By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge

Music is a social force and unquestionably a powerful form of expression. Many elements of human existence are touched by music. Song has accompanied social movements, social justice and human freedom. Music can deeply affect the way that people think. Therefore, musicians can direct society with their musical ability, passion and sincerity.

Among the singers with a genuine passion for positive social stream, Bob Dylan plays a major role. American singer-songwriter and musician Bob Dylan made a deep impact in 1960 s and his songs became the anthems for the civil right and anti Vietnam War movement. He was called “master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation”

Beside Bob Dylan, another female icon that emerged in 60 s was Joan Baez. As a musician and a singer Joan Baez stood for the ideals that she believed were correct. She protested at misleading government propaganda that clouded the nuclear proliferation, War on Vietnam and attacking of the Civil Right activists as Communist conspirators. Her song Birmingham Sunday was dedicated to the four little African American girls who were killed in the 1963 bombing of a Black Church by the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). Joan Baez pioneered to establish the US branch of Amnesty International that brought awareness on human right violations in the United States. In 2003, she performed in San Francisco to protest against the US invasion of Iraq.

Although the world is not fully aware of the music and mission of Vladimir Vysotsky who began performing in the 1960s, in the USSR was a talented as well as an outspoken artist. He was quite critical of the errors of the Communist Regime. He highlighted bureaucracy that ruled the system, criticized the unfair privileges of the elite and objected to repression. He could be called the Russian Bob Dylan. Although he was the living soul and conscience, of his time, his songs were forbidden to be played and his poems went unpublished. Vysotsky’s songs were more profound and carried the message of love and truth. He openly fought against the hypocrisy and double standards. He was the voice of the silent generation of the Soviet Union. Today Vysotsky is considered as a cultural icon and a musician with true a conscience.

Among the singers who stood by the people, Victor Jara was exceptional. Victor Jara made an extremely important influence on the music and culture of Chile becoming the best-known and most influential musical figures of Latin America. The songs of Victor Jara were filled with his thoughts on love for the simple people of Chile. Many of his songs attacked injustices in society and the dictatorship that crushed human rights. His songs became the hope for the oppressed people of Chile. Jara renounced money and comfortable lavish living that he could have achieved via his musical talents. He stood and sang for the people. For his candid stand, Jara paid heavily. He was arrested and murdered during the 1973 Chilean coup, which was led by Augusto Pinochet. Although Jara is dead, he is still remembered by the millions of people around the world.

Like Victor Jara the Jamaican singer, Bob Marley almost experienced death when he faced an assassination attempt for his politically influential music. Bob Marley was a symbol of freedom for people who faced oppression and racial distress. Marley preached his music message of equality, anti racism, and freedom from oppression through an elegant Reggie rhythm. His music and profound wisdom created songs with deep philosophical sense. His stunning song on enslaved African soldiers who used to fight against Native Americans – Buffalo Soldiers became a worldwide hit that brought black identity. Marley described the ways in which racial inequality can lead to war in his song -War. The Redemption Song that was performed by Bob Marley spoke of slavery and oppression in Jamaica. In the Redemption Song he used an enriched phrase – “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds, have no fear for atomic energy, cause none of them can stop the time. The music and mission of Bob Marley was strongly and truly affiliated to the interest of the people.

When one talks about protest songs that enlighten the public about human freedom and injustice around them, some songs of the renowned Sri Lankan vocalists Nanda Malani can be mentioned. For instance, her song Rana Derane questions soldiers who fight people who call for justice. In this song, she pleads with the soldiers not to raise their weapons against these freedom fighters.

Nanda Malani sang the popular song Me Sinhala Upage Ratai (This is our Sinhala County) which was hailed by the nationalists. When the Sri Lankan society absorbed multiculturalism, she denounced her own song and refused to perform it in public. In the early eighties, her songs were critical of the Open Economy that was introduced by President J.R Jayawardana in 1977. When Premadsa regime violated human rights, she became the voice of the people. The young rebels of the South in 1980s embraced her protest songs. According to some classified reports, ultra left wing youth faced executions singing her protest songs especially the song Yadamin Banda that glorified revolutionary activities. Hence, Nanda Malini made a reflective impact on people.

