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I am a product of my environment. I was born and raised in Sri Lanka, a country deeply rooted in over two thousand year's of traditions of the Dravidian's, Aryan's, Wanniya-Laeto, the Moors and five hundred years of European colonization by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. My Dravidian ancestors arrived in Sri Lanka in 300 BC from Southern India and settled in the northern province of Jaffna. After spending their formative years there, my parents moved to the south where I was born in the city of Kandy in 1962. My mother Rubawathy, a musician, painter and poet and my father Kirubasingam, the most adventerous person that I have ever known, provided the building blocks which serve me in my art to this day, artistic thought and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I began my formal education in music at the age of eleven in Piano theory and during my secondary schooling, at Trinity College, Kandy, the Percussion tradition of the area and subsequently in acoustic Guitar. It is with this foundation that I arrived in New York in 1983 as a University student........... Scroll for more.
I had my first exposure to "modern dance" in 1984 when I went to a performance given by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Besides the discovery of modern dance on that day I was also exposed to the realm and philosophies of "new music" and subsequently my study in that field. I received my first commission for dance/performance art in the mid 80's, followed by my work with the Loose Marbles Dance Company and commissions for numerous other dance/performance art projects. I became a faculty musician at the Department of Dance at State University of New York at Brockport in 1990. I remained there until I moved to Minneapolis in the winter of 1997 where I worked for the Dept. of Theatre Arts & Dance, University of Minnesota...Scroll for more.
I have, over the years, had the following inner dialog's on topics, specifically in respect to my life in Music. Why Music? Why Dance? Analog or Digital? Graham, Cunningham, Hawkins & Taylor? Nine Evenings? Ligetti? Faust, Throbbing Gristle, Zoviet France & Einsturzunde Neubauten? Max/MSP or Pure Data? Paul Reed Smith, Gibson or Fender? Antheil, Berrio, Xenakis, Stockhausen & Oliveros? Russes & Trockadero? Extra Light, Light or Medium? Modern, Post Modern & Contemporary? Cajon & Matka? Satie? Bill T? Walter or Wendy? 6 or 12? Serialism or Post Serialism? Port de Bras and Pointe? Waldorf or Oxford? Wigman, Holm & Bausch? Microtones? Atonality? Rond de Jambe? Czukay, Jarre, Eno, Froese & Fripp? ELO, KMFDM, LP, VCO, LFO & BT? Rainer, Paxton, Brown & Banes? Bars & Barres? Webern? Arpeggios? Byzantine Generals Problem? First, Second, Third and Forty fifth Position? Limon? Adagio or Alegro? Release? Diminished Seventh? Horst, Reigger, Gilbert, Cowell & Dunn? Trance, Dronology & Electro Clash? Releve? Boards of Canada, Mission of Burma and Swell Maps? Denishawn? Budd? And so on and so forth........Scroll for more.
"Music" as I have come to know it, is a series of acoustic events, quantified by time, from our past to the present, and is a sonic representation of the human condition which continues to be in a state of flux. With voice and simple idiophones to complex music programming languages, human evolution continues to mold this realm of sound. For me personally, the root sound of all sounds, documented in the philosophies and paradigms of my culture is "Om", and throughout all my experiences, I remain true to my heritage in the singular pursuit of understanding that one rudimentary sound, to accept it, to deny it or to mold it within the capabilities of my mind....scroll for more.
In regards to "Dance", simply, I am only inspired by the human form. Contemporary Dance/Western Movement Vocabulary and its multi dimensional complexities, collaborative processes and dialogs, both cerebral and otherwise, allows for a platform incomparable to nothing else, where my imagination can exist freely.....scroll for more.
Finally, I have come to accept that uncontrived art can only exist independent of a demanding audience, free of the whims and trends of society and populer culture. Contemporary Dance offers me that identity where the process remains the challenge and the end result is merely just that, the end result. The audience, for me, is optional...My work will always exist..Scroll for more.
I am extremely grateful to my Mother and Father for this profound adventure. I now live in Minneapolis with my friend, partner and wife, Snjezana and kitten Mila [Dara has moved on to her 17th life in another dimension], two strong energies who continue to keep me sane, insane and somewhere inbetween. My life continues it's path as a ritual.........
______________________________ 2004 ______________________________
Otherworldly..........Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, USA
