UNIFUSION – the Peradeniya University Music Society’s all faculty evening of rhythm and dance – had many beats to it this time. The most irritating of these was a band of dissenters sent there (?) by what we believe is the / a hand of the Students’ Union, which has differences with an alternative student-political ideology represented by part of the Organizing Committee of UNIFUSION.
It is an acknowledged fact that English-related activities and programmes organized by alternative, non-Students’ Union bodies at Peradeniya are “not approved” by the censorious “big brother rules” agenda of the SU. These programmes, therefore, musical or otherwise, have to “face the music” if the SU decides to “play”. And this evening, so to speak, was one of them.
The commencing of the programme itself was delayed when an alleged SU backed faction consisting students from the Engineering and Arts faculties came and demanded admittance to the theatre for Rs. 20. This was in spite of the tickets being already priced at Rs. 50 for students. In their view, it was atrocious and against university policy to charge a student more than Rs. 20. Anyways. They also complained that posters announcing UNIFUSION – which were put up around campus and town early this week – were pasted over SU posters that promoted a “blood donation” which the SU is said to have organized. So, the compensation, by their logic, was to force into the show and to call for blood.
And blood, indeed, was their call – as the organized body of dissenters, sitting in the back rows of the EOE Pereira theatre launched into a medley of chants, hoots, interruptions, shouts and boisterous clapping while the items were being presented. The performers, however, held an iron nerve and concrete guts as not to be disturbed or “put off” by the rowdy saboteurs. The announcer remarked that the misbehaving section was “a disgrace to the university” and that the show will go on for the benefit of “the disciplined parties” present.
The evening was a magnifique fusion of diverse styles, cultures, genres braced by the rich talent of the performers. The items included solo singing, many a colourful dance item, a couple of groovy skits and a refreshing mix of music from the 60s to alternative rock and hip hop. The show, which was initiated last year, was meant to fuse together the many styles – bringing on to one stage the diversity of culture(s) and the “sense” of art that is around us. And true to the word, tonight’s show cut across a rich variety of Sinhala, Tamil, English, Latin, Classical, Hindi “cultures” – bringing together generations of creative will on a 21st Century stage.
But, of course, the Students’ Union proxies had to cock up their politically prejudiced, parochial pistols and keep on interrupting. By the time the 5th item was on there were almost 40 dissenters seated in the back rows of the EOE. Most of them are alleged to be First Year students from the Engineering Faculty, joined by “crack troops” from Arts (Usually, as per SU fetish of “structure”, the First Year kids get to do the laundry of the Seniors). However, the sad part for the dissenters was that not many were too bothered by them, as the performers got on with their hard-rehearsed acts.
Where metaphors fail, deeds speak out loud.
The audience, too, backed up the performers giving them warm applause and by clapping in rhythm of the singing on stage. So, being badly let down, the dissenters tried their last card by attempting to rouse a riot inside the house. A group of the rioters initiated their own “talent show” making marauding gestures and flapping their hands all around accusing a section of the audience for, with the aid of a mobile phone, having “videoed their dissent”.
So?
I mean, surely, if they were not violating any law or breaking any ethical codes, why should they be thus worried that their mayhem making was taped?
However, what followed was a disturbing and violent spat of words – as the vent of the dissenters’ frustration got thrown all over the audience consisting of faculty, fathers, mothers, family members of students, kids and outsiders. And it stank.
The security division was, then, summoned and with some of the organizers committing, and with an overall delay of 20 minute, the dissenters were finally led out of the EOE theatre. The writer is not 100% aware as to what exactly caused the dissenters to agree to leave – but, in the final analysis it so happened that they came, they saw….and they had to leave.
While the din was on, the Organizing Committee, one felt, did an excellent job not letting things get totally out of hand – and, by not reacting to the intruders. Applause should also go to the two announcers, Ms. Hashintha Jayasinghe and Mr. Arshed Fazal for keeping their heads up under pressure and for handling it all coolly.
The evening resumed and the rest of the programme went on uninterrupted. But, it is nothing less than the utter misfortune of the country that agents such as the SU of a leading University – an agent who has legitimacy and a politically recognized position within the Establishment – act in such lowly gestures. Clearly, UNIFUSION has to be appreciated, at least, at two levels:
- For bringing together the eight faculties of the University for an active evening of performance art.
- For opening up a creative forum as the meeting point of diverse cultures, diverse “senses” and for pushing the horizons of creativity – both conceptually and practically.
Art has no language. And even if it did have one, our belief is that it would be shades different from the language of a parochial little group that, while sucking out of the nipple of a political party based in Battaramulla, assumes the name of Students’ Union. Of course, in a dynamic and active society we all encounter problems whether we work in tandem with, abreast of or against one another. But, the solutions to these issues have to be sorted out in ways that, in the end, the solution would be a solution.
