සතුරෝ - අජිත් තිලකසේන

කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහයේ පිට කවරයේ එහි නම සඳහන් ආකාරයටවත් එහි නම මෙහි නිමවා ගැනීමට නොහැකි, කෙටිකතා සංග්‍රහයකි ; තිලකසේනගේ පළමු කෙටිකතා සංග්‍රහයයි; 1960 වසරේ පළ වූවකි - ඒ නිසාම මෙහි එන විස්තර මගින් අප කිසිදා නුදුටු යුගයක් ගැන සාංකාවක් ඇති වීම ස්වභාවිකය. කෙටි කතා 11කින් සපිරිය. මීට පෙර මා කියවා ඇති කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහයන් දෙක ( පිටුවහල් කර සිටිද්දී ; රාත්‍රියේ පූර්ව භාගය ) තුලින් අප දුටු තිලකසේන නිර්මාණ වල ඇති ස්වරූපයට අඩිතාලම වැටෙන ආකාරයත්, හුදෙක් සිතුවිලි මාත්‍රාවන්, මෙනෙහි කිරීම්, ආදියෙන් පෝෂිත නිර්මාණ මෙහි ඇතුලත් වේ. ඇත්තෙන් ම පෙර කී සංග්‍රහයන් දෙකට වඩා මෙම සංග්‍රහය රස වින්දේ, සමහර විටෙක අපි 1960 දශකයේ මැද පමණ දැක ඇති තිලකසේන ගේ නිර්මාණ වලට වඩා මෙහි යම් තරමක හෝ සම්මත සාහිත්‍ය ලක්ෂණ ද දැක ගත හැකි නිසා විය යුතුය. ඒ නිසා ම පෙර කී සංග්‍රහයන් ට සාපේක්ෂව මෙම සංග්‍රහයේ කෙටි කතා කියවීම පහසු විය.

මෙහි එන කුඩා ශ්‍රියානි, වස්තුව, සහ තිසාට උන, යන කෙටි කතා ත්‍රිත්වය මුලික වශයෙන් කුඩාවුන් මුල් කොට ගෙන ලියැවී ඇත. ඉන් වෙසෙසින්, වස්තුව, කෙටි කතාව කියවනා කල රනාල - ආටිගල වැනි පෙදෙස් මීට වසර 75 ට පෙර කෙසේ තිබෙන්න ට ඇත්තේදැයි සිතේ. නාගරීකරණය නොවූ ඒ යුගයේ, අපේ කතා නායකයා තමන් 11 වියැති දරුවෙක් ව සිටියදී තනියෙන් බස් රථයක ගිය ගමනත්, තමන් ගිය නෑ ගෙදර ගඟ අසබඩ වූ සිදු වූ සිදුවීමක් ගැනත්  මෙහි කියැවේ. කෙටිකතාව රචනා වී ඇත්තේ 1956 දී ය. '56 දී මෙහි එන කථකයා ආවර්ජනයක යෙදෙන්නේ නම්, මේ ගමන් ඊටත් වසර දහයකටවත් පෙර සිදූ වූවක් විය යුතුය. එනම්, ලංගමත් ස්ථානපය වීමට පෙර යුගයක කතාවක, රුපියලේ මුදල් නෝට්ටු භාවිත වූ යුගයක ආවර්ජනයකි. තිසාට උන කෙටිකතාවේ, කුඩා තිස්ස ගේ මනසින්, එම වයසේ දරුවෙකුගේ අදහස් ගලායෑම පෙන්වා දෙන අයුරින් ලියැවී ඇත. ඔහු තම නිවෙස අසල අන් ළමුන් සමඟ කෙළි සෙල්ලම් කරනා ආකාරය, පාසැලේදි උන හැදී ආපසු නිවෙස ට ඇවිත් තම දෙමාපියන් සහ මෙහෙකරුවන් ආදින්ගෙන් සාත්තු ලබනා ආකාරය, ඔහුගේ අක්කාගේ මගුල් ගෙදර, අක්කාගේ මණමාලයාගේ සපත්තු සෙදීමට ගොස් සිදු වූ අකරැබ්බයක්, ඔහු ගේ අක්කා ඊට පෙර වෙනෙකුකට ලියුමක් ලියූවැයි අම්මාගෙන් දොස් ලබද්දි, තමන් ද තම මිතුරන් ට ලියුම් ලියා ඇති හෙයින් ලියුමක් ලිවීමේ ඇති වරද කුමක්දැයි කල්පනා කරන්න ට වීම ආදි, එම කුඩා ළමයාගේ සිතුවිලි වලින් මෙම කෙටිකතාව පෝෂිතය. වස්තුව, සහ තිසාට උන යන කෙටි කතා දෙකම මා මහත් රස වින්දෙමි.

