Category Archives: cultural transmission

April 4, 2017 · 2:37 pm

Rendering Sinhala Poetry Fertile — Ranjini Obeyesekere

Laleen Jayamanne, in a review article, Sunday Island, 2 April 2017, where the title is “Sinhala Poetry Translated by Ranjini Obeyesekere”

Ranjini Obeyesekere has brought together a wide-ranging translation of Sinhala poetry making it accessible to an English-speaking readership. This in itself is an admirable achievement. While the book includes a cluster of poems from the older folk tradition, the majority of poems span the 20th century. The volume is attractive in that the layout, with its generous spacing of the stanzas, allows the poems to breathe with great amplitude. Poetry, as the art of suggestion and in direction, which abandons the functional, instrumental, rationalist use of language, is allowed the silences and pacing (spacing) that are so important to it. Vijitha Yapa Publishing should be commended for its sensitivity to form and for the quality of this volume of poetry – it feels good to hold this book and turn its pages. Continue reading →

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April 3, 2017 · 3:30 pm

Aboriginal Rock Art at Kurullangala, Sri Lanka

Stefan D’Silva,  courtesy of ASIAN ART, 29 March 2017, ……………… http://asianartnewspaper.com/?p=2226… Emphasis by highlighting has been the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

Located in Uva Province of Sri Lanka, at an elevation of just over 1,200 metres, the Kurullangala rock art stands unique in Sri Lanka. Access to the site is via an extremely dangerous, steep climb or ‘rock hop’ where one has to literally walk on tree branches near the top to gain access to the site and the area is certainly not accessible in wet weather. There is a small rock ‘viewing platform’ approximately 5 metres long and 2-3 metres wide where one can stand to view the art work at eye level and above.

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April 2, 2017 · 11:46 am

The Historian’s Craft via Lakshman Perera’s Deciphering of Lanka’s Ancient Inscriptions

Sudharshan Seneviratne, reviewing Lakshman S. Perera: The Institutions of Ancient Ceylon from Inscriptions, (from 3rd Century BC to 830 AD) Volume I ….. with Introduction and supplementary notes by Sirima Kiribamunne and Piyatissa Senanayake, ICES, Kandy 2001, … 322 pages … reviewed in http://www.infolanka.com/org/srilanka/cult/45.htm

 

The Antecedents: My first encounter with the historian was in 1974 when I visited the University library at Peradeniya as a postgraduate student. It was never a formal introduction – not even a personal meeting. Yet, it was close enough for me to admire the man and his work. The silent space afforded by the Ceylon Room at Peradeniya was ideally suited for a dialogue with the past. I reached out to the past through the volumes of a doctoral thesis – so immaculately completed a year before I was born! Page after page three volumes of information unfolded a dimension hitherto less known in the history of Sri Lanka. This study I thought, will always remain as a testimony to the ‘historian’s craft’ (apologies to Marc Bloch) so purposefully executed by a scholar with a sober perception to the study of history. Continue reading →

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April 1, 2017 · 3:26 am

Timeless Classics: A Concert Bridging Lanka

Lorraine Fernando

On Sunday 12 March 2017 a group of us decided to attend a concert at the Besan Centre in Melbourne comprising artistes who had arrived from Sri Lanka. I had been told that Soundarie and Shey were Sri Lankans with a great deal of talent, but apart from knowing this fact, I had absolutely no expectation of what the night would be like. I’ve lived in Melbourne Australia for 43 years and thus, do not know very much about the concert scene in Sri Lanka. As we approached the Concert Hall on an almost perfect Melbourne Autumn evening, it was great to see a most colourful crowd of ladies in beautiful saris or smart casual evening attire and gentlemen dressed to suit the occasion. The concert commenced on time and little did we know, what an extravaganza was in store for all of us, in the hours that followed.

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March 29, 2017 · 1:11 pm

Traversing Lanka: Walking Woman emulates the Bike Man

Devika  Casiechetty matches up to Rob, the British Bike-Man

 Rob as in https://thuppahis.com/2016/03/21/a-british-bike-mans-bike-ride-in-sri-lanka/

Nushka Nafeel: “She stepped in where Angels feared to tread,” Daily News, 29 March 2017

Women today have progressed in a variety of fields and reached the pinnacle of achievement but yet when a girl informs her parents or elders that she would be travelling out of town, or even stepping out of the confines of her home, the first question everyone in Sri Lanka asks is “Who are you going with? Will you be safe? Are you not scared?” The premise is that girls are not safe going out on their own and this is the question that Devika Casiechetty set to answer when she decides to walk around Sri Lanka alone. Her mission is, “A Girl on a Solo quest.”