However, she was unable to give leadership and make her music a powerful social force that could be a strong voice for social justice since she did not believe in what she sang. Her music was dependent on the people’s request. When they appealed for nationalism, she fulfilled the request with songs like Me Sinhala Apage Ratai. When the trend changed, she refused to perform it. When the trend was anti open economic system, her music changed accordingly despite the fact that she enjoyed the benefits of the market economy wildly selling her music albums.

In the beginning of the terrorist activities in the North, the Jayawardana regime was reluctant to take stern measures. He preached Ghandian Avihinsa concepts and condemned the war actions of King Dutugamunu. Jayawardana was criticized by the public heavily . In this disputed times Nanda Malani released her song Mugurak Avasi Thana (when a club required, take a club to your hand) that gained immense popularity. The reaction of the President Jayawardana was drastically changed. He appointed Brigadier Tissa Weeratunga “to eradicate” terrorism in the North within 6 months. But the conflict aggravated and the rest became history.

Her song Yadamin Banda speaks of bravery and self-sacrifice when fighting the social injustice. However the Journalist and the film critic Gunasiri Silva narrated the reactions of Nanda Malani and Professor Sunil Ariyaratne soon after the assassination of Wijaya Kumaratunge in the book ‘Pihatu Pena’. According to Gunasiri Silva Nanda Malani and Professor Sunil Ariyaratne avoided him when he wanted to get a newspaper comment on Wijaya’s brutal killing. As Gunasiri Silva states Nanda Malani did not even answer his calls.

Nanda Malani could have been the symbol of freedom and social justice in Sri Lanka and she could have accomplished a worthwhile mission in music like Dylan, Joan Baez and other outstanding charismatic singers who spoke against injustice with intellect, responsibility and without double standards. Unfortunately, Nanda Malani missed that excellent opportunity.

Up and coming star Upeksha Swarnamali better known by the masses as Chanchala, will play the title role in Paba together with young star Amila Abeysekara and other seasoned stars.

Upeksha is the best Dancer in Sirasa Dancing Star Season 1, unfortunately lost that crown. She is the most good looking actress of Sri Lankan Tele Dramas.Upeksha will be seen in more powerful role in the movie ‘Bombs and Roses’(Bombs and Roses) directed by Anurudda Jayasinghe.

Source: Wikipedia

SYNOPSIS

Sandhya Rani (Malini Fonseka) is an ageing film star who was once the darling of the silver screen. Having lost fame and fortune in a changing world, she now lives quietly in obscurity. She ekes out a living by renting out a room in her home to the film and television stars of today to satisfy their illicit sexual desires.

The popular young film star, Shalika (Dilhani Ekanayake), uses this room to carry on an affair with a young actor. When Shalika’s infidelity is unmasked by her husband, the scandal and its publicity forces Rani into the limelight again.

In the spotlight once again, Rani is suddenly forced to come to terms with a dark secret of her past – a secret she thought she had buried forever. As she confronts the demons of her past, she journeys in search of a truth she abandoned long ago…

DIRECTOR’S NOTE – Prasanna Vithanage
I have heard somewhere that a filmmaker should make at least one film on his profession. I realized how difficult a task that was as I was writing ‘Akasa Kusum.’ My two previous films were issue-based movies that tackled Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict; I focused my camera at how this war had affected us as people. This time around, I decided to turn the camera on my world, the world of filmmaking. This happened as I began making the story of Sandhya Rani a cinematic reality. In making a film about a film personality, and turning the camera on one’s self, could I be completely honest in revealing the innermost facts about ourselves, the same way we do when pointing the camera at others? Rani’s character has shades of Sri Lanka’s celluloid prima donnas, since the time movies began here. They were the objects of our fantasies and the creators of our dreams. But when they reached a point where they were unable to fulfill our intangible needs, they were discarded – replaced by a younger, more stimulating model. With her portrayal of Sandhya Rani, the queen of Sri Lankan cinema Malini Fonseka brought a heightened sense of reality to the film, culled from her four decades of experience in cinema. She took the role and made it personal, intimate and autobiographical – colouring it with shades only she could bring. What I finally saw on the screen challenged me more than I dare to admit. The reality that I sought to create on screen had taken a life of its own, becoming darker and scarier. The reasons for this, I am only beginning to discover. And I have a feeling it will take some time.

Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent.

