Agni ("Fire") is an opera in Sinhalese composed by Premasiri Khemadasa with a libretto by Eric Illayapparachchi. It premiered on 26 May 2007 at the Lionel Wendt Theater in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Composition Seventeen singers trained by Premasiri Khemadasa at his musical academy located at the suburban Folk Art Center, Palawaththa, Battaramulla, performed with an orchestra consisting of two keyboards, flutes, an esraj, guitars, drums, a timpani, a gong and strings. Khemadasa conducted the orchestra.
The opera was the culmination of a period of one year strenuous training undergone by young talents selected by Khemadasa. Although Maestro Khemadasa was energetic enough to inspire them with his philosophy of music, he had been subject to several surgeries, one a kidney transplant. Sometimes he ignored medical advice and rehearsed his players from morning to evening. On rehearsing of the opera, a journalist from the Daily News (Sri Lanka) wrote:
The opera was produced amidst many difficulties as there was little space for an art work of this nature in the country. No patronage was extended from either private sector entrepreneurs or from the media. Socialist Art Society came forward to encourage Khemadasa to initiate a serious art work. Thus the SAS supported rehearsals and organize performances.
Five years ago, in the convocation address when he was honored with a Doctorate by the University of Ruhuna, Khemadasa observed that the Sri Lankan music has been developed into a polyphony and it was high time that Sri Lanka bid farewell to understand music.
He continues:
He told The Nation when he was making Agni as a feast for the senses:
The Nation further said that for the composer and his talented troupe of players, Agni had been a long drawn process.He told the Nation after his latest production's immense success.
Reception
With the premiere in the full housed Lionel Wendt, the opera won national respect: proof that the country needed serious music. Number of performances amounted to twenty seven within two years. Well known film director Lester James Peries and his wife were also in the audience of the premier. Professor Sucharitha Gamlath, a classical scholar and a Marxist critic said that the opera was a musical miracle. Since its premier the opera has always been the most beloved contemporary work kvvof art in the country and even after the celebration of its second anniversary, there were several requests for future performances.
Performances organized since the premier throughout the country were many and it could be recorded as unprecedented for a sophisticated musical drama.
+ Date Location 26 May 2007 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 27 May 2007 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 29 June 2007 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 8 July 2007 Town Hall, Negombo 24 July 2007 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 4 August 2007 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 30 September 2007 Town Hall, Panadura (staged twice) 9 October 2007 Lionel Wendt 19 October 2007 Sudasuna Hall, Chilaw (staged twice) 28 November 2007 Youth Council Hall. Anuradapura (staged twice) 25 January 2008 Lionel Wendt, Colombo 14 February 2008 University of Kelaniya 24 February 2008 Town Hall, Bandarawela 9 March 2008 Niwala Hall, Gampaha 26 May 2008 Mini Theatre, Borella (workshop & musical evening to mark the first anniversary) 23 August 2008 Dharmaraja College, Kandy 7 December 2008 Lionel Wendt (first posthumous performance) 24 May 2009 Town Hall, Negombo (staged twice)(second anniversary)
Background
The opera was the culmination of the four-decade-long musical career of Premasiri Khemadasa and his lifelong yearn for localizing the opera by making it acceptable to the sensibilities of the Monsoon Asia. Because of his innovative approaches to music and his refusal to be restricted by the Indian Classical Music, he has been condemned as strongly as he has been admired. Operas are unheard of for the most of Sri Lankans if Premasiri Khemadasa had not endeavored to introduce it to Sri Lanka with several experimental works before producing this opera. After several such efforts he has finally found a vehicle for his music. It is truly a Sinhala-language opera like Wagner's Parsifal is a German-language opera and Verdi's Othello is an Italian one.
Agni is noted for its prominent Oriental and Western mythological elements. While the Greek influence is visible over the character of Ginipathi (Lord/God of Fire), the influence of the Pathini cult is visible over the fire goddess, the sister of the former. Brilliantly linked oriental and western imagery are woven into the musical and lyrical framework of the opera. In the story of goddess Pathini, there are many references to fire. Pathini is one of the four guardian deities of Sri Lanka. Paththini protects people from calamities. Poems pertaining to the cult of Pathini are sung in the Pathini temples. She burnt the city of Pandya King, Madurai by her left breast torn apart to avenge the treachery, committed against her innocent husband. Further Agni was the God of Fire and Fire worship was widely practiced in the ancient Asia including Babylon, Egypt and India. Prometheus is a central figure in Greek mythology. Thus a dialogue between myths of the East and the West are written in the story of opera and it supports the fusion of Eastern and Western traditions of music. In this opera, the mythology supports musicology and indigenous literary traditions supports music.
