Nilar: Buddhist monk Rambukkana Siddhartha first to discover his talent
Nilar N. Cassim, one of the most talented song writers in Sri Lanka, has linked three generations of musicians in his 25-year career.
In the early part, he associated with maestros of Sinhala music such as Premasiri Khemadasa and Rohana Weerasinghe, and later wrote melodies for the stalwarts in the generation after them. Some of the most popular melodies by the millennial heartthrobs like Bathiya & Santhush, Umariya and Ruwan Hettiarachchi have been penned by him.
Creator of many popular melodies embracing a wider variety of genres, Nilar will showcase his quarter-century journey, billed to be a scintillating presentation of his popular songs, on September 7. Titled Sarasa Vasanthaya, featuring a large number of artistes singing his melodies, the show will be held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.
In an interview with Rivira Online, Nilar who is presently working as a deputy director of the national television, says it was extremely tough to make a beginning though he developed a passion for writing poems and lyrics while studying at Matara Rahula College.
“From my school I began writing poems for newspapers and posted my early lyrics to popular singers, without any encouraging response for a long time until Buddhist monk Rambukkana Sidhartha, a prominent lyricist, selected one of my songs for Karunarathna Divulgane”, says Nilar adding that the monk picked up his debut song, from a huge file in which the singer kept his letters.
Nilar studied Sinhala. He has five siblings and his two sisters studied in Tamil medium while his brothers opted to study in Sinhala medium as a result of his parents’ enthusiastic encouragement.
He says that coming from a different culture, religion and a language to study Sinhalese, created a curiosity to explore deeper into his new language and its culture providing him a platform to enrich his talents.
He has an MA from the University of Kelaniya and an honours BA degree from the University of Jayawardenepura and he is the first and only Muslim to obtain a Sinhala honours degree with a first class.
His debut Samanalun Renak Nil Goyamata which Ven. Siddartha picked from Divulgane’s file became a runaway hit turning him into a sensation almost overnight.
He has written songs to who’s who of Sinhala music including Samantha Perera, Milton Mallawarachchi, Latha Walpola, Nirosha Virajini, Sunil Edirisinghe, Samitha, Athula Adikari, Santhush & Bhatiya, Asanga Priyamantha, Abeywardene Balasuriya, Niranjala Sarojini and Theeksana Anuradha.
Nirosha, while promoting his upcoming show in Nilar’s Facebook page says the bulk of her songs have been composed by him. She, incidentally, sings the Tamil lyrics of Bhathiya-Santhush’s Kiri Kodu, written by him.
Nilar wrote the lyrics for the song Dedunu Sedi which the duo sang along with the Indian songstress Asha Bosle. That number is considered to be the anthem of ethnic diversity attempting to close the gap between Sri Lankan communities. The added embellishment to the number is of course the popular Indian nightingale who sings in Sinhalese. The song features two Sinhalese (Bhathiya & Santhush), is written by a Muslim (Nilar), music directed by a Tamil (Shree) while the two female backup singers hail from Burgher and Malay communities.
During his school days Nilar toyed with the idea of becoming a film maker but while studying at the university he joined Vivrana magazine in Colombo as an editor which gave him the rare chance of meeting the legendary music composer Khemadasa.
The meeting was special in his own words. “Vivrana magazine office was situated close to the late maestro’s house and I was able to meet him through singer Pradeepa Dharmadasa who introduced me as the lyric writer of a song which was used in stage play Iranavila Vedikawa featuring Khemadasa’s music.”
A passionate believer of ethnic harmony, Nilar feels that literature is an ideal medium to bring the Sinhalese and Tamils together. To prove his passionate belief in ethnic closeness he took a break from his busy career to translate Tamil poetry into Sinhala. First collection, Brotherly Wings, containing the works of Jaffna-born poets received critical acclaim.
A large number of his songs are about ethnic harmony, protection of environment, fear of alienation from familiar faces and places, uncertain future sometimes resonating with rebellious ideas and love’s eternal power to heal and rejuvenate.
Actor Sanath Gunetilleke describes Nilar as a rare human being symbolising the oneness of communities while, Edward Jayakody, when he was judging a reality singing contest of war heroes, praised the humane overtones conveyed by his simple lyrics.
Nilar has also written lyrics for a large number of films and TV dramas winning many national awards.
A father of two daughters, Nilar says he has decided to release four DVDs containing 100 of his songs out of a total of about 500 he has written so far to celebrate the silver jubilee, adding that the show will be open to the public free of charge. – Somasiri Munasinghe
