Detail from tableau of a Thousand Buddhas, Ridi Vihare / Photo by Yaswan Dissanayaka I love British comedy. Long before Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, 'Allo 'Allo!, Dad’s Army, and Mind Your Language, there was Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Something of a precursor to Saturday Night Live, which in turn influenced our own Api Nodanna Live, Monty… Continue reading And Now for Something Completely Different
Gotagogama, July 12, 2022 / Photo by Dhananjaya Samarakoon Over the last two years I have been travelling to various parts of the country, trying to make sense of how rural communities operate, how they think and how they see the world. In all my travels I have come to realise how much rural beliefs… Continue reading Finding the Rural in the Urban
Co-authored with Uthpala Wijesuriya Detail from tableau of a Thousand Buddhas, Ridi Vihare By 1505 CE, a Portuguese fleet arrived in Galle, Sri Lanka. Renowned for its spices and pearls, the South Asian island nation had been conducting commerce for centuries, “for the benefit of all” [1]. For the Portuguese, which was by then building… Continue reading The Art of Kandy, “The Art a Poor People”
On Tuesday, December 5, the French Embassy screened Vaishnavee at the National Film Corporation, the last in a series of cultural items commemorating the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between France and Sri Lanka. The finale was, to put it rather mildly, a fitting one. Peries epitomised Sri Lanka’s French connection in ways few of… Continue reading “Vaishnavee”: Sumitra Peries’ swansong
Malinda Bandara / Pexels If Sri Lanka is to think afresh, it must think anew. Nowhere is this truer than its tourism sector. Hindered for so long by so many bottlenecks, the tourism sector has been held back by too many conventional wisdoms. It’s not just that officials are unwilling to step out of their… Continue reading Marketing Sri Lanka
Trinity College Chapel / Uditha Devapriya George Keyt, whose 30th death anniversary fell on July 31, was easily Sri Lanka’s most distinctive, popular, and recognisable artist. In a career spanning 70 years he exhibited across Sri Lanka, India, Asia, and Europe. His fame eclipsed that of his colleagues in the 43 Group, barring perhaps Justin… Continue reading George Keyt at Trinity College
There is a point in Killers of the Flower Moon where it stops becoming a film and transforms into an experience. I found myself moved to anger, sadness, and then provoked into self-reflection. This is a film that tells us everything, in one go, about the history of the West, the plight of those who… Continue reading “Killers of the Flower Moon”: Not just important, but timely
Kohomba Kankariya: The Sociology of a Kandyan Ritual, by Sarath Amunugama Vijitha Yapa, 2021, 204 pages, Rs. 2,000 One of the oldest rituals in Sinhala culture, the Kohomba Kankariya is also the biggest. It is certainly the most expensive, requiring tremendous reserves of energy, effort, enthusiasm, and initiative. Bringing together a galaxy of deities and… Continue reading From ritual to performance: The sociology of Kohomba Kankariya
I wonder how many people remember Tisara Prakashakayo. Long before Sarasavi and Vijitha Yapa, or even Godage, Surasa, and Visidunu, everybody bought books at Tisara. If offered a wide range of titles, authors, and genres to choose from, including not just history, but also social theory, cultural anthropology, and Rupa Saparamadu’s Sinhala Geheniya. It published… Continue reading The continuing relevance of Martin Wickramasinghe
Photo by Manusha Lakshan “That the man who wrote these plays wasn’t mentioned in the State Drama Advisory Board’s ‘Playwrights of the 60s’ baffles me even today.” (Sunil Mihindukula) Sunil Mihindukula was referring to Sumana Aloka Bandara. When my friend Chathura Pradeep broke news of Bandara’s passing away to me last Monday, I first wondered… Continue reading A tribute: Sumana Aloka Bandara
Uditha Writes 