Sigmund Freud

Dr Ruwan m Jayatunge MD – rumj@sltnet.lk

The eminent English poet and playwright William Shakespeare created many characters that appear to be afflicted by psychological and psychiatric disorders. Shakespeare had an exclusive ability to grasp the dynamics of the human mind and fathom the dysfunctions of the human psyche. Indeed Shakespeare was very comprehensible in his descriptions of various psychological and psychiatric symptoms. Shakespeare’s influence on psychopathology was immeasurable. Many of Shakespeare’s lead characters seem to be having mental disorders and even psychoses.

William Shakespeare’s work confers a wide range of human mental conditions including psychopathology. There are many Shakespearean characters show numerous criteria for mental disorders that is discussed in DSM 4(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that covers all mental health disorders for both children and adults) and the ICD 10 (The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems classified by the WHO)

Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello: The Moor of Venice exemplifies a character that has suggestive features of pathological jealousy. The play is based on a central character Othello a Moorish general in the Venetian army who is passionately in love with Desdemona the daughter of a Senator. Poisoned by pseudo friends Othello suspects innocent Desdemona and gradually it becomes an overvalued fatal idea. Othello is overwhelmed by morbid jealousy confronts Desdemona, and then kills her.

Jealousy is a complex emotion allied with insecurity, fear, and anxiety. Othello was a romantic as well as an egoistic lover who held a delusional belief that his wife was being unfaithful. Othello made repeated accusations of infidelity based on insignificant evidence. Othello’s delusional jealousy had strong association with violence that led to the death of his wife. Shakespeare presents Othello’s character in a dramatic way and intensely describes his inner mental conflicts.

Shakespeare’s story of King Lear illustrates an aging monarch who is blind to his weaknesses, decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters. The King Lear often stalks his daughter Cordelia who is the loyal and unselfish. Finally Lear was made to abdicate the throne by his two daughters Goneril and Regan. After the renunciation of the thrown the King Lear was mistreated by two of his daughters and finally driven out in to destitution. His misjudgment of his daughters brings about his downfall. Thus the King Lear was betrayed by his own flesh and blood and becomes a psychologically fragile man.

The story of King Lear is a clear narration of old age depression. Depression is the commonest and the most reversible mental health problem in elderly. Depression is associated with physical illness and disability, life events, social isolation and loneliness. Some experts consider depression as a form of physiological reaction to the old age. King Lear becomes isolated and his negative thoughts consist of worthlessness, hopelessness, guilt, agitation and indecisiveness.

Many Shakespearian characters fit to the criteria for Histrionic Personality Disorder. In King Lear Edgar the Gloucester’s loyal son and heir fits to this description. Histrionic Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by excessive emotionality and attention-seeking. They need to be the center of attention all the time, Individuals with this disorder may have difficulty achieving emotional intimacy in romantic relationships. They may seek to control their partner through emotional manipulation or seductiveness on one level, whereas displaying a marked dependency on them at another level. Histrionics also tend to exaggerate friendships and relationships, believing that everyone loves them.

Shakespeare’s psychological drama The Winter’s Tale was a story between two friendly kings Leontes, King of Sicilia and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Unexpectedly kings Leontes goes insane and suspects that his pregnant wife Queen Hermione has been having an affair with the king Polixenes. Shakespeare dramatically portrays the king Leontes’s delusional mind which filled with suspicion and conspiracy theory. Shakespeare’s romance The Winter’s Tale recounts a man with a delusional disorder.

Delusional disorder is a type of mental illness in which the patient has unshakable beliefs in something untrue. These delusions usually involve the misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences. King Leontes had persecutory delusions and he was preoccupied with his delusions that made his life disrupted.

In Shakespeare’s romance, The Tempest is set on a fictional Island. Prospero the Duke of Milan and his daughter, Miranda have been stranded for twelve years on this fictional Island. Although Prospero was the rightful duke of Milan he was forced to renounce his kingdom by his younger brother Antonio. Prospero is living in exile. Prospero is a scholar and magician manipulating everyone within his reach. Prospero sometimes seems as an autocratic. Prospero is a complex personality shifting between good and bad. Ambiguity in Prospero’s character testifies Shakespeare’s gifted ability to create different personalities. Some view this enigmatic protagonist as a surrogate for Shakespeare.

