On love and the line of scrimmage

Taken from Sunila Wila by Pushkara Wanniarachchi 

Years ago , somewhere in December  I found a house seat in the indoor hall of Maharagama Youth Center. It rained butterflies that evening. 6.00 pm. There were a mass of people outside , crowded around the entrance. Many had to go back .I overheard  some one saying; 

Tickets were over. 

I managed to get a ticket, however with the help of a friend. On occasion , I would say ‘pin siddavechchave’ given that it was  a difficult opportunity. 

It was a concert called ‘Shwetha Rathriya’ . I don't not remember how and when or who organized it. Nonetheless that evening was a special one. Celebration of sorts. It was declared to be Nanda Malini’s final solo-singing show. 

I was 17 years when the show happened . The entire concert was able to sum up most of my childhood memories in two to three hours .They remembered me of how I  used to listen to Nanda Malini in audio cassettes. In fact, one time I was one of her students too. 

That day, there was something extra to what I had heard of her  apart from youtube and cassettes. It was the first time that I got exposed to Nanda’s  early collections; Pawana (Wind) and Sathyaye Geethaya (Song Of The Truth). She has had a string of successful releases . Among them were songs of love and relationships that appealed many hearts. 

And somewhere , while witnessing the songs of battle , distress, hope and  sorrow, it triggered me that many of her love songs carried a different connotation to what I had heard of other singers .

Nanda had and has a rival. I'd say. And I’d like to call the rival; Sunil Edirisinghe. Nanda and Sunil claims to have unmatchable voices, incredible and mesmerizing on stage. This does not mean that they are competing  for the best  voice, the best this  and  that. I believe they do not have to. They are already  reverenced by people like us.  Let me tell you this;  it is that they have and are speaking  of two different worlds . Not meant to cut each other. And this is what makes both Sunil and Nanda  unique , singularly.

Let me also offer this disclaimer; this in no way devalues what they have bequeathed the audiences through out. I believe, I say that this is an expressed appreciation for both of what I have felt and perceived of their songs personally.

Nanda Malini’s take on  love is a divine one. Her lover is absolute beauty and absolute godly. Her love has infused her being , that in everything she speaks, she speaks of  the lover. And in everything she seeks, she seeks the lover.  This element -where love and the lover conquering every thing is often emphasized  in her song . 

You.

Infinite as the sky 

Infinite as the sea 

And in everything I see 

is only you 

You are infinite.

අහස සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි 

සයුර සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි 

මේ විශ්වයේ මා දකින්නේ 

ඔබම පමණයි 

ඔබ අනන්තයි 

What place on earth is devoid of your presence? 

You are the sound of a plucked lute, the oozing liquor, the pen in word weaving  and quill that frequents.

වෙණ තතක් හැඬවෙන තැනත් ඔබ 

මදු විතක් උතුරන තැනත් ඔබ 

තෙලිතුඩක් දැවටෙන තැනත් ඔබ 

පන්හිඳක් ගැවසෙන තැනත් ඔබ 

And she goes on  further claiming  that than true love there is no subtle master under heaven.

And heaven exists 

where goodness  is preserved frequent

In love 

ආලය නම් මනු දම් සුරකින් නීති 

එතැනය සුර ලොව නම් 

And Love is a sea. It is tossed up and down by the waves. It lifs lovers  up at times and at times they drown. And in drowning  they give up , because there is no solace after the beloved is gone. The lyricist is perhaps clever and perfectly snaps the grief in a few words. So delicate. Moving. 

නොලැබ කිවිඳුන් 

කුමට කවිකම් 

කිවිඳ මට කවි ලොවේ 

And what use of balladry

having denied  of my poet?

And of Sunil , he’s different.  Many of his songs are far away from this happy and godly unison that Nanda urges to have. Perhaps more experienced in this whole thing that lives revolve around -what we call love. Sunil surely knows that man , like the phenominal universe, is double-natured, partaking at once of Being and Not Being, of Good and Evil , of Reality and Unreality. He affirms that love is a make-believe thing. A fantancy. It is pretence. 

ඉවුරු දෑලේ හිඳ බැලූ විට ගඟ හැඩයි කදිමයි

දියට වන් විට එවන් ගඟුලම බිහිසුණුයි චන්ඩයි

He tells us like this ; Stand by a river bank and look through the water. You’d find it beautiful, flowing gently , murmuring and burbling. Then step into its water. You’d find it to be a monster . Tumbling and rolling, dragging you away with the  water. Same goes to people. Only once you get closer to people , you realize who they are and what they are. According to Sunil, lovers don’t carry  equal sized hearts  , no they carry equal thoughts. They are constantly  dancing around  issues to thrive what they need from each other. They  yearn perfection. And this is a struggle they do. A product of greed. I’d like to call it. 

I walked from town to another, in search of everlasting love. And it was just a dream, in this transient world. 

සදාකාලික නොවූ ලෝකේ

සදාකාලික ප්‍රේමයක්

සොයා නෙක ගම් දනව් පීරා

ගෙවූ කාලය සිහිනයක්

He is well aware of the ancient law , that everything is impermanant. And so does man , so does love. They are ephermeral. So why look for a timeless love? Sunil Edirisinghe finds it to be a vain thing to do. 

Hardly there’s desparation found in his song. When the union of love fails , the lover doesnt weep in distress . Sunil envisions a matured lover , who is able to face defeat without complaint or collapse. Each other departs gracefully , knowing that  the time spent will be cherished. 

මා ඉතින් යන්න යනවා

මට යන්න අවසරයි

මට අරන් යන්න ඇත්තේ

ඒ මතකය විතරයි

Let me leave

with your permission

There are only memories

to take with me.

Today , reflecting on the songs I’ve heard and have come to know of, my thoughts stray back to the classic film ‘Hulavali’ and  a  popular  line of a song sung in this film ’ala vadana yana theruma bosath Kama saki.’ I’m also reminded of a  particular conversation that Sunil once had with   Victor Ratnayake at a show . Sunil made a comment that day ; “ආදරය , සෙනෙහස මේ හැමදෙයක්ම  වචනෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කරන්න පහසුයි, නමුත් ප්‍රායෝගිකව ඒවා මුනගැසුනම  තමයි මෙහි බැරෑරුම් කම තේරෙන්නේ , එය බෝසත් කුලයට අයිති දෙයක්.” (Love is not as easy as it is said with words , loving is to exude bodhisattva qualities. ) . 

His song encompasses a deep philosophy. A philosophy  that teaches to surpress jealousy, pronounces the practice of giving. Or letting go. The bedrock of Buddhism. 

It is a known fact that a singer picks up what is written by a Lyricist. And one may even argue that Nanda’s songs were written by a single composer with a few exceptions, whilst Sunil Edirisinghe was nurtured by various artists. Yes. I would not disagree to that. After all , a singer has the privillege to choose what he/she wants to sing. I suspect. I also believe that  this exercise of picking up lyrics from what is offered , tacitly conveys the values and views  they hold. 

And no matter how different their idealogies on love are, somewhere some of us still enjoy and speak  of them. We have embraced their song. Perhaps Sunil and Nanda are successful in taking their audience through a divine love to its horrors and duplicity.