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Ananda Samarakone (b. January 13, 1911, Sri Lanka - d. April 5, 1962, Sri Lanka) Sri Lankan composer and musician, arguably best known for composing the Sri Lankan national anthem "Sri Lanka Mathaa", considered the father of artistic Sinhala music, and founder of the modern geeta sahitya.
Early life
Samarakone was born George Wilfred Alwis to a Christian family in 1911. In 1936, Samarakone left for Shantinikethan in India to study art. He studied music only as a secondary subject, and in six months he abandoned his studies and returned to Sri Lanka.
In 1937, he changed his name to Ananda Samarakone and embraced Buddhism. He was very much influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and his fascination and the desire to imitate the great Indian musician took him in the direction of creating a musical tradition of Sri Lankan people.
Composer
In 1937, the popular music of Sri Lanka comprised of songs derived from the North Indian Ragadhari music. These songs lyrics often contained meaningless phrases with little or no literary merit. Samarakone set out to create a form of a symphony that can be classified as Sri Lanka's own and came out with the song Endada Menike (1940) that paved the foundation for the artistic Sinhala music.
The love themed song unfolds in the form of a dialogue between a young village boy and a girl. It poetic and beautifully rustic became a success and Samarakone followed it with a string of successful songs in the early to mid 1940s, the period considered his golden age. Among his best known works are:
- Podimal Etano
- Vilay Malak Pipila
- Poson Pohoda
- Asay madura
- Sunila Guvanay
- Punchi Suda
- nilvala Gangay
- Sumano
- Pudamu Kusum
- Siri Saru Saara Ketay
Painter
In 1945 Samarakone's only son died at the age of five and the grieving Samarakone left Sri Lanka for India where he pursued an painting career and held eleven art exhibitions there. Though his painting were critical acclaimed he returned to music in 1951 back in Sri Lanka.
During Samarakone's stay in India, one of his early compositions, Namo Namo Mata (composed in 1940, recorded in 1946) was nominated as the national anthem and was officially adopted by the State as the Sri Lankan national anthem in 1952. Critics attacked Namo Namo Mata, particularly the "Gana" significance of the introductory words (Namo Namo Matha) which designate disease and ill luck. Samarakone was not a believer in "Gana", and the criticism must have caused great pain to him. He wrote numerous articles counter attacking his critics in a naive and unlikely attempt to defend his composition. Without his consent, the introductory words were changed to "Sri Lanka Mathaa" so that the "Gana" significance now would designate victory and prosperity.
Death
On April 5, 1962, Samarakone committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets at the age of fifty one.
Samarakone's legacy lives on in his music, the music of his students like Pandit Amaradeva and in the musical style he created.
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