Santhutti (2014)

The main research behind in this C .D. was to show the people that most of the Sri lankan songs were influenced by North Indian ragas. The methodology was taking people from the known to the unknown. For example, when you listen to the first item on the disk, the raga is Maand. This raga is made from a folk tune. In this Raga, the special characteristic musical phrase is S,G,GM,P,D,NP,D,P. When you listen to the song “Mal Pibidee Gena Enne” composed by Sunil Shanta, the whole song is based on this raga Maand. In this CD that is why I have selected this raga, because people will know the raga and the song both. That is what I mean by the method, known to the unknown. In this way, people can improve their level of appreciation and they will also be encouraged to listen to ragadhari music. The main idea behind this CD was to popularize North Indian ragas in Sri Lanka.

Some of these are original work I composed when I was in Columbia University, New York as a Fulbright scholar. The tabla is played by a very popular Indian tablist in New York, Nitin Mitta.