Three Sri Lankan Dances – Lalanath de Silva (b. 1959)
(#2 Jaya Keli)
Performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri lana conducted by the composer.
Dancer: Bethany Pereira
Photo credits: Mamgalika Pereira
De Silva wrote this work for Orchestra in 1995 and it was premiered by the Symphony orchestra of Sri Lanka with the composer conducting. It has since been performed several times by that Orchestra, including on one occasion with the Ravi Bandhu Vidyapathy Dance troupe. The three dances are based on Sri Lankan dance forms.
The first dance is called “Ukussa” (Eagle) and is based on a Kandyan Vannama by that name (Ukussu Vannama). Vannama’s are the basis of well-established Kandyan dances mostly depicting various animals, Kandyan dance is historically related to Odissi dance forms in India. The music depicts a soaring eagle occasionally hovering in a stationary position.
The second dance called “Jaya Keli” (Celebrations) captures the spirit of the traditional New Year festivities in April. The celebrations mark the transition of the sun from the constellation of Pisces to Aries and has historical roots in harvest festivals. Suddenly the music is interrupted – and enter the Veddahs (the indigenous people of Sr Lanka) from the hunt – bringing with them a moose deer. They dance in ritual celebration of the successful hunt around a bon-fire as the deer cooks. They drop to the ground – exhausted – as the crackling fire provides warmth for dinner.
The third and final dance is a Baila (in Portuguese “dance”). The Baila has roots in Kaffirhina, a dance form brought to the island by the Kaffirs from Africa. Accompanied to box and string bass, a fiddle, accordion and some home-made percussion provided the music for the dance. Today, most Sri Lankan parties and festive celebrations would not be complete without some Baila. De Silva takes this folk-dance form and presents it through an orchestra capturing the cross rhythms that incite people to dance. He uses two well-known traditional baila tunes as part of the dance combining it with his own original baila tunes.
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