MUSIC-SRI LANKA: “Gypsies” Bring All People Together

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jul 21 1998 (IPS) - Thousands of adoring fans ranging from old men and grey-haired women to young couples with infants and youths in jeans and girls in minis, are preparing for the latest tour of the “Gypsies” – Sri Lanka’s best-loved band.

A small playground, or an abandoned rice field hastily turned into a concert venue is enough of a venue for the band’s powerful beat to send rapturous crowds dancing through the night.

The Gypsies have been buoyed by the tremendous success of its latest album, ‘SIGNORE’, which has a multiplicity of social messages and takes a dig at politicians and their corrupt ways.

“We are planning a brand new act and with the success of SIGNORE, we hope we would have something new to offer fans,” says Sunil Perera, the band’s veteran leader and driving force.

The Gypsies have been around for more than two decades playing solely Sinhalese pop music and will follow its concert tour here with a trip to the United States.

What has endeared the Gypsies to the people is the simplicity of its music and the professionalism of its presentation. But the most important factor is that the band deals with the social issues that affect the lives of ordinary people.

The lyrics are about the working class, their simple lives, their problems, on women, social discontentment and crises. The band has been amply rewarded for its concern, by the immense popularity it has gained.

‘SIGNORE’ was released last November, to coincide with this island nation’s 50th independence anniversary, and was an instant hit. It has so far sold more than 200,000 copies, and is heard on public buses, in tea stalls, on TV and upper class weddings.

The band, has somewhat cheekily, dedicated the album to “all those gallant politicians, who by their untiring efforts, honesty and humility, their unerring policies and divine foresight, orchestrated the gradual wreck and ruin of this once famous island paradise.”

With the lyrics already part of popular culture, it is obvious that the band’s sentiments are shared by the ever increasing number of fans. Even politicians have phoned the band, voicing their appreciation.

The mass following has meant that the music video has been showing on several TV channels. Perera, a fine actor, plays the part of a much-in-demand politician who as minister is corrupt, but returns to normal life with a thump when he loses the poll.

The Gypsies began life in the 1970s but in 1974, switched to Sinhalese.

“We were doing well as a western music band but we realised that the oriental music scene was much bigger and English pop music was just confined to Colombo or a few towns outside. Sinhalese pop was attracting people from all over Sri Lanka,” recalls Perera.

Perera, a campaigner for peace in war-torn Sri Lanka, has made his dislike for politicians well known. He also has written two popular peace songs that the Gypsies performed jointly with a string of other musicians. One of the songs, titled “This land is made for you and me,” according to Perera, highlights the fact that Sri Lanka is a multi-racial country and everyone has a right to live here.

“We need to create a Sri Lankan identity so that people in this country are called Sri Lankans instead of being Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims. We need to love all human beings; we need to right the terrible wrongs that have been done to ethnic communities,” he says with passion.

Sri Lanka is embroiled in a 15-year-old war with Tamil separatist guerrillas who are demanding a state for the minority Tamil community. Though most Tamils do not back the guerrillas, they want equal rights in education, jobs and land use for minorities.

Perera is from the majority Sinhalese community but says he has many Tamil friends and feels their grief and sadness over the state of affairs in this country. Thousands of people from both communities have died in the ethnic conflict.

He believes musicians have the power to mould public opinion. With this in mind, the band is planning to release their greatest hits in the Tamil language.

“I want to get a message across, that music can bring people together — be they Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims. We want these songs in Tamil to be a peace-building exercise,” he said.

The band dreams of being able to hold a concert in northern Jaffna peninsula, which has been virtually out of bounds for civilians from the island’s south ever since the civil war broke out in 1983. “I wish we could play there; maybe some day. We want to meet the people there,” Perera says.