Ravana Related Sinhala Songs

Google shared Image from Sri Lanka Spirit Blog site.

I was inspired to make this posting, together with the link for the full version of “Mahasen Thandavaya”, a demonstration of the pre-Ravana cultural treasures of this land, upon seeing a posting by my friend author Daya Dissanayake, who raised the question “Why are some among those who call themselves learned, so shy of Ravana?  (විද්වතුන් කියල කියා ගන්න සමහර අය රාවනාට මේ තරම් බය ඇයි?)”.

“This was the only song we found among SLBC spool for past few decades which iterates the real story king of Ravana.”, is how the music and theatre production company Ravana Brothers (who posted this video) has described the gramophone age song “Seethavani  oba hada ruwa athi bava”, which they also describe as the Greatest of the Ravana related Sinhala songs. The song is played in full after a few other short clips. I think these two productions present a different perspective to what we have been always led to believe about the story of Ravana, as interpreted in the Ramayanaya. In my earlier work in the Asian region I came across so many different versions of this epic story, where  Ravan/ Ravana was depicted a s a villain by some and as a good sensed hero by others.

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejHmAz6U3pg


Find the link to the HD version of the Mahasen Tandavaya here. This is sung by Saman Lenin and is also produced by Ravana brothers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhmEB71Kj4

I want to be clear that my intent in posting these is not to create further controversy, but to bring to focus a lesser known version of our past as seen also by a group of young people, who have chosen to challenge the dominant view of the learned, to which we had been akin to much of our past and to generate further thought in your mind for the need we have to 'learn' more about this.