Building musical bridges

AS the 17th death remembrance of Music Maestro Premasiri Khemadasa approaches, daughter Gayathri Khemadasa, an accomplished musician in her own right, shares her vision for realising what her father envisioned for the next generation.

- BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

"Imagine a seven-year-old interpreting the symphony of Golu Hadawatha as a kind of music which reverberates across the universe," reflects Gayathri Khemadasa. The internationally reputed composer and musician who strives to keep the legacy of her father - Music Maestro Premasiri Khemadasa alive, through the Khemadasa Foundation, is riveted by the musical talent she discovers each day in the backwaters of the island through her school workshops. "On another occasion a youngster commented that perhaps the composer of Golu Hadawatha symphony himself may have been heartbroken," chuckles Gayathri. Having pursued her music studies at the Prague Conservatory and Masaryk University in Czech Republic, when Gayathri could have made musical strides anywhere in the world, she returned home to continue the good work of her father's. Today she is an accomplished musician in her own right.

"My father's biggest dream was to give a chance to the next generation, a chance he never had because as a youngster he didn't have the kind of teachers, mentors or educators that he was looking for or who would have taken him to that next level of music appreciation, to help think out of the box. But he would relentlessly search for that kind of experience. This is why he started what was then called Manjariya in the 60s (which later evolved into the Khemadasa Foundation (KF) in 1992) way before internationally reputed organisations such as Carnegie Halls' Weill Music Institute (WMI) or El Sistema which provide free music education to children came into being. My father strived to enable a platform for creativity, to foster the musical talents of youngsters, especially those coming from underprivileged parts of the country," remarks Gayathri who is presently heading the Foundation.