නිරර්ථක ජීවිතයක සාර්ථක මොහොතක් (1955) කෙටිකතාව, කතානායිකාව තම පෙර සැමියාගේ වියෝව පිළිබඳ සැල වී, ඔහු ගැනත්, ඔහු ගේ සහ ඇයගේ අදහස් අතර වෙනසත්, ඔහු  ගැන මතකයනුත් පිළිබඳ ආවර්ජනයකි.

"ඊට මාස කීපයකට පසු ගුනසාරව යලිත් දුටු බවත් ඔහු ඈ සමඟ කීයේය. හරමානිස් ට්‍රොලි බස් රථයේ ඉහල තට්ටුවේ වාඩි වී බොරැල්ල දෙසට යමින් සිටියේය. එවිට පුංචි බොරැල්ලේ බෝගහ ලඟදී ගුනසාර පත්තරයක් කියවමින් කොටුවට යන ට්‍රොලී බස් පෝලිමේ හිටගෙන සිටිනු ඔහු දුටුවේය. ... ගුනසාරගේ ඇස් පෙරට වඩා ගිලිහි තිබුනේය. එහෙයින් ඔහුගේ මුහුනින් වයස් ගත්තෙකුගේ විලාශය ප්‍රකාශ විය." (19 පිට)

මෙවැනි ම පෙර යුගයක, කෙටිකතාවට ඍජු ව අසම්බන්ධ, එහෙත් අප තුල සාංකාවක් ජනිත කරලීමේ විභවතාවක් ඇති සිදුවීමක් කරුනා (1956) කෙටිකතාවේ ද අපට හමු වේ.

"දුම්රියපල පාරත් ඇතුලු-වට-රවුම් පාරත් එකට සන්ධි වන තැනට ඔහු කන්ඩිය දිගේ ඇවිද ගෙන ගොස්, එතන නතර වී දුම්රියපල දෙසට හිස හැරවී ය. ඕපනායක දෙස සිට ආ දුම්රිය ආ දුම්රියපලේ නොනවත්වාම ගසාගෙන ගියේය. ඇතැමුන් දුම්රියපල දෙසට දුවන්නට වූ අතර ඇතැම්හු කඩිමුඩියේ එහි සිට එලියට එන්නට වූහ. ඒක බඩු කෝච්චියක්ද කොහෙදැ' යි කවුදෝ කියනු ඔහුට ඇසුනේය." (40 පිට)

කරුනා කෙටිකතාවේ, අම්මාගෙන් ලියුමක් ලබන අප කතාකරු ඇගේ අවුල් ලියවීම් රටාවේ එන එක වැකියක් කියවා මනස අවුලට පත් කර ගනී. ඒ, කරුනා, විවාහ වන්නට යන බව අන් කරුණු අතර වෙසෙස් විස්තර වලින් තොරව සඳහන් ව තිබීම හේතුවෙනි. සාර්ථක නිර්මාණයකි.

