The two volumes of Sinhala books lying before meare a welcome variant of the existing pattern of other encyclopaedia published by any book publisher. They are academic surveys as well as popular reading material needed for several purposes at a given time. I am referring to the two volumes as compiled by the well-known film director, lyricist as well as the academic known to the world as Professor Sunil Ariyaratne. The two volumes are titled Sinhala Chitrapata Gitavaliya, the first volume containing the songs of Sinhala films from 1967 to 1971 and the second volume from 1972 to 1976.
At a glance, a reader who is bound by a desire to be familiar with the details ofa particular song belonging to the particular period cited, has to just scan the index of these two books that are meticulously arranged. I use the term ‘meticulous’ as the two hefty or bulky volumes are meticulously arranged in the manner of a postgraduate research project in the social sciences.
The two volumes too are supplemented with long prefaces on several topics such as the type of films for which the songs are created, the previous places where the lyrical compositions or the songs were printed, some factor pertaining to the type of recipient or the audience to which the song was catered, some of the scenes for which the particular song came to be written or created etc.
Perhaps all these could go as significant factors for the reader. All these factors go on to say that the compiler, Professor Sunil Ariyaratne, has left no stone unturned in the process of collecting items or material for his two volumes. The material thus collected are predominantly archival sources or collector’s items that lay hidden in various places. This also goes to say that the venture of the investigative process had been arduous or at least time-consuming. Professor Ariyaratne had been engaged in this type of survey from his days of development as an erudite scholar.
For example, he is credited to be the indefatigable collector and compiler of all the plays of the celebrated Tower Hall dramatist John de Silva and a few others. Here too he is seen as a scholar delved in a certain function perhaps unseen as a resourceful process that eclipses the various learning processes in Media and Communication Studies. The attempt cannot be overlooked or undermined as futile either in Social Sciences or in Humanities. The two volumes will come as learning material as well as good teaching material in creative communication as well as language teaching and the use of language that comes as suitable expressions of a particular event in a visual medium. To the best of my awareness, this kind of compilation has not been performed by any academic belonging to any local university or any other seat of learning in our country. In this respect, this attempt on the part of Professor Sunil Ariyaratne is commendable and a media tribute.
The users presumably at time goes on may come from various media channels where content-embedded could be enhanced via the material and found in these two volumes. The compiler has taken extra care in the use of language that times had defaulted. He uses the exact original lines ofa song for example with extra care leaving justice to the creators.
As an extra dimension of these two volumes, I as a reader felt that this is by and large is a fulfilment of source material the teaching of cinematography. As a film director, Professor Ariyaratne may have a sensitive grasp of the need for a song, and the type of content it should embrace and who would sing it with whose creative direction. Why a particular song is remarkable and why another is not so could be discerned.
In this direction, the need for songs in films too is underlined as a guiding line of interest. Who sings what type of song for what purpose could emerge as a theory of communication from the two volumes. A reader who is avidly fond of songs and lyrics of films in our country may find solace from this compilation. The photo copies of most of the documents from which the songs are collected too are embedded. They too go to express various nuances of the contents of the particular films.
As such, those who take an active interest in the film aesthetics too are helped indirectly. From a historical perspective, the two volumes may need the scrutiny of the local film aesthete. A discriminative teacher could make use of these songs in order to make use of practical lessons in creative communication. This may result in the gradual taste-building process.
As pointed out by the well-known Media critic Denys Thompson in his Discrimination and Popular Culture the film song as well as film music play a vital role in the changing aspects of media technology. If we compare what we know about science and technology with what we know about the behaviour is created via media channels, we can easily see that we are in the act of discrimination as a behaviour pattern.
In the context of popular culture of our country as well as in other countries, a major segment of the musical culture is based on the songs and their patterns as depicted in the films. Even the well-known operas and ballads have been transformed into visuals in films. In this direction, the learned compiler has taken care to compartmentalise films into various categories. In this direction, quite a number of local films have ushered in unique pioneers whose names and functions too are cited. The growth of the earliest gramophone rewards came as a result of films is a factor unforgettable.
On the other hand, some of the singers in the films known by the term playback singers, gradually emerged as veteran singers in the radio and television channels. They too become gradually popular actor singer who played a dual role by singing as well as performing in visuals. Some of the well-known opera or theatre singers too had the chance of becoming playback singers. A number of such events are recorded in these two volumes.
All in all, as a reader I found that the research that could be branded as a visual cum sound survey is remarkably resourceful for the average reader as well as the serious-minded investigative reader in search of new vistas in communication and media surveys.
