Dunstan de Silva
Dunstan de Silva[2] [3]was a Sri Lankan musician and a composer of Sinhalese music. He was also an artist, poet and a photographer.
Dunstan de Silva | |
|---|---|
| Born | Patabandige Dunstan de Silva 21 April 1921 Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka |
| Died | 28 October 1988 (aged 67) Nugegoda, Sri Lanka |
| Alma mater | Bhatkhande Music Institute, India - Ananda College Colombo - Nalanda College Colombo- Sidhdhartha College, Weligama, Sri Lanka |
| Occupation | Musician- Composer - Radio Music Program Director – Radio Broadcasting Music Standards Developer - University Lecturer - Arts Teacher - Photographer |
| Years active | 1954-1988 |
| Employer | Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation |
Early life
De Silva was born the eldest of nine children to businessman Abraham de Silva and Jane Kurukulasekara.[4]
He commenced his primary education at Sidhdhartha College Weligama in 1930 and moved to Nalanda College Colombo for his secondary education in 1936. De Silva successfully completed his Senior School Certificate in the English Medium from Nalanda College. During his schooling he was taught to play the violin by Don Vincent Peiris.
After completing early studies at Nalanda College, de Silva moved to Ananda College Colombo, where he completed the London matriculation examination in 1939.
His mother wanted de Silva to become an engineer, so he entered the Ceylon Technical College. After completing the intermediate examination at the College, de Silva quit engineering to pursue a career in music and arts.
Tertiary Education
In 1945, Dunstan received a government scholarship to study music at Bhatkhande Music Institute, in Lucknow, India, where Professor S N Ratanjankar was one of his teachers.[5]
De Silva participated in many music concerts at the Institute. He sang a Sinhalese song with a Bengali student, Bokul Dhaar, in Malathi Maadhawa (Sinhala: මාලතී මාධව ; Tamil: மாலதீ மாதவ ; Hindi: मालती माधव ), a concert produced by Kalyan Pakar. As published in the Lankaadeepa newspaper 1952 March 17 this was supposedly the first ever Sinhalese song sung in a concert in India.[6] At this concert De Silva and Dhaar sang the "P'udamu meakusum" (Sinhala: පුදමු මේ කුසුම්; Tamil: புதமு மே குசும் Hindi: पुदमु मकुसुम) composed by Ananda Samarakoon.
De Silva was one of five students selected by the Institute to sing the Indian National Anthem at the first independence celebrations on the 15 August 1947. After completing seven years of music studies he obtained a Sangeet Visharad degree and returned to Ceylon. Since then he was known publicly as Visharad P. Dunstan de Silva. He was the third Sri Lankan to obtain a music Visharad degree.
Career
Teacher
De Silva was employed at Nalanda College as the resident arts teacher. His students at Nalanda included Karunaratne Abeysekera and Ridgeway Thilakeratne.
Photographer
After completing his music studies in India he returned to Ceylon in 1951 and pursued a career in photography, opening a photographic studio, Studio Colour, in Colombo, allegedly the first colour photo studio in the country. Within two years he opened up a second studio.
The Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa, friend of de Silva granted him an honorary position as his personal photographer during his tenure as Prime Minister.
In 1978 he provided the photos for an album of Buddhist paintings, covering the ancient sites of Gadaladeniya, Maulgampola, Hanguranketha, Degaldoru, Madawala, Kotagala and Dambulla rock temple, published by the National Archives and compiled by Professor Siri Gunasinghe.
Musician
While studying engineering at the Technical College, he played the flute for music programs on Radio Ceylon. He played the flute for the music programs Ananda Samarakoon, Surya Shankar Molligoda and Anangalal Athukorala. The lead accompaniment on the flute in Ananda Samarakoon's popular song of that vintage "Punchi Suda Sudukatiya" (Sinhala: පුංචිසුදා සුදුකැටියා; Tamil: புஞ்சி சுதா சுதுகடியா) is credited to de Silva.
In 1952 he composed music for the opera, Pushpa Shrungara (Sinhala: පුෂ්ප ශෘන්ගාර; Tamil: புஸ்ப ஸ்றுங்காற) directed by Shesha Palihakkara. De Silva made his debut as a music composer for this opera.