පෙබරවාරී මාසයේ එක් සැන්දෑවක් මෙහි එන මා වඩාත් ම රස විඳි කෙටිකතාව විය. තරුණයන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුන්, ඉන් එකෙකුට අයත් කබල් කාරයක් නැඟී ඔවුන් දන්නා අය ගේ නිවෙස් වලට ද, තේ වත්ත පල්ලියේ මංගල්ලය ට ද, ගොස්, නිදහස් ව, සතුටින්, කල් ගෙවන සන්ද්‍යාවක් ගැන අපි මෙහි කියවීමු. වගකීම් වලින් තොර වීම, මිතුරන් අතර සිටීමේදී ඇති සතුට, ආදීය පාඨකයාට හොඳින් සන්නීවේදනය වන ආකාරය මෙහි සාර්ථකත්වයට හේතුව යැයි සිතමි. අජිත් තිලකසේන කොහොමත් "ගලන මුහුදු රැල්ලක, ගලා හැලෙන දිය ඇල්ලක සෞන්දර්යයක් තිබුනත් එහි ඇති 'තේරුම' කුමක් ද?" යන ස්ථාවරයේ සිට තම කෙටිකතා වල තේරුම සොයන අය වෙනුවෙන් පැහැදිලිකිරීමක් කර ඇත්තෙකි.

 මෙහි එන කෙටිකතා දෙකක, කෙටිකතාව අතර මැද දි, ප්‍රධාන චරිතය යැයි සිතිය සිතිය හැකි අය මාරු වෙයි. හතුරෝ නම් රසවත් කෙටිකතාවේ, මුලින් ජයේ හෙවත් ජයන්ත දික්වැල්ලේ අවදානය යොමු චරිතය මුත් ඔවුන්ට නිහාල් හමු වීමෙන් පසු නිහාල් ගේ දෘෂ්ඨිකෝණය ට මාරු වෙයි. ජයේ පාසැලෙන් කලින් පැන තම මිතුරාත් එක්කලා යන්නෙ ඔහුගේ ගැහැනු ළමයා හමිවීමටය. නිහාල් ඒ ගැන විමසුවද ඔහුට යමක්  නොකීම හේතුවෙන්, ඔවුන් හා ඇති මිතුදම බිඳි ගොස් ඔවුන් සතුරෝ ගනයට වැටෙන බවට නිහාල් සිතයි. මෙහි එන දුබල මිනිස්සු කෙටි කතාව ද මෙලෙස් අවධානය යොමු වන චරිතය වෙනස් වෙමින් නිර්මාණය වුවකි. අප මුලින් දකින්නේ අයේෂා ගේ චංචල වික්ෂිප්ත සිතුවිලිය. ඒ ඇය ගැන විශාල තීන්දුවක් ගැනීමට සූදානම් ව සිටින හෙයිනි. ඒ අතර සිය පෙම්වතා ගැන සැකයන් ද උපදී. එ අතරේ තිස්ස ද ඇය කෙරෙහි අදහස් ඇති ව එම නිවසේම වෙසෙන්නෙකි. තිස්ස ට තම අදහස් ඍජුව කීමට නොහැකිව පැකිලේ - හෙවත් මේ චරිත දෙකම දුබල චරිතයෝය.

 ජීවිතයක සිහිවටන කෙටි කතාවේ තම ගූරුවරියක, ඇගේ ප්‍රේම සම්බන්ධය පටන ගන්නා කාලයේදී ඈව තම පෙම්වතා හමු වීමට භාවිත කල ආකාරය, ඈට වැටහෙන්නේ පසුව ගුරුතුමිය සිය සැමියා සමඟ මග තොට දී දුටු විටය. ඒ ගැන ඇය තුල වික්ෂිප්ත අදහස් පහළ වෙයි -ඇය පාවිච්චි වූවා ද ? ඇය එතරම් අන්ධ ද ? එසේ මුත් ඇයට සිදු වූ අවැඩක් ද නෑ නේද ? - ආදි සිතුවිලි ගොන්නක ඈ තෙරපේ. 

අක්කාගේ මිතුරිය ගැන උනන්දු වන අප කතා නායකයා තම විභාගය අසමත් ව නැවත ඊට පෙනී සිටීමට යත්න දරන්නෙකි. ඔහු ගේ සිතුවිලි සමුදාය, විභාගය ගැන කලකිරීම ආදිය ගොනූ කල ලීවකි, එම කෙටිකතාව.