Various musical elements were blended and a great many miniature musical dramas such as the harvest feast and the celebration of blacksmiths, could be seen in the opera. The most salient feature of the opera was the use of the Western classical musical procedure along with Sinhalese folk rhythms to make music not only more dramatic but also to make it more familiar to the local ear. There were many musical phrases in the opera created by addition of notes to codes as sponge-like absorption of folk colors and elaboration, which were having a particular appeal to the audience. They enhanced the spectrum of tonality, which was unimaginable to the academic musicians in the country. The opera was considered a complex cross-breeding. He made the Asian voice colors heard within the operatic tradition and the Western orchestration. When the first anniversary was celebrated as a workshop and a musical evening at the Mini-theater, Colombo, he pointed out how even Pablo Picasso failed as a result of his Eurocentrism and his failure to challenge the western hegemony. He quoted the John Berger's book "The Success and Failure of Picasso" to show how the modern master fail in the latter part of his life.
In many newspaper and TV interviews between 2007/8, Khemadasa spoke about the opera highlighting its strengths of drama and voices with a genuinely Asian color. For him the Operatic voice with an Asian tonality was the raison d'être of the opera . His maturity in his last period took on a new voice driven significance. The originality of the voices amply proved his point although sometimes he lost his own voice due to the old age and sickness. His players gave a remarkable display of their ability, which was quite unknown and unusual to the media sponsored superstar and mega-talent shows. The opera clearly marked the dividing line between good music and thrash. It was an active shaping force in the culture of the period rather than a mere reflection of it. It responded to the social and cultural character of the day and served as a medium for shuffling and reshuffling the building blocks of identity and desire of the culture. As there was no opera culture and necessary entertainment infrastructure to maintain the artistic quality of music in the country, he had to have a strong defense wall to protect the talents cultivated by him from the ongoing degeneracy in local music occurring through reality shows and soap operas commonly known as telees. He even met the parents of his singers or else talk to them over his hand phone to make them aware of the value of their daughters and sons. He advised them how to protect the talents in their young daughters and sons. Sometimes he openly wept seeing that those talents were being wasted in the media industry. He fought violently with the makers of soap operas when they were secretly after his talented students. What he insisted was "Engaged music" similar to what Sartre insisted for literature. But for him it had to be without engaging in any kind of political program. He wanted his players to cultivate not only higher standards but also strong cultural values . After his death some of his students were at a crossroads before the cheap entertainment industry and the opera.
Plot
The opera begins with a dark, wintry scene, which gradually extends to the choral expression of unending sufferings of the people living without the comfort of fire. All other gods except Ginipathi (Prometheus) guard the right of fire and refuse to give it to the human world. Ginipathi sees the suffering on the earth and sends fire to the humans through his sister, the goddess of fire. As the opera unfolds, an enthusiastic boy enters the forest in the mountains and sees the goddess, a fantastic spectacle. He runs to the village and tells his people about his marvellous discovery. Soma, a young hunter and the leader of the community walks into the forest in search of her. Seeing the first human on the earth, the goddess happily presents the gift of fire to him to begin the civilization. With the birth of the new civilization and the change of seasons, the very first harvest on the earth is celebrated. Meanwhile, the boy again comes from the forest and says that Ginipathi is being punished in the forest by the cruel gods. Soma asks his people to come with him to go to the forest to save their hero god. But all of them refuse to go with him. Soma and the fire goddess go in search of Ginipathi. It is a fatal journey for both of them.
Roles
Role Voice CastSoma, Primitive HunterTenorChandimal HemanthaGini Devagana, Fire GoddessSoprano Indika UpamaliMihipaba, Glitter of the EarthSoprano Subuddhi LakmaleeDawala Koluwa, The White BoyTenor Sumudu PathirajaSwapnee, The Dreaming WomanAlto Umali ThilakarathnaYajakee, the PriestessSoprano Neluka ThishariGinipathi, PrometheusBass Krishan WickramasinheWelapennee, the Weeping WomanSoprano Wageesha SadamaleeShakthi, AmazonAltoUpeksha WickramaMaha Devi, the Great GodTenor Gamini SarathchandraAnudevi, Lesser GodsTenorSumudu Pathiraja, Marshel Janatha
Orchestra Name instrument Dinesh Subasinghe First violin Amarasiri peiris Viola Thushani Jayawardana violin Namal Gunathilaka Tabla and percussion somasiri Badagama percussion Samantha Perera keyboards Sulara Nanayakkara violin S.Wijesinghe keyboards Gunasena Cooray Guitar Sujeewa Esraj Sanath flute Dee R Cee members percussion
Synopsis
The action takes place in legendary times. Humans live in darkness and cold before the history and civilization begins and without the comfort of fire.
Act One
Scene 1
"ekada pahanak ekada eliyak thavama netha delvee" (No single lamp or light is yet lit) - Chorus - Men and women in dark cloaks shown in silhouette convey their sad feelings. A gleam of hope also prevails amidst the unbearable sorrow.
In a dark world with no lamp to illuminate There is no colossus strength built in us In this dreadful barren land of snow How are we and our children to survive without fire?
Hundreds perished in this horrible land Their flesh, bones and blood turning hard into stones Oh gods look at us, the humans mercifully And render us a flame of fire