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Tablist S. W. Randoowa takes delight in his art and peace it brings him

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22 January 2018 12:28 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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There are many excellent musicians who are not in the public limelight, and tablist S. W. Randoowa is one of them.  
Randoowa began playing the tabla when he was only eight. Now, he’s eighty and conducts tabla classes at the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), Colombo. He was a radio musician for much of his professional life, playing tabla for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation orchestra.  


There was a time when the SLBC held regular concerts and had a faithful audience of fans who attended them regularly. The radio orchestra musicians were known to that crowd, at a time when radio broadcasting was the primary source of entertainment. But the radio’s hold on the dissemination of music has waned considerably since the 1980s, and its current crop of musicians are virtually unknown to the general public.  

Randoowa has little regard for fame, in any case. He is a musician who takes delight in his art and the pleasure and peace it brings him, with money and public adulation being secondary. Like many fellow musicians of his generation, he’s a story teller, full of anecdotes about his origins and life as a musician.  

Randoowa worked as a Super Grade musician for 15 years at the SLBC before retiring. Now he teaches poor, gifted students free of charge at the ICC, and gives away some of his earnings for charity.  

Born in 1937, Randoowa spent his childhood in the village of Polwathumodara in Weligama. There were no musicians in the family, but his father taught himself to play the tabla by ear, without any formal training, and music played an integral part in the family life. Apart from his father’s playing, little Randoowa was fascinated by Indian Qwali and Ghazal musicians who performed at wedding ceremonies of the wealthy Muslim families in Weligama.  

S. W. Rupasinghe (‘Rupasinghe Master’ of ‘Siri Buddhagaya Vihare’ fame) visited the Randoowa household to sing at a family gathering. Impressed by the little boy’s dexterity with the tabla (Randoowa was only eight), the singer told the father that the boy had all the markings of a brilliant tabla player and should be given formal training. The parents had the good sense not to force their son into one of the preferred professions such as medicine or law. 

They decided to heed their friend’s advice, and a musician was born.  
Apart from the tabla, Randoowa learned to play the Japanese mandolin. The left-handed technique needed to play that esoteric instrument (memorably featured in the song ‘Dekkoth Padmawathi’ by M. D. Chandrapala in the 1967 film Sath Samudura) helped Randoowa in his tabla training.  

As a young tabla player at the University of Aesthetic Studies (then called the Haywood) from 1961-63, Randoowa caught the attention of musician and teacher Lionel Edirisinghe, who saw the young man’s potential for a classical education in India. But study in India was expensive, and the money wasn’t there. Among his other teachers were Rupasinghe Master and Podi Appuhumy, father of singer Milton Perera and tablist par excellence.  

Lionel Edirisinghe took Randoowa to meet industrialist C. V. Bhatt, who was also a refined music lover. Unlike now, there were among the wealthy, people with discerning taste in the arts, often taking pride in having some artistic talent in their family circles. They were generous patrons of the arts, too.  
Bhatt was so impressed by the young musician’s talent that he gifted the aspiring musician the princely sum of Rs. 10,000 to study in India, at a time when the price of an airline ticket to Chennai (Madras) cost Rs. 125.

This was one investment which the generous industrialist did not come to regret. Randoowa spent the money wisely, focusing on getting a classical education in Calcutta (now Kolkotta), studying diligently under renowned teachers Lal Baruwa and Anil Bhattacharya of the Faroukhabad Gharana.  

After returning home, Randoowa taught music briefly at the Eththiligoda Madhya Maha Vidyalaya before joining the SLBC, and says with great satisfaction that, while many of his wards at that school went on to become music teachers, their children are now coming to him to learn the intricacies of classical tabla. His advice to beginners: Listen to good music and absorb as much as you can, and practise day and night.  


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