පෙර කීවාක් මෙන්, මෙතෙක් මා කියවා ඇති තිලකසේනයන්ගේ කෙටිකතා පොත් තුනෙන් බොහෝ රසවිඳි  සංග්‍රහය මෙයයි. මෙය දැනට මුද්‍රණයේ ඇත්තේ ද යන්න සැක සහිතය. දිනෙක මා මිතුරෙකු සමඟ මරදානේ පොත් මිලදී ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වෙන් කොට, රාක්ක අවුස්සා පරණ පොත් සොයද්දී, ඔහු විසින් සොයාගෙන තිළිණ කලවූවකි මෙම පිටපත.

ශ්‍රේණිය: ****

 

Brotherless Night - V.V. Ganeshananthan

 I read V.V. Ganeshananthan's first novel, a few months back, as one of the last books for 2024. The primary reason for reading Love Marriage ( https://me-and-err.blogspot.com/2025/01/love-marriage-vv-ganeshananthan.html ), was as a step in preparation for her latest, more renowned work. It won the  Women's Prize for Fiction, 2024, and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, 2024.

Firstly, I hope that this novel is translated to Sinhala and Thamil, and I hope that as many people of Sri Lankan origin read this book. This, because I believe that this is as neutral an account of our civil war, as could be presented via a work of historical fiction as possible. I will not dwell much, on why it is important for many Sri Lankans (or of that origin ) to read it, other than say, that our fellow Thamil citizens suffered much, much more than most of us could imagine as a community, and was at the receiving end of not only the Sri Lankan Government Forces, the Indian Peace Keeping Force, but unfortunately the Tamil militants whom they once believed were their saviours. It is a very sad situation when you have no where to turn to, and in that respect I am at a loss for words for what they as a community have gone through.

To come to the novel; In the first quarter of the book, I had some reservations of the approach of the book. It differed not much from "Love Marriage" in the detailed style that she wrote. Shashi's happy life with her family soon starts to go awfully wrong, and the reader can't help but stick to the narration with a heavy heart, as most of my generation know of the shameless 1983 pogroms to some detail. But still, personally, it didn't have the flow that I typically favour, as more often than not it felt like a faithful account of the times that were, presented by our narrator, Shashi. Shashi suffers multiple personal losses in her life, across this book. But it was when she treats them from her helpless personal perspective that the novel shone for me.

"She thought Periannai's death was her fault, and I thought it was my fault, and when our paths crossed in the Jaffna house, she averted her eyes and neither of us spoke of it." (page 88)

"And then I breathed again, and K did not. It was  the first moment in which such a thing was possible, and the sharp quickening pain of it stunned me. How swiftly the world reshaped itself? Perhaps someone you know has died and you have a sense of what I mean: the horror of knowing  that everything is going to continue very nearly as it did before" ( page 254)

There are many incidents that we can recognize across this narration , and a few characters whom we can identify. I was just eight years old when the 1983 riots took place, and we lived through the risk of being at the wrong place at the wrong time during a countless number of LTTE terrorist attacks from that time onwards. Hence, it naturally makes it a personal reading experience for my generation, as the memories of a few who lost their lives in these bomb attacks resurface. But it has to be admitted that hitherto the few incidents of the sufferings of our Thamil community were confined to those shared by our friends - but nothing as heart wrenching as this. In that sense, it is these details of a community wronged by at least three parties, plus when the narration takes on a very personal bent as depicted in the above quotes, that the book worked for me. True, it is not my favourite type of novel - heady, satire mixed with self-criticism, is what I enjoy much - like The Finkler Question, The Netanyahus, The Buddha of Suburbia, or the subtle confessions of Remains of the Day. But the pain is too close to home  and mulling over with a stoic philosophical bent like I did with those books is not an option here. Sometimes the pain is very necessary for a reader.

Rating: ****

The Netanyahus - Joshua Cohen

The complete title of this book, which won the Pulitzer Award for fiction (2021) is, The Netenyahus :An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family.