Psychoanalyst Dr Sigmund Freud saw Shakespeare via a psychoanalytic lens and did psychoanalytic readings of Shakespearian work especially Macbeth and Hamlet. Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth is another example of a play that contains a character with personality disorder. Macbeth is more like a dependent personality avoiding responsibility for major life decisions, allowing others to assume that power. He goes to great lengths to win the approval of others. Lady Macbeth suffers from an irritable self punishing behavior which reminds obsessive-compulsive disorder. She has obsessive thoughts and engages in compulsively actions such as repeated hand washing. Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking is co morbidly connected with dissociative features.

In the Shakespearian tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Ophelia goes insane and drowns herself when Hamlet rejected her love. This resembles a typical form of acute stress disorder. According to the DSM, “The essential feature of Acute Stress Disorder is the development of characteristic anxiety, dissociative, and other symptoms that occurs within 1 month after exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor. Ophelia responded to Hamlet’s rejection event with strong feelings of fear and helplessness. It was an emotionally painful, distressful event for her. Ophelia’s reduced sense of surroundings, depersonalization and increased state of anxiety well pronounced in the act.

Shakespeare made Hamlet’s character in an enigmatic way and Hamlet has become one of the complex characters of Shakespeare. Hamlet was emotionally plagued when he revealed his mother’s adulterous relationship with Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. He was devastated over the father’s assassination. Hatred towards Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle and new stepfather who murdered his father made him to seek retaliation. Freud’s psychoanalytic profile of Hamlet’s character suggests that Hamlet had an unnatural love for his mother Gertrude the Queen of Denmark. This very idea coincides with the fact that his inability to love Ophelia.

In Twelfth Night one of the main characters, Olivia is totally withdraws from society to mourn the death of her brother. She rejects romance and deviates from worldly pleasures. Her self punishing and self-denial behavior is strongly connected with her mood. Shakespeare’s elaboration on Olivia’s mental state is closer to a person diagnosed with Adjustment Disorder. After the major stressful life event she often experiences feelings of depression and anxiety. Olivia has disturbance of conduct and acts out inappropriately.
Alcohol dependence is classified under the Substance Related Disorders in DSM4. Shakespeare’s history plays Henry IV and Henry V recounts Alcohol Dependence which is often a progressive and fatal disease. In Henry IV and Henry V the subjects are craving for alcohol and unable to reduce or stop alcohol consumption and physiological dependence is well pronounced.

Richard III comes to power through a series of horrible acts, killing off his enemies, his kinsmen, his wife and most of his supporters. Shakespeare had dramatized the actual historical events to describe Richard as a pure, self-professed villain of monstrous proportions. Richard III experiences nightmares could be as a result of Sleep Disorder. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep vivid dreaming is most common. In nightmares the subject wakes abruptly from the fourth stage of sleep (deep sleep), with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. Night terrors are often triggered by emotional conflict. Hence Shakespeare gives a detail account of a Sleep Disorder which was evident in Richard III.

In Pericles, Prince of Athens an altered state of consciousness that mimic death is described in the In the Act III, Scene II when Cerimon opens Thaisa’s coffin. An altered state of consciousness, (ASC) is a specific condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state. An altered state of consciousness can occur under the oxygen deprivation. Some view hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness.

Shakespeare knew about the effects of syphilis and refers to the illness as pox in his plays. Syphilitic symptoms are gaudily described by Shakespeare especially in Measure for Measure, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Life of Timon of Athens, and some of his poems. During the Shakespearean days diseases were considered as punishment for sinful behavior. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum. Syphilitic infection can cause complications such as Neurosyphilis which has physical and psychological manifestations (notably psychiatric abnormalities) with marked personality changes. Patients with Neurosyphilis may have dementia memory loss, depression, mania and many other features.

William Shakespeare is the best known author in history and he is regarded as a cultural icon. Shakespeare was a true genius who made a remarkable analysis on human psyche. His observations were quite unique and he presented his literary characters so naturally expressing their inner mental conflicts and behavior in an aesthetic form. Perhaps Shakespeare qualifies to earn the title Medieval Psychoanalyst.

Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov were Great Russian romantic poets who lived in the 19th century. They knew each other and adored each other’s work. Both were rebellious in nature. Alexander Pushkin was the pioneer of Russian literature. Among his major works Ruslan and Ludmila , Evgenii Onegin, and Boris Godunov can be considered as the greatest masterpiece of Russian literature. Although Pushkin was a genius in literature the Russian Czar did not tolerate his poems which carried the elements of protests. Pushkin was a daring activist who secretly involved with an underground revolutionary group and also publicly expressed his supported for the Decembrist uprising which demeaned feudal reforms. As result of his rebellious attitude Pushkin was banished from St Petersburg.