During a period of 21 years from 1954 to 1975 as the Head of Sinhalese Music at Radio Ceylon and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Dunstan produced many popular programs such as
- Rasadhara (Sinhala :රසධාරා; Tamil: ரசதாறா ; Hindi:रस धरा )
- Guwanviduli Geetha Nataka (Sinhala: ගුවන්විදුලි ගීත නාටක; Tamil: குவண் விதுலி கீத நாடக ; Hindi: गुवनविदुली गीता नाटक )
- Vijaya Geetha (Sinhala:විජය ගීත; Tamil: விஜய கீத; Hindi: विजया गीता )
- Raaga Rasa Vindhana (Sinhala:රාග රස වින්දන; Tamil: ராக ரச விந்தன; Hindi: राग रस विदाना )
- Sath Piyum (Sinhala: සත්පියුම්; Tamil: சத் பியும் ; Hindi: सठ पियुम )
In addition to being the producer he also composed music for these.
Artist
De Silva designed the cover page of the publication, Sangeetha Sanhithaa,[7] written by Sinhala poet and lyricist, Wimal Abeysundara.[8]
Poet
De Silva‘s poetry featured in a number of the country’s English newspapers. There remain more than 50 unpublished poems written by Dunstan to date. One of those is “The Flute”, a poem he wrote about his beloved instrument which accompanied him from early life to the end of the life.
He learnt music over the flute, his first job as a musician was to play the flute in Radio Ceylon orchestra and later he composed music using a flute.
Two Milestones
On 24 February 1954 he married Hilda Fonseka from Wadduwa. On 5 March 1955 they had a daughter, Ayanthi Manjula.[9]
In 1954 de Silva joined the Radio Ceylon as the Head of Sinhalese Music Programs.[10] On the 5 January 1967 Radio Ceylon was instituted as a public corporation as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. He continued to serve as the head of Sinhalese Music Programs with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.
Service to Sinhalese Music
He was employed for 21 at the national broadcasting service, organising many classical music concerts. He brought over sitar player Ravi Shankar five times to Sri Lanka. Lakshmi Shankar, Ustad Allarakha Qureshi, Vishnu Govind Jog, Pandit Dinkar Kaikini [11] and Dipali Nag were other musicians he brought from India. De Silva was the founding secretary of the music subcommittee of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka which was a branch of the then Ministry of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs. In 1959 he was appointed the President of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka.
In 1964 he represented Sri Lanka in the International Classical Music conference in Germany.
Head of Music at the Ministry of Education
In 1975 de Silva left the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation to take up an appointment as the Head of Music at the Ministry of Education. His main task was to improve standards and develop the music syllabus for the schools and higher education institutes in the country.
End of Career
After two years of service at the Ministry of Education, he was called upon to the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation to take up office as the head of the Sinhalese Music Division. He served in this position until he retired in 1983.
In appreciation of his services to music the Tower Hall Foundation bestowed him with the Kalamanya award.[12]
On the 16 November 1986, Dunstan received the Kalamanya award from the President of Sri Lanka, Hon J. R. Jayewardene and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa.
In 1986 the National Television, Sri Lanka Rupavahini produced a two-year program called Pada Saraniiya, consisting of music composed by de Silva. His last music composition, "Sithum Pathum" (Sinhala: සිතුම් පැතුම්; Tamil: சிதும் பதும்) sung by Deepika Priyadarshini was featured in this program.[13]
De Silva died on 28 October 1988.
References
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (2013). "Gandharva Apadana; No.04". Gandharva Apadana; No.04: 83–154 – via University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage.
- "P. Dunstan de Silva". Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095735565. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 85.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 87.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. pp. 87–88.
- Abayasundara, Wimal. Sangeetha Sanhitha. S Godage Saha Sahodarayo. ISBN 9552055008.
- Abeysundara, Wimal. "Wimal Abeysundara no more". The Island. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 92.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 90.
- Kaikini, Dinkar (18 April 2020). "ETIMES". Entertainment Times. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 92.
- Ariyaratne, Sunil (1997). සෝමදාස ඇල්විටිගල සහ පී. ඩන්ස්ටන් ද සිල්වා. Gandharva Apadana; No.04. Colombo: S. Godage. p. 92.