Few highlights right there. For most of the world, the first person who comes to mind when the title of the book is mentioned is the former Israeli Premier. Then the full title - why is it minor, and even negligible. How many of these minor and even negligible incidents make a not so minor impact on the minds of the party who experience it ? For our narrator Rubel Blum, him being asked to play Santa at the Christmas party is to highlight that as a Jew he doesn't celebrate Christmas, which is a not subtle - yet negligible reminder of his ethnic origins. Rube being asked to host, and assess, Benzion Netenyahu's suitability for the post is also on ethnic lines, as at the time Rube was the only Jew in the fictional University. His, and his wife's golf club membership applications being repeatedly being misplaced stinks of someone not really wanting them around. But mind this was the 1950s in update New York. Much has changed since then. But has it ?

Pearl Jam has a song called WMA (White Male American), in which Vedder laments that "Police stopped my brother, again" - this was back in 1993, because his brother's skin colour was different. 32 years after, maybe things have improved. But few years after the Obama regime I was aghast to see the US president claiming that a question raised to him by a journalist of Indian origin, dismissed on the grounds that he couldn't understand a word that was being said, and that too in the presence of the Indian Prime Minister. Things are the same elsewhere. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, where I am from, social media is circulating a post by a man, who claims that the Police harassed him at 3:30 am near the main Railway station, as to what he was doing about at that time, and whether he was a Gay seeking favours, when all the man was doing was returning home after his work at US working hours. The other - when he or she is a little different - cannot be let alone is still the default stance of many, regrettably.

But this book is much more than the highlighting of victim-hood.  Well, actually it is all about highlighting of victim-hood, but where new interpretations are made which question the very attempt of assimilation by those who believe it whole heartedly. This is the essential quality of the book which made an impact on me. Our narrator Rube lives down his Jew origins in modern secular America, and he dismisses the negligible incidents of the Santa role or the missing Golf Club applications. But then comes a scholar seeking a position in Rube's university, who he finds has fixated on the hatred against Jews, and argues that there was no difference between Spanish inquisition against Jews converted to Catholicism in 1490, and what happened in 1940!

After a lecture that Benzion N. delivers, our narrator has these thoughts which question everything that he believes in, and on which he has built his life on - even at the cost of distancing himself from his extended families, and their unmistakable stressing on their Jewishness.

"This would even be true with America, where everyone if they're asked who they are answers Irish, or Italian, or preposterously three-quarters Scottish, half-Belgian Dutch, and at most one-drop Mexican black, anything but American. If the American empire couldn't persuade allegiance to democracy over origin, it would fail. He said that while staring at me, unblinking: it would fail. He might even have been pointing at me: You will. What was true for Europe at the emergence of Zionism will one day be true for America too, once assimilation is revealed as a fraud, or once it's revealed that the country contains nothing to assimilate to- no core, no connate heart - not just for Jews, but for everyone."

The book was published in 2021, and now in 2025, I hope the percentage that questions assimilation hasn't increased.

But these troubling thoughts are interspersed with a lot of satire, and comedy. So, although the politics, and their relevance of it today is sadly true, the book is a delightful, hilarious, yet pretentious affair, which can hold its own for the heady mix. To top it all off, we then learn that Harold Bloom once had to host Benzion Netanyahu (and his family), which included the future prime minister back when he was just a kid. To say that the whole visit was chaotic, is it to put it mildly, and this is the cornerstone for the novel. Bloom has mentioned this to Cohen, and Cohen has fictionalized - and then some - and here we have this gem of a book!

Rating: ****1/2

Orbital - Samantha Harvey

 “We matter greatly and not at all. To reach some pinnacle of human achievement only to discover that your achievements are next to nothing and that to understand this is the greatest achievement of any life, which itself is nothing, and also much more than everything. Some metal separates us from the void; death is so close. Life is everywhere, everywhere."

Samantha Harvey's novel - has everything - a measure of how far we've reached, yet how insignificant we are. How the dedicated and intelligent have worked so hard to get where they have - but only to be stepping stones for the next generation, as the previous generations efforts are only found in records if someone so desires to dig them out. What a magnificent, magical, and so far unmatched place, we call our home - our only home still, but how negligible as a planet ours is in the grander scheme of things, as it bides its time before some cosmic incident - mind not an accident, for the math will predict when the incident will occur - blows it apart, plus destroy it in flames. 

