Agni (opera)

Agni ("Fire") is an opera in Sinhalese composed by Premasiri Khemadasa with a libretto by Eric Illayapparachchi.

Seventeen singers trained by Premasiri Khemadasa at his musical academy located at the suburban Folk Art Center, Palawaththa, Battaramulla, performed with an orchestra consisting of two keyboards, flutes, an esraj, guitars, drums, a timpani, a gong and strings.

[1] The opera was the culmination of a period of one year strenuous training undergone by young talents selected by Khemadasa.

Although Maestro Khemadasa was energetic enough to inspire them with his philosophy of music, he had been subject to several surgeries, one a kidney transplant.

Khemadasa arrived with his usual swiftness and sat on the plastic chair which was behind his keyboard in the room "These girls have been practicing from 8.00 a.m. and their dedication has been unbelievable for the opera .″ he said in admiration.

This was no recording" he went on.The opera was produced amidst many difficulties as there was little space for an art work of this nature in the country.

"With the premiere in the full housed Lionel Wendt, the opera won national respect: proof that the country needed serious music.

Professor Sucharitha Gamlath, a classical scholar and a Marxist critic said that the opera was a musical miracle.

Since its premier the opera has always been the most beloved contemporary work kvvof art in the country and even after the celebration of its second anniversary, there were several requests for future performances.

She burnt the city of Pandya King, Madurai by her left breast torn apart to avenge the treachery, committed against her innocent husband.

Thus a dialogue between myths of the East and the West are written in the story of opera and it supports the fusion of Eastern and Western traditions of music.

There were many musical phrases in the opera created by addition of notes to codes as sponge-like absorption of folk colors and elaboration, which were having a particular appeal to the audience.

He quoted the John Berger's book "The Success and Failure of Picasso" to show how the modern master fail in the latter part of his life.

I am suggesting that outside Europe he would have found his work.In many newspaper and TV interviews between 2007/8, Khemadasa spoke about the opera highlighting its strengths of drama and voices with a genuinely Asian color.

His players gave a remarkable display of their ability, which was quite unknown and unusual to the media sponsored superstar and mega-talent shows.

As there was no opera culture and necessary entertainment infrastructure to maintain the artistic quality of music in the country, he had to have a strong defense wall to protect the talents cultivated by him from the ongoing degeneracy in local music occurring through reality shows and soap operas commonly known as telees.

He even met the parents of his singers or else talk to them over his hand phone to make them aware of the value of their daughters and sons.

The opera begins with a dark, wintry scene, which gradually extends to the choral expression of unending sufferings of the people living without the comfort of fire.

As the opera unfolds, an enthusiastic boy enters the forest in the mountains and sees the goddess, a fantastic spectacle.

In a dark world with no lamp to illuminate There is no colossus strength built in us In this dreadful barren land of snow How are we and our children to survive without fire?

Hundreds perished in this horrible land Their flesh, bones and blood turning hard into stones Oh gods look at us, the humans mercifully And render us a flame of fire All people are in frustration over the way they have to live.

Under the onslaught of coldness, the expectations for enlightenment also collapse and reduce the listener to a mood of nostalgia and desperation.

Scene 2 All other gods who are striving to cling to power refuse to share the benefits of fire with the powerless and wretched humans.

Scene 3 "Dalvu pahanak nathe niwase" (Darkness and wintry cold have plagued our lives and the bed shared by us is as cold as a dead body) Soma who can no longer be pampered by her deep-hearted love and affection, and endure her traditional attitudes tries to break down her resistance.

He understands that her forte is the conventional emotions and to realize his aspirations he has to liberate himself from the bondage of traditional domestic life.

When he begins his journey into the mountains, a charming song on the magic of fire is sung by the Yajakee (the priestess).

At the beginning bursting out in a divine exaltation and then following dramatic variations, she declares that she is the one shining like a flame can scorch the four corners of the earth.

She anxiously questions whether the sadness and agony she is now experiencing as a mortal woman is a feeling inherent to the womanhood.

Lost in amazement by seeing the huge mountains covered with thick snow, she says that the selfish gods are not to escape her wrath.

The opera ends with a Brechtian speech, which relentlessly questions the mediocre attitude of people towards their own heroes, sages, thinkers and artists.