Lalith Mallawarachchi - BMR 2008

I cannot recall another performance, which bored me, than this years 'Bakmaha Rngana', the annual cultural event organised by the Cultural Forum of NSW. Never was an occasion I had to sit trough a series of mediocre and mostly predictive performances for nearly 5 hours within a packed but somewhat disgruntled audience.

President of the Cultural Forum in his message stressed that the event each year provide local 'Artists' the best opportunity to perform within a state of the art facility at the 'Hills Centre'. However every year it make one wonder if the community, as spectators, get their moneys worth as far as the quality of performances are concerned.

Firstly, it should be acknowledged that the organisers of this event, as seen over the years, have done their best to bring some aspects of Sri Lankan performing art forms together.

Among over 30 performances, most were essentially dance recitals reflecting upon the recent trends in Sri Lankan dancing/performance culture. With due respect to the our youngsters for their great efforts in embracing the so called traditional dances one could hardly differentiate one from the other despite obvious differences between the songs and music they were dancing to. The dances failed to enhance adequately, the quality and mood of the song/music or the vise versa as envisaged.

We as migrants still seem to hang on to our belief that the glory of Art & Culture we experienced back in Sri Lanka many years ago still exists and should remain so. We ignore the fact that the entire socio-cultural structure of the country has moved on since then, influenced by 'globalisation' and many other factors.

'Bakmaha Rangana' over the years has failed to accept this reality. Disregarding the opportunities we got to learn from similar events of other communities we still struggle to come to terms with our 'illusions'.  As a result, what we perceive as Sri Lankan art unfortunately is becoming obsolete.

It cannot be disputed that artistic creations reflect the socio-cultural reality and any effort to alienate from this reality will be illusionary. What more proof we need for this than the commendable performance, in contrast to the majority of others, created and presented by our own youth group. Their act had the touch of novelty and cleverly grasped some aspects of the migrant social reality, with good sense of humour.  It combined both audio visual and live performances moving rapidly between narrative and drama styles while creating a multi act/stage environment. I am sure there is a lot we can learn from their way of thinking and creative skills.

One other item that is noteworthy, albeit its controversial theme, is 'Beri Sil' a 'ballet'  based on 'Kolam' tradition. It was well composed, presented and acted acquiring the essentials elements of the traditions with an eye to detail.

Finally, I am sure its time for our friends at the Cultural Forum to review the contents, structure and style of the past events and evolve a process to ensure the quality of future performances.