Then we have the astronauts and cosmonauts, the main characters in of this novel,  as their thoughts, and through that their lives are shared with us. It is a mix that carries the scenes described from the same ship, with a human element, as these six have different backgrounds.

The only thing it lacks is a clear plot. But who needs a plot ? When vivid thoughts both amaze us, and in turn show the futility of it all. The novel's concise length of 135 pages is possibly the longest that the reader can with stand without a trace of discomfort for a book of this nature.

This book is an achievement, as the author had blended the continuous live streaming from the International Space Station to describe to us fascinating scenes, who had never seen those images, and the changes that could be seen happening on earth, from space. Samantha has blended that with the thoughts and lives of six trained astronauts and cosmonauts, to bring to us how different life outside of our atmosphere is. There is even a hint of threat to the space ship, through some damage it has sustained, but that is more for our imagination as to where it will lead to. The political, the ecological is also touched to make the book as complete in subject matter, as possible for the reader. Yet, I couldn't suppress the thought that the scenes from the space ship looking in towards the earth feels like the majority of the book. While she manages to present that in a captivating manner, I felt that maybe there was a little tilt in the balance of the book towards those descriptions, which resulted in the book receiving the rating it did.

Yet, I do think it is a book that needs to be read by any reader, who likes to broaden the sub-genres within the broader one of fiction.

Rating: ***1/2
Booker Award for best novel 2024

Music Albums I fancied in 2024

 

It is about time that I evaluate the new music I listened to in 2024. Like the previous years, I had at least tested about 60 new albums, broadly through the genres of rock (i.e. indie / alternative / psychedelic/ new wave / hard / heavy metal ), a little bit of electronica, pop, and even strands of Jazz (but less so than in previous years).

The Bests and The Favourites: I gave a thought on how the album ratings had turned out, and I felt there were the best albums of the year - which rate very highly in the chart - and then there are what might be considered my 'staple diet' or go to music on a given day. This too changes over time, but if I were to name some artistes I would go to often, I'd probably name David Bowie, Black Crowes, R.E.M.  as the main artistes, while Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, and Genesis would form a second tier. Yet, I would not hesitate to rate Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Prince, George Michael, and Tool among my all time favouruties. All time favourites doesn't necessary mean that you listen to them everyday - you listen to them when you need to - and there are those special moments.

Best Music: It was on the same premise, that I got to interpreting my thoughts on my preference to music this year too, upon seeing how the albums are rated this ranked. I found the dark psychedelia and the haunting vocalist of Portishead, in Beth Gibbons, to have released the most accomplished and consistent album of 2024. At times it touches on a bit of trip-hop from her Portishead days, but mainly stays within the adult-alternative genre. The Smile is when Radiohead is stretched - and then some. Comprising of two members of  Radiohead alongside the drummer, Tom Skinner, The Smile brings on a smile to the listener, as interesting turns in their music keep the listener guessing with their experimental rock. Nick Cave, ranked at no. 4 too is not an everyday artiste too for me. His grand, dramatic delivery is much appreciated, but he certainly isn't everyday music too, for me.  These are some of the best albums of the year for me, but I return to them less frequently than those whom I term as my staple diet of music.

