Premasiri Khemadasa

Premasiri Khemadasa

Also known as Khemadasa Master
Born January 25, 1937(1937-01-25)
Origin - Sri Lanka
Died - October 24, 2008 (aged 71)
Genres - Sri Lankan music
Occupations - Music Director,Composer

Premasiri Khemadasa (also Khemadasa) (January 25, 1937 – October 24, 2008) also known as "Khemadasa Master" is one of the most influential composers in Sri Lankan music. Exploring the various styles of music around the world Khemadasa endeavored to develop a unique style of music. He combined Sinhala folk tunes, Hindustani music, Western music and many other streams of music in his compositions while adapting them to fit contemporary music.

Biography
Early life
Khemadasa grew up in Talpitiya, Wadduwa and attended St. John's College Panadura and Sri Sumangala College. As a teenager, he became a gifted flautist.

Khemadasa was asked to come to the Radio Ceylon for an interview on the day he was scheduled to take his Senior School Certificate examination. He finished the examination much ahead of time and travelled to the audition. He passed the audition and became a member of Radio Ceylon.[1]

As a composer
Khemadasa's debut as a film composer came with Sirisena Wimalaweera's Roddie Kella. With his score for Bambaru Ewith he introduced a style of music unacquainted to Sri Lankan cinema. He then began collaborating with acclaimed director Lester James Peries handling the music for films like Golu Hadawatha and Nidhanaya. Critics praised his film scores and he was honorally dubbed "Khemadasa master." Khemadasa's signature in film music is molded by the use of elements from Classical Western music and other sources to heighten the emotion suggested by the picture. Some of his compositions are influenced by Western composers of opera such as Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Lately Premasiri Khemadasa has given his contribution to films such as Agnidahaya and very recently to Ammavarune, the last film by Lester James Peiris who has announced his retirement.

Other scores written by the master for films such as Hansawilak,Thunweniyamaya, Paradige, Yasa Isuru widened his acclaim in the field of cinema. He has also composed music for films produced outside Sri Lanka (Thousand Flowers).

Dr. Khemadasa's contribution to teledramas also brought outstanding masterpieces to the public. His collaboration with director Jayantha Chandrasiri has turned out remarkable products whereas the themes he created for Chandrasiri's television series Dandubasnamanaya have shown unprecedented power of mesmerization. A repertoire of scores written for teledramas including Chandrasiri's Weda hamine, Sathara denek senpathiyo, Akala sandhya, Dharmasena Pathiraja's Gangulen egodata, Ella langa walawwa, Pura sakmana and Bandula Vithanage's Asalwesiyo bestowed the public with unforgettable musical experiences. Also, he has contributed to the teledrama Sadisi tharanaya by Devinda koongahage, which is most probably his last contribution for a teledrama.

He also contributed to stage dramas such as Jayantha Chandrasiri's Mora, Ath, and Dharmasiri Bandaranayake's Makarakshaya & Dhawala bheeshana.

Furthermore, he has composed symphonies like Muhuda, Mage kale mavni and Sinhala Avurudda. His cantata named Pirinivan Mangalya, probably the only Buddhist cantata ever composed, was based on the passing away of the Lord Buddha and it was played at his funeral by the students of the Khemadasa Foundation.

The presence of operatic and harmonic vocals in his music is explained by his vast knowledge of opera and harmony. In his lifetime he made many experiments with techniques of singing and playing, which include the use of asymmetric patterns of beats, revolutionary harmonies and novel techniques of playing musical instruments such as the sitar.

Khemadasa is the only known Sri Lankan musician who practised and created opera. He has a large group of students many of whom were derived from rural milieus and trained for performing in his operas. His famous operas include Manasawila, Doramandalawa and Sondura Varnadasi. Recently he created the opera, Agni (opera) about early civilization. His operas, being written in Sinhalese, form what can be recognized as Sinhalese opera. Khemadasa and his pupils have conducted shows in several countries. After a layoff following a kidney transplant he returned to the field of music, even in his 70s, trying to secure the future of Sri Lankan music. At the time of the maestro's demise on 24th of October 2008, he was 71 years old.

Died 24 October 2008 in a private hospital in Colombo. The funeral was held on the 27th of October.

Filmography
Music director
Year - Film - Other notes
1965 - Sapatha Soya - first solo direction
1966 - Sanasuma Kothanada?
Sithala Wathura
Kapatikama one song (Latha's "Kurulu Ran") and background music
1967 - Rana Giraw
Manamalayo
1968 - Golu Hadawatha - won Sarasavi and Radio Ceylon Magazine awards
Vanasara
Bicycle Hora
1970 - Narilatha - won Sarasavi award
1971 - Seeye Nottuwa
1972 - Nidhanaya
1976 - Janaka Saha Manhu
1978 - Bambaru Awith
1980 - Hansa Wilak
1982 - Kaliyugaya
1983 - Yuganthaya - won OCIC and Sarasavi awards
1987 - Maldeniye Simion - won OCIC award
1990 - Sandakada Pahana - won Sarasavi award
Siri Medura - won Sarasavi, OCIC and Swarna Sankha awards
1993 - Meeharaka - won Swarna Sankha award
1994 - Lokuduwa
1999 - Julietge Bhoomikava - won OCIC and President’s award
2002 - Agnidahaya
Mathu Yam Dawasa
2005 - Guerilla Marketing
2006 - Ammawarune - last film of Lester James Peries