In 1827 he composed the ode titled The Poet

Until he hears Apollo’s call
To make a hallowed sacrifice,
A Poet lives in feeble thrall
To people’s empty vanities;
And silent is his sacred lyre,
His soul partakes of chilly sleep,
And of the world’s unworthy sons
He is, perhaps, the very least.

Pushkin knew the suffering of the peasants under the Czar’s regime. As a member of the upper Russian social class Pushkin was never fascinated by its glory. He had a mission in his life. Pushkin often used his writing to express the agony and suppression of the Russian people. Hence he was hated by the regime. But the general public recognized Pushkin as a great poet and respected him. Gradually he became the envy of the Royal Palace.

Many conspiracies launched against Pushkin and finally he was provoked to engage in a dual. In the ill-fated dual he was fatally wounded and later succumbed to the injuries. After Alexander Pushkin’s tragic death Lermontov published an elegy titled Smerta Poeta or The Death of a Poet which criticized the conspiracy involved in Pushkin’s untimely death.

Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov shared many things in common.
Both were inspired by the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Both demanded social reforms and emerged as spokesmen for literary radicals. Their work provided fertile ground for the Russian poets and novelists. Both had a great influence to the later Russian writers. From Gogal to Dostoyevsky and from Dostoyevsky to Boris Pasternak their unique influence remained unchanged.

Ironically Pushkin and Lermontov led reckless and generally cynical lives, but they expressed their inner feelings via prose and verse. Mikhail Lermontov had an influence of Lord Byron and as a matter of fact he adopted the Byronic cult of personality. Lermontov’s psychological novel A Hero of Our Time describes a reckless and a cynical character named Grigorii Pechorin.

The central character Pechorin is a complex in nature. Pechorin is an impulsive, emotionally numbed and manipulative, capable of extreme bravery but generally bored by his life. Pechorin was a hero as well as a renegade and according to some critics the central character in A Hero of Our Time could really have been applied to Lermontov himself. Lermontov’s best-known poem, The Demon a self-accusing poem exemplifies a fallen angel who loves a mortal woman reflecting the poet’s self-image as a demonic creature.

Lermontov loved Caucasus region and admired its natural beauty. The Caucasus had also inspired Puskin. Their characters were some what similar. Both were sensitive, cynical, nihilistic, and possessed of extreme arrogance. They stood against the social injustice. Like Pushkin Lermontov was killed in a duel in the Caucasus. Both died at young age crating a deep void in the field of literature. Alexander Pushkin’s and Lermontov’s lives can be viewed as one of the most epic and dramatic in the history of literature.

I still recall the words of one of my teachers Mr. Vethali Ivanovich who introduced me to the songs of Vladimir Vysotsky in 1986. He said “if you want to learn the Russian soul listen to Vysotsky” A poet, songwriter and actor, Vladimir Vysotsky was the most famous Russian bard. He is adored by millions of Russians today.

Vladimir Vysotsky, who began performing in the 1960s, was quite critical of the regime, highlighting bureaucracy criticizing the unfair privileges of the elite and objecting the repression. His lyrics took position on the Soviet status quo. But he loved his country and he was a true Russian. Vladimir Vysotsky could be considered as the Russian Bob Dylan. He was the voice of the silent generation of the Soviet Union.

In Capricious horses (Russian title: Koni Priveredlivye ) Vysotsky sings as follows.

By the edge, near the cliff, at the very, very limit
I am beating at my horses with my arm, a whiplash in it.
I’m not getting enough air – drinking wind, the fog imbibing,
And I scent with deadly rapture: I am dying, I am dying!

Just a little slower, horses, little slower now!
Do not listen to the sharp whip, it is wrong!
But the horses that I got are capricious ones
I can’t live to the end, I can’t finish my song.

Ironically Vysotsky sings about a strange land. The song is called “The tale of the wild mammal” (the Russian title Pro dikogo vepria ) This song was banned during his time.

In a kingdom where everything was quiet,
With no cataclysms, no wars and no shocks,
A monstrous animal came as a plight,
A kind of buffalo, a bull or an ox

The king had stomach trouble and asthma
Frightening everyone to death with his cough
In the meantime the terrible monster
Ate up people, or carried them off.

