritance.

Tammita-Delgoda is sensitive to these movements and writes with a graceful choice of language that is highly appealing and totally in keeping with the sentiments that he wishes to express.  These are feelings entirely in harmony with those of the photographers, but what is even more satisfying is the fact that we have here a neat combination of picture and text in proximity of one another in a manner I have rarely seen before but dearly yearned for.  Tammita-Delgoda writes a comprehensive narrative relating to each image, placing it in context, and providing us with the information we need.  It is scholarly without being pedantic.  It eliminates what had been abstract before, but now is elucidated with clarity.  It is exhaustive but never irrelevant.

This is perhaps, the first most complete record of all that is Sri Lanka.

For me, Eloquence In Stone has also been a voyage of discovery.  I cannot claim to have visited anything like even half of what the book reveals, so it takes me to places far and beyond what I could ever expect to see.

Many intriguing details emerge in the course of this massive journey.  One I had not been aware of was the presence of what is claimed to be Kuveni’s palace within the Wilpattu National Park.  Eloquence also provides me with the opportunity to stay and watch where once I would have been forced to move on.  Some images held me captive.  Such a case is the section devoted to Mihintale.  Not only are we shown this very hallowed place in much detail, we also see emerge from there a mystical, ethereal domain, sanctified by ages of devotion.  The time of day, the light in the sky, and the perspective that compose the photographs made for that exquisite moment that I have longed to experience.

We see, too, the image of the Buddha as conceived by the sculptors and painters of Sri Lanka.  It relates intimately to human experience.  It is no longer distant and removed from human knowledge but is endowed with a dignity and a benign countenance that is immediate and fulfilling.

Nihal Fernando opened his A Personal Odyssey with a warning to the traveller that, “… there is no path.  You have to find you own.”

In the course of this search, the traveller was to discover not only achievements of great beauty, but as Eloquence reveals, some of the great disasters that face the beloved island.  For instance, the chapter of Kandy describes it as the last stronghold of the Sinhalese kings, but that which was so valiantly defended from foreign invasion is now being destroyed, no longer by the invader but by its own native citizens.  This is very much the burden of Nihal Fernando’s concern, and I think the fearful truth that Tammita-Delgoda describes needs to be quoted to illustrate the ugliness of the situation.  He writes:

“The rigid order and precision of the old city stands out amidst the chaos of the new…  The Kandy Lake was the greatest creation of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798 – 1815), the last king of Kandy.  Built at a staggering cost and with enormous effort, it transformed the capital into a place of beauty.  However the streams that once fed the lake are drying up.  Many of them are just being stopped or blocked to pave the way for more development.  As a result the lake itself is drying out; once it does the beauty of Kandy will be gone forever.”

The lithic saga of Sri Lanka tells alas, of this kind of abuse, of destruction willfully wrought, of sheer neglect and vandalism, and of course and undoubtedly, we are made aware of the ravages that time would inflict in the end.

Meanwhile, we shall have the satisfaction of holding in our hands the homage that the authors of Eloquence in Stone wish to pay to the bounties of nature and the skill of artists and craftsmen.  Collectively and individually these have all contributed to make Sri Lanka resplendent everywhere, at every turn and, we fervently pray, for all time.

Eloquence In Stone is published and distributed by Studio Times Ltd.

To purchase this book, visit the Studio Times website or contact Studio Times via e-mail at studiot@sltnet.lk