Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon (13 January 1911 – 2 April 1962) known as Ananda Samarakoon was a Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) composer and musician. He composed the Sri Lankan
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
"
Namo Namo Matha" and is considered the father of artistic
Sinhala music and founder of the modern Sri Lankan Sinhala ''Geeta Sahitya'' (Song Literature). He committed suicide in 1962, possibly driven by unauthorized changes to lyrics in a composition.
Early life and education
Born on 13 January 1911 as Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon, to Samuel Samarakoon, Chief Clerk to British-owned Maturata Plantations and Dominga Peries in Watareka, Padukka. He was the second of four sons in a Christian family. Samarakoon received his primary education at Wewala School and thereafter attended
CMS Sri Jayawardenepura College
CMS may refer to:
Computing
* Call management, Call management system
* CMS-2 (programming language), used by the United States Navy
* Code Morphing Software, a technology used by Transmeta
* Collections management (museum), Collection management ...
(Christian College, Kotte). His Sinhala Guru was Pandit D.C.P. Gamalathge. Later he served his Alma mater as a teacher of Music and Art. Samarakoon left for the
Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the w ...
,
Santiniketan
Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...
in India to study art and music. After six months he abandoned his studies and returned to Ceylon, and changed his name to Ananda Samarakoon, embracing
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. Then he served as the music teacher of
Mahinda College
Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of May 2022 it is a national school providing primary and seco ...
,
Galle
Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...
from 1938 to 1942.
Career
Composer
In 1937, the popular music of Sri Lanka consisted of songs derived from the
North Indian
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
Ragadhari music. These songs lyrics often contained meaningless phrases with little or no literary merit. Samarakone set out to create a form of a music that can be classified as Sri Lanka's own and came out with the song '' Ennada Menike (එන්නද මැණිකේ) '' (1940) that paved the foundation for the artistic Sinhala music. In 1940, he composed ''Namo Namo Mata'' to instill patriotism and love for one's country, in his students at
Mahinda College
Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of May 2022 it is a national school providing primary and seco ...
.It was first sung by little Mahindians at the prestigious Olcott Hall. That song was later selected as the National anthem of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan government.
The love themed song ''Endada Menike'' unfolds in the form of a dialogue between a young village boy and a girl. Poetic and beautifully rustic, it became a success and Samarakone followed it with a string of successful songs in the early to mid-1940s, the period considered his golden age. Among his best known works are:
*''Podimal Etano (පොඩීමල් එතනෝ)''
*''Vilay Malak Pipila''
*''Poson Pohoda''
*''Asay madura''
*''Sunila Guvanay''
*''Punchi Suda''
*''Nilvala Gangay''
*''Sumano''
*''Pudamu Kusum''
*''Siri Saru Saara Ketay''
Painter
In 1945, Samarakoon's only son died at the age of five, and the grieving Samarakoon left Sri Lanka for India where he pursued a painting career and held eleven art exhibitions there. Though his painting were critically acclaimed, he returned to music in 1951 back in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
National anthem
One of Samarakoon's early compositions, ''Namo Namo Mata'' was nominated as the national anthem and was officially adopted as the national anthem of
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
on 22 November 1951, from a committee headed by
Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne. Critics attacked Namo Namo Mata, particularly the "
Gana
The word (; Sanskrit: गण) in Sanskrit and Pali means "flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, category, series, or class". It can also be used to refer to a "body of attendants" and can refer to "a company, any assemblage or association of ...
" significance of the introductory words (Namo Namo Matha) which designate disease and ill luck to the political leaders of the country. Samarakone who has completed Ghana Shasthra studies in India, clearly stated the ones who were asking to change the lyrics, that he is the only one to complete Ghana Shastra studies in India and that he would knows if there is any mistake or not. But after some days, he was asked to visit the SL broadcasting cooperation and had made to listen to his song which had been changed without his knowledge and consent.
Death
On 5 April 1962, at the age of fifty one, Samarakoon committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets, and the motive is said to be because the lyrics of the Sri Lankan National Anthem were changed without his consent.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samarakoon, Ananda
1911 births
1962 suicides
Drug-related suicides in Sri Lanka
National anthem writers
Converts to Buddhism from Christianity
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Visva-Bharati University alumni
Sri Lankan composers
20th-century Sri Lankan painters
Sinhalese singers
20th-century Sri Lankan male singers
Faculty of Mahinda College, Galle
Buddhist artists
1962 deaths