His songs were popular in the West. The famous movie White Nights (Colombia Pictures) carried the Academy Award winning song “Say you Say Me” by Lionel Richie and a rebellious song by Vladimir Vysotsky. Although he was the living soul and conscience of his time his songs were forbidden to play and his poems went unpublished.

This is another song by Vysotsky which is called “Some one saw the fruit” (Russian title: Prervannyi polet)

Someone saw the fruit that could not get ripe
They shook the trunk – it fell, just so…
Here’s the song of him who did not finish his song
And that he had a voice – he did not know.

Perhaps he was not on good terms with fate,
And on bad terms with circumstance
And the tight string lay on a fret
That was broken in single place.

From his songs people drew strength to live, to work, and to love. Vysotsky’s songs were more profound and carried the message of love and truth. He openly fought against the hypocrisy and double standards. But he paid a heavy prize. Vysotsky was branded a subversive under the system and none of his works had been recognized by the state. In the later part of his life he was isolated and made more inactive. The crusader Vladimir Vysotsky died in 1980 at the age of 42. He was eventually rehabilitated during the cultural liberalization during the Perestroika in 1985.

My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
John Lennon

John Lennon who was an inspirational character changed music in to a new direction. He was one of the key figures in the Post War generation whose music and the ideology changed the world. Lennon was a humanitarian. He condemned violence and truthfully worked for peace. John Lennon’s music, philosophy and mission is still adored by millions of people. He is an immortal in people’s hearts.

Lennon was born to a working-class family in Liverpool in 1940. His childhood was disrupted and when he was a teenager his mother got killed in an accident. All the suffering he felt in his heart was expressed in the form of lyrics in later years. In 1956 he met Paul McCartney which was a turning point in his life. They began writing songs together and formed the most popular group of all time the Beatles.

The Beatles were young revolutionists in the field of music. Where ever they went they captured the hearts of millions creating a Beatle’s mania. John Lennon was considered as the most energetic and the driving force behind the Beatles. John was enthusiastic and transforming in to a new wave. When he met his future wife and the soul companion Yoko Ono they began to work collaboratively. The Beatles pronounced their official breakup in 1970. With the breakup Lennon began his solo career in a more advanced way. Lennon’s songs began exploring profoundly political, psychological and existential themes.

John Lennon’s song Imagine is one of the greatest songs of all time an anthem of universal hope. In this song Lennon tells us about an imaginary world where people live in peace and harmoney.

He further says ….

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

One critic described Lennon’s masterpiece Imagine as thus

“Imagine,” the song, was unquestionably Lennon’s finest moment. Its lyrical and conceptual clarity shone sunlight of vision upon our dark and violent world. It urged us to imagine a world without property, without religion, without nations, living in peace. It postulated an economic order in which both greed and hunger would be impossible”.

John Lennon provided the intellectual, political and aesthetic influence to nations. They openly protested against the Vietnam war. John Lennon began to make history with his painfully honest and political songs. He wanted to change the world but not through violence. Lennon cleraly gives this message in his song Revolution.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out?

October 1968 Lennon recorded “Give Peace a Chance” now which is a motto of the peace loving community. His”Nowhere Man” on “Rubber Soul” (1965) carried a philosopical as well as psychological theme which described about alienation. He was sort of the vicar of Art Rock. Lennon’s songwriting genius was uncanny. Author John Stevens explains Lennon’s intuitive talent from a technical point of view, through the lens of songwriting’s three basic elements: melody, harmony, and lyric.

John Lennon’s mission was unexpectedly stopped on December 8, 1980. When Lennon was returning with Ono to their Dakota apartment on New York City he was shot by Mark David Chapman a Beatles fan and a person who suffered paranoid delusions. Although Lennon is dead his music legacy continues still inspiring people around the world.

Bathiya and Santhush (BNS) are Sri Lanka’s most accomplished musical duo in the field of ethnic fusion music. In the last 5 years the duo have secured over 350 live performances, a music publishing contract with Universal Music, a recording contract with SONY BMG Music Entertainment / M entertainment and released 3 platinum albums.