Casiechetty’s idea was simple as it was to walk around Sri Lanka on her own to prove that Sri Lanka is the safest place to walk around solo as a woman but with the course of time, her initial plan begin to change. “I have now decided to not only explore whether Sri Lanka is safe to walk alone as a woman but also to ascertain whether it is unsafe and how we could make it safer for women,” she said. Continue reading →

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March 28, 2017 · 3:12 am

Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Achchaaru … or Racial Pickle

Michael Roberts

 Re-discovering this chat with Alex Van Arkadie today [2017] I think it is pertinent for all Sri Lankans …. And should be read in conjunction with my recent selection of material n “Sinhala Mind-Set” and “Why Thuppahi” ……. included in efforts to widen the exchanges in the following posts

…… Capped thereafter with a reading of Pon Kulendiren’s lovely tale of “Sinhala Nona”

https://thuppahis.com/2017/03/21/where-music-transcends-ethnic-divisions-sinhala-nona/#more-24614…… perhaps with background baila music such as Dingiri Dingare Le Menachchi!


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March 23, 2017 · 7:35 am

Anguish as Empowerment … and A Path to Retribution

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph where it is presented with a different title ….  https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/histrionic-voice-as-spark-for-ethnic-violence-political-extremism/

Anguish and grief are powerful emotions that can contort and wrack a body. While ‘suggesting’ helplessness, the anguish that engulfs a person can also empower that person … and others connected to that person by commonalities of interest/emotion. In this manner anguish can transcend obstacles, generate waves of bitterness and swell into paths of retributory hate and punishment. The ‘little’ drops of tears can swell metaphorically into ‘waves’ – and even inspire enraged mobs (mostly male) bent on punishing the purported root of the tears, a recalcitrant Other, an enemy family or “community” deemed to be the cause of that expressive anguish or deemed to have transcended local norms. In southern Lanka that community can be a neighbouring caste grouping or ethnic group or religious group (Muslim Moor,[1] Hindu, Buddhist, Christian).

Let me highlight the argument by presenting an unusual juxtaposition.

  1. Expressive Grief displayed by a Sri Lankan Tamil woman at a protest demonstration before David Cameron by persons whose kin have been missing in the course of Eelam War IV

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March 22, 2017 · 2:44 am

Royal-Thomian Rivalry and Revelry 2017

References courtesy of  SENAKA WEERARATNA  

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March 22, 2017 · 2:29 am

Initiating Marinas in Sri Lanka: Big Plans

Rajkumar Kanagasingam,  courtesy of Daily Mirror, 16 March 2017, where the title is “Establishing first-ever marinas in Sri Lanka“

M “Establishing first-ever marinas in Sri Lankaarina is an unheard name to many Sri Lankans, but not anymore. Dr. Dietmar Doering, a German hotelier based in Marawila in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka, is venturing into establishing a first-ever marina in Marawila.  He pioneered sports tourism in Sri Lanka nearly three decades ago by establishing Asian-German Sports Exchange Programme; now it’s his turn for enhancing nautical tourism in Sri Lanka. Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga also has given the green light to make this marina venture a success. Generally, the Mediterranean region is famous for some of the world’s finest marinas; they are harbouring thousands of yachts and boats which are owned by rich and adventurous boaters around the world. Those boaters are not only cruising around the Mediterranean Seas but crossing the Suez Canal and entering into the Arabian Sea and many of them are venturing towards East Asia.  India and Sri Lanka are getting their importance because of their location but hardly any marinas to serve them other than the recently established Kochi International Marina in the Indian state of Kerala.

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March 21, 2017 · 2:31 pm

Where Music transcends Ethnic Divisions: Sinhala Nona

Pon Kulendiren, courtesy of The Tamil Mirror where the title is “True Story of coincidence: Sinhala nona”

Kaffrinha –Pic from The Localist

It was snowing heavily. A few days were left for Christmas. I was enjoying a sip of Scotch on the rocks and watching Discovery channel on T.V. My wife walked into the sitting room after preparing the dinner for the family. She looked at the clock that showed 5.30 in the evening. With a grimace she turned towards me. It showed that she did not like me having a second drink. Black label bottle was a quarter empty. She quietly took the bottle and disappeared into her room. I ignored her action as I was reluctant to start a fight as she may have a long face while serving dinner. She returned after a few minutes. Continue reading →

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