The official Website for Pradeep Ratnayake

The journey towards a new dimension of Sitar music

	When a little boy of five, playing with his father’s Esraj, let go of the bow and began to pluck at its strings, it marked the beginning of a journey that would take him to places that few have been blessed to go: to deeply felt, spiritually fulfilling worlds of music, to uncharted territories of sound. The father, an amateur musician himself, seeing the boy’s attempts, brought home a little sitar for his son. There had been music around the little boy from the earliest of his memories. The parents were avid lovers of Indian classical music, and the rag that his mother had listened most to, while she was expecting him, - Desh – still remains one of the favorite raga of her son, now grown to be one of the most respected and distinguished musicians of his country.
Very soon, the boy was put under the tutelage of sitarist D.A. Dewage, who was one of the few Sri Lankans then with a degree in Sitar, having studied at the University of Kairagar in India. That coming together, the “golden touch” of the teacher and the amazing commitment of the student, resulted in the first public performance of Pradeep Ratnayake taking place when he was just ten years old, in the packed auditorium of the National Museum. The press reviews which followed that debut, attest to the remarkable ability of the boy and it is to the great satisfaction of many that Pradeep Ratnayake has lived up to the forecasts made about his future as a musician. Very quickly, Pradeep was able to earn the title of Visharada from the Bathkande College of Music, Lucknow, India – the examination he faced in Sri Lanka and completed even before he finished his secondary education in school.
Though he gained admission to university here, to follow a degree in Mathematics, his calling took him elsewhere, and he found himself entering the portals of the most hallowed institution in India with regard to music, the University of Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, India – that inspirational abode founded by Sir Rabindranath Tagore, which had earlier gifted Sri Lanka with the artists who created a renaissance in Sri Lankan culture during the time of its Independence.
	There he had the fortune to become the disciple of Professor Indranil Bhattacharya, son of Timil Bharan, who had composed music to the ballets of Udaya Shankar. Timil Bharan was also the first disciple of Ustad Allaudin Khan, who was teacher to Pandit Ravi Shankar. There, Pradeep was very firmly trained within the Maihar gharana and he is now well established within that tradition of playing. Ravi Shankar, who is his inspiration, and before whom Pradeep has performed when he was a child, is of the same gharana.
After four years of training, Pradeep gained the highest marks ever received for a degree in sitar till then at Santiniketan and returned to his country. His marriage, and the start of his concert series by the title of Pradeepanjalee soon followed. Now, this series which blends the traditional with the modern, the classical with the folk, rock and jazz, has become one of the most popular concert events of a crowd that is looking for an alternative music scene in this country. There have been Pradeepanjalee concerts abroad, at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, the Asia Society in New York; Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Washington DC; Universal Studios, Los Angeles, to name a few.

Pradeep became a lecturer in Music at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Sri Lanka, and left for his Master’s Degree in Music to the same place that nurtured him during his undergraduate studies. There he received his post graduate qualifications – again with a First Class pass. His homecoming was marked with a concert to celebrate the 54th Republic Day of India – his way of giving thanks to the government of India for awarding him scholarships through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, for his studies in India. It was an enormously successful concert, with the large auditorium packed to capacity, in a tone of celebration and thanksgiving. Pradeep is not only a performer, he is a composer and a music director as well. His first film was with the distinguished Sri Lankan film director, Dr. Lester James Pieris, and the film was shown at Cannes that year. His second was chosen for the competitive section of the Locarno Film Festival. He has three CDs of his original compositions to his credit: Indrakeelaya, the Symphonic Poem he composed for the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to celebrate their 50th Anniversary; Roots, a collection of his original compositions and Visva, the recorded version of his concerts at Asia Society and The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. He was given a State Music Award in 2001 by the Government of Sri Lanka in recognition of the service he has done for music in his country.
In all that he does, Pradeep Ratnayake’s attempt has been to internationalize Sri Lankan music – to reach a global audience and give them access to a new kind of music - to remain Sri Lankan at heart while becoming a world-class musician.

Photograph by La Frances Hui
Pradeep Ratnayake’s career at a glance 1974 Fist public performance at the age of ten at the National Museum Hall. 1974 First radio program on the national service. 1977 Performed before Pandit Ravi Shankar in Sri Lanka. 1978 – 1984 First Division passes in all examinations leading to a Visharada title from the Bhathkande Vidyapeeth, Lucknow, India. 1982 Performed on the State television channel. on the very first programme which featured child stars. 1983 First Place in instrumental classical music (sitar) held by the Youth Council of Sri Lanka. 1984 First Place in instrumental classical music in the all island school music competition. 1990 First experiments with Eastern and Western music, on national television 1992 Awarded a scholarship by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to follow the BMusic degree 1992 – 1996 Followed Bachelor of Music Degree in the University of Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, India and obtained a First Class Distinction pass, the highest ever marks to be received for a Degree in Sitar at Santiniketan till then. 1995 First Place in the Intra-University Cultural Competition in India in instrumental music (sitar). 1997 Started the Pradeepanjalee music concert series with a concert at the Goethe Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka 1998 Pradeepanjale concerts 1999 Pradeepanjalee concerts 1999 Pradeepanjalee concert at the ILO Auditorium, Geneva, Switzerland 1998 Pradeep has performed Western Classical music on the sitar as part of his experimentation with the techniques of his instrument and played a mandolin part on the sitar in Vivaldi’s Concerto for two mandolins, with a Swedish mandolin player backed by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka. 1998 Soloist in Lalnath de Silva’s Sitar Concerto.(De Silva, an Associate Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka composed this concerto inspired by the performances of Pradeep Ratnayake. This has been performed jointly by the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka as part of the joint 50th Anniversary celebrations of the two countries, both in Bombay (Tata Theatre) and in Colombo. It was last performed in February 2004 Bangalore as part of an International East – West Music Festival, where Pradeep performed as soloist backed by the Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra. 2000 Composition of Indrakeelaya and performance at the opening of the New Headquaters Building of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. 2000 Pradeepanjalee concert at Abu Dhabi, UAE 2000 Release of his second compact disk of original compositions ROOTS 2001 First film music direction for Dr. Lester James Pieris for a film that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival 2003. 2001 National Award at the National Music Festival for services rendered to music in Sri Lanka. 2001 Awarded a scholarship by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to follow the Masters in Music degree. 2001 – 2003 Followed Master of Music Degree from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India, (First Class pass) 2003 Pradeepanjalee concert to celebrate the 54th Republic Day of India 2004 Pradeepanjalee concert sponsored by the US – Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission. 2005 Pradeepanjalee concert at the UN Headquarters Geneva 2005 First tour of the United States of America and Canada. Concerts at the Asia Society, New York; Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington DC (shown live on the internet); Globe Theatre, Universal Studios, Los Angeles and Montreal, Canada. 2005 Pradeepanjalee concert in Sri Lanka 2006 Pradeepanjalee concert at the Walt Disney Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA. Played together with American musicians like pianist Freddie Ravel, Saxophonist Eric Marienthal and Bass Guitarist Jiffrey Hussein. 2007 Tenth Anniversary concert at the Lionel Wendt