| Ananda Samarakoon | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon |
| Also known as | Ananda Samarakoon |
| Born | January 13, 1911 |
| Origin | Sri Lanka |
| Died | April 5, 1962 |
| Genres | Sri Lankan music |
| Occupations | Singer-Songwriter Teacher |
| Years active | 1938–1962 |
Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon (January 13, 1911 – April 5, 1962) (known as Ananda Samarakoon) was a Sri Lankan composer and musician. He composed the Sri Lankan national anthem "Sri Lanka Matha" and is considered the father of artistic Sinhala music and founder of the modern Sri Lankan Geeta Sahitya (Song Literature).
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Samarakoon was born Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon to a Christian family in Padukka, Sri Lanka on January 13, 1911. He had his primary and secondary education at Christian College,Kotte, presently known as Sri Jayawardenapura M.V.Kotte. His Sinhala Guru was Pandit D.C.P. Gamalathge. Later he served his Alma mater as a teacher of Music and Art. Samarakone left for the Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan in India to study art and music. After six months he abandoned his studies and returned to Sri Lanka, and changed his name to Ananda Samarakoon, embracing Buddhism.[1] Then he served as the music teacher of Mahinda College, Galle from 1938 to 1942, And he wrote the national anthem of Sri Lanka.
He was very much influenced by Rabindranath Tagore while in India and his fascination and the desire to imitate the great Indian musician would go on to take him in the direction of creating a musical tradition for the Sri Lankan people.
In 1937, the popular music of Sri Lanka consisted 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 music 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. In 1940, he composed Namo Namo Mata to instil patriotism and love for one's country, in his students at Mahinda College.[2] That song was later selected as the National anthem of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan government.
The love themed song ' Endada Menike ' unfolds in the form of a dialogue between a young village boy and a girl. Poetic and beautifully rustic, it 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:
In 1945 Samarakoon's only son died at the age of five and the grieving Samarakoon left Sri Lanka for India where he pursued a painting career and held eleven art exhibitions there. Though his painting were critically acclaimed, he returned to music in 1951 back in Sri Lanka.
One of Samarakoon's early compositions, Namo Namo Mata (composed in 1940, recorded in 1946) was nominated as the national anthem and was officially adopted as the national anthem of Ceylon on November 22, 1951, from a committee headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne.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 caused him to write numerous articles counter attacking his critics to defend his composition. However, without his consent, the introductory words were changed to "Sri Lanka Mathaa" so that the "Gana" significance now would designate victory and prosperity.
On April 5, 1962, at the age of fifty one, Samarakoon committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets and the cause is said to be the change of words of his composition without his consent. Samarakoon's legacy lives on in his music and in the musical style he created.