Since their inception in 1998, the duo have achieved fourteen entries in the Sri Lankan music charts along with 7 number-one singles. Their single Siri Sangabodhi Maligawedi off the album Life was the the first ever multilingual [English and Singhalese] hit to be played on English Radio after 3 decades. The latest album Neththara released in 2005 sold up to 75,000 copies in just 5 months. The album has been ranked as one of the highest selling Sony Music releases in Sri Lanka.

BNS have also enjoyed enormous success overseas. In 2001 they were runners up at both the Voice of Asia Music Festival in Kazakhstan and the Shanghai Music Festival in China. To this day,the duo have toured over 20 countries, their most memorable overseas show being to a crowd of over 27,000 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. They have also opened concerts for legendary acts such as UB40 and famous contemporary artists The Vengaboys and DJ Bobo. The video for the duo’s hit song Neththara off the Neththara album is now regularly broacast on India’s MTv and Channel V.

As a musical duo, BNS are a meeting of two entirely different creative journeys. The magic behind the trademark BNS sound lies in the blending of the two musicians’ contrasting personalities and creative visions.

Source: bnsmusic.com

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rukmani Devi was born as Daisy Daniels on January 15, 1923. W. R. Daniels who was manager of the Observer for many years, claiming to be a kinsman of Rukmani Devi told that she was born at Inuvil in Jaffna and that her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Daniels of Inuvil and was named Daisy Daniels. At the age of seven she was picked to sing Christmas carols. Watching her ability to sing, dance, also to act, she was selected to perform a main part in a Christmas play, “The Cobler’s Wife”.

The stage play was trained and presented by St. Clare’s School, Wellawatte. Then at the age of just 12 years she was picked to perform the stage play, “Ramayanaya” presented by ‘Sinhala Natya Sabha’. Since her performances were highly appreciated by the packed audience, well-known dramatist Dick Dias selected her to act in two of his stage plays, “Jana Kiharanaya” and “Mayawathie”. In 1936 her first recording of famous song “Siri Buddhagaya Vihare” with Master H. W. Rupasinghe brought her fortune. She captured the hearts of the masses.

With her unique voice she was in a position to be picked and selected by many music directors. Her singing career continued on stage and screen. She in fact was able to sing with pop groups in the latter part of her life.

B. A. W. Jayamanne, founder of “Minerva Dramatic Club” of Negombo took Rukmani to perform remarkable roles in his interestingly featured dramas, such as ‘Apparition’, ‘Broken Promise’, ‘Changing Fate, ‘Defeated Aim’, ‘Evasive Denial’, ‘Fanatic Faith’, ‘Grisly Guardian’, ‘Hasty Decision’ and lastly ‘Irangani’. Above-mentioned plays followed the English alphabet. As a result of her close association with Jayamanne during this era- she fell in love with Eddie and got married to him. They lived at “Jaya Ruk”, at Angurukaramulla, Negombo.

The popular play ‘Broken Promise’ was turned into a film by B. A. W. Jayamanne. This was the first Sinhala film – ‘Kadavunu Poronduwa’, screened on January 21, 1947. Thus Rukmani became the first local actress, acclaimed as “the Nightingale of Sri Lanka”. Her film career covered a period of three decades. At the time of her death, she had acted in around ninety films.

This writer can still remember B. A. W. Jayamanne’s drama “Seethala Nadiya” in which Rukmani Devi played the main role. This was staged at Mary Margaret Convent’s School Hall Mutwal, somewhere in 1958. With her there were many artistes like Joe Abeywickrema, Eddie Jayamanne, Mili Kahandawela, Eddie Junior and BAW. They jointly made the drama stunning.

Rukmani Devi, the singing star, stage and screen idol died in a tragic motor accident near St. Mary’s Church, Thudella on September 25, 1978. She was returning after her last musical show in Uyanwatte, Matara. Her funeral ceremony was attended by a very large gathering, mostly film makers and dramatists, friends, politicians and relations. One could remember how people stood on the walls of Negombo cemetery on September 28, 1978. In fact part of the wall collapsed. One can also remember the speech delivered by late President Ranasinghe Premadasa on that day acclaiming Rukmani’s life for art and culture.

The popular play ‘Broken Promise’ was turned into a film by B. A. W. Jayamanne. This was the first Sinhala film – ‘Kadavunu Poronduwa’, screened on January 21, 1947. Thus Rukmani became the first local actress, acclaimed as “the Nightingale of Sri Lanka”. Her film career covered a period of three decades. At the time of her death, she had acted in around ninety films.