Staple Diets: Within top five the electronic music of Humanist comes closest to being 'my everyday music'. Featuring a host of guest vocalists including, Dave Gahan. The album carries a sound that brings fans of Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Cocteau twins, joy with its consistent sounds. But the most staple diet, a favourite 'rice and curry' from where I come from, or 'a favourite Burgher' in the western world would be the Phish album ranked no. 8, Evolve. I'll be the first to admit that they haven't evolved much since their album - in fact some of the songs are from Trey's last solo album, now performed with his band - but, boy do they work ? The album got me hooked so much, that I prefer it to other 'rice and curry' plates in this list - like 'Happiness Bastards' by Black Crowes (whose old albums like 'Amorica', 'Southern Harmony and the Musical Companion', and 'Before the Freeze' are some of my all time favourite albums'), and Pearl Jam's 'Dark Matter' - in which they sound more like the Pearl Jam of old than their more refined no. 1 album (for me) of 2020, Gigaton. The long awaited Cure album is in the same league, but this one sounds less than their at times cheery ( but lyrically, rarely so) music. Pet Shop boys, now elder statesmen of electronic dance/pop, somehow manages to bring in a sense of loneliness which is unmistakable, and musically charming, and they've been consistently hitting the top 20, if not the top 10 since 2013 at least. I love the loud chaos that Jack White brings with his bluesy rock, but at most times he's not really interested in the consistency of his albums - but as to how far he push his limits. As such he resurfaces after 12 years in the top 5, since Blunderbuss (no.5, 2012), with just a no.20 strike in 2014, and three misses from between then and now. In 1994, when Dookie was released, I was 19. I remember how I had Dookie taped on to one side of a Sony C90 ( I still remember the blue cassette cover - oh, the romanticism that a tape could have for a music lover, which a CD or streaming music would never come close to - can't speak for Vinyl records). Green Day has been releasing music since, but from the records I have since 2011, only 'Revolution Radio' managed to creep into the top 20, with 'Father of all... ' just missing out. Another act that has been consistently featuring among the albums I find as best is Elbow. They feature inside the top 20 this year, but here's their past record ( No. 13, 2013, 'The Take-off and Landing of everything' ; No. 2, 2019, 'Giants of all Sizes' ; no. 2, 'Flying Dream I' - they missed the top 20 in 2017 ), and not even rock enthusiasts really acknowledge them much.

What of the new acts ? Well, I already mentioned the electronic music of Humanist. But Heavy Heavy has an excellent album at no.6. Grace Bowers (with her Hodge Podge) has an excellent album at no. 16 with tunes which remind you of Allman Brothers, to 'Southern Harmony...' era Black Crowes, to early Fleetwood Mac. One could say its nothing new - but the musicianship is amazing, and the young lass delivering with her guitar, while guest vocalists rotate the singing is something quite charming. The Yard Act is possibly the closest this old man will come to hip hop, as their witty Neo-minimalist post-punk / new wave fused hip-hop got me interested to have them in at no. 19

Breaking In: There are some acts who aren't quite new, but is not always interested in being accessible. St. Vincent is one such, who lands her big Grammy winner at no.11. I have listened to her music since her self titled album of 2014 ( actually from her David Byrne collaboration of 2012), but this is the first time she cuts into the top 20. Fontaines DC get a nod at no. 19, and am sure I listened to their album from 2022, although it had not managed to squeeze into the top 30.

On Grammys - I now only concentrate on the Rock related nominees, and one complain against this year was that many are old timers now in their 60s - Black Crowes, Pearl Jam - or Jack White in his 50s - but even the absurdity of Rolling Stones and The Beatles (which actually won !) was mentioned by such critics as Rick Beato. But wait - look at what happened last year ? Here's my comments on the Foo Fighters album placed at no. 14 in 2023, in which I have a criticism against the Grammys:

14- The Foo Fighters haven't had much appeal to me since sonic highways, but yet the quality of the music is such that they land a slot in the top 20 more often than not ( Concrete and gold, no.12, 2017; Medicine at midnight, no.19, 2019). I guess it cannot be helped when acts like boygenius, Lana Del Rey, and Greta Van Fleet manage to get the nod in the rock, metal, and alternative category in the Grammys for instance. Mind I tried out the albums of all three acts of 2023, before stating the above.
(https://me-and-err.blogspot.com/2024/02/albums-of-2023-my-favourites.html )

So I guess having the 60s something of Black Crowes, Pearl Jam is preferred to those mentioned above. Plus, it cannot be ignored that some indie rock albums were actually nominated  for the Grammies - Fontaines DC, IDLES, and of course St. Vincent, the big winner of the evening from the rock categories -I'll have them over the pretentious Greta Van Fleet, or the irritating Lana Del Rey.

On Indie Rock - Clearly more than half of the albums in the top 20 are what could be termed as Indie Rock bands, and that's what keeps music interesting, as far as I can see. More strength to them. Hopefully the industry too accepts their importance if the above mentioned Grammy nominations of IDLES, Fontaines DC are anything to go by ( BTW IDLES album of 2021 was that year's no. 1 for me - https://me-and-err.blogspot.com/2022/06/my-favourite-music-albums-from-2021.html ). Otherwise 'country music' from Beyonce and the rehashes of Taylor Swift will make us stop listening to new music for sure.

Good, but not great - To go back to the topic of staple diets in music, I guess some had managed to impress me less too, and hence missed the top 20 - Black Keys with their good, but largely similar sounding album to most of their other albums. Paul Weller, Liam Gallagher (with John Squire),  Mark Knopfler have other album, which are pleasant, but more of the same. Some albums which missed out the top 20 have their charm, and some excellent songs but hitting in the top 20 among other releases has been difficult. The last two Crowded House albums, both very decent has just missed the top 20 -  this years' one quite consistent (while 'Dreams are waiting' stopped at no. 25 in 2021), with some of the songs coming close to their 1980s' elegance. Other albums I had a soft spot for but had to leave lingering outside of the top 20 are Judas Priest and Moby. I don't mind admitting that along with Crowded House, these other two albums  were given extra listens to see if they are good enough to knock off Jerry Cantrell who just manages to hang on at no. 20, but whose signature sounds are still solid enough to keep away not only the above mentioned, but the melodious Decemberists, who too have a long past interesting my music taste.

 

 

ද්‍රෝහී - කැත්ලීන් ජයවර්ධන

කැත්ලීන් ජයවර්ධන ලේඛිකාවට දැන් දැන් තම නවකතාව, වර්තමාන සමාජයේ සියළු දුරාචාර, දූෂණ, ව්‍යාජයන් ට එරෙහි තමනට ඇති සියල්ල කීමට ඇති වේදිකාවකි. මීට පෙර කිය වූ ඉවුරු නවකතාවේ දුටු පරිදි ම, අප රට දූෂිත දේශපාලනයත්, සමාජ ක්‍රමයත් විවේචනය කෙරෙන මෙම ආඛ්‍යායන දැන් පිළුණු බවක් දනවන්නේ, එම සිද්ධීන් වල ඇති පිළුණු බවත්, කතුවරිය අප දන්නා තත්ත්වයක් වඩා තීව්‍ර කරමින් ලියන බවක් දැනෙන නිසාය. ඇරත් ලේඛිකාව ට කීමට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ම දේ, සහ නොකියා නවකතාවේ රසය පවත්වාගෙන යාම පිළිබඳ සමතුලිතතාවය තව දුරටත් වැදගත් නැති සේය. ඉතින් අපේ පිළුණු දේශපාලනය තුල, පට්ට ගැසූ සිද්ධීන් (cliche ) ඔස්සේ පිටු 332 ක් ම, පොත කියවීම ගැන මං මට ම බැණ වැදුනෙමි. ( මට ඇත්තටම ආත්මීය තෘප්තිය වෙනුන්වෙන් පොත අවසන් කරලීමේ 'හරිය' දැමීම වෙනුවෙන්, මගේ ජීවිතයෙන් පැය ගානක් කැප කිරීම ගැන කම්පා වෙමි.) ඉවුරු නවකතාවේ සේ ම ද්‍රෝහි නවකතාවේ ද ක්‍රිෂ්ණා, ශිරෝමී, ඊශ්වරී යනු කැත්ලීන් ගේ ම අවතාර ය. ඔවුන් කැත්ලීන් කිය වූ පොත් වල කොටස් වමාරයි. පොත අවසන ඇත්තේ යුවාල් නොවා හරාරි ගේ කියමනකි. එහෙත් ඔහු දකිනා ශුභවාදී සිහින නම් කැත්ලීන් නොදකී. කැත්ලීන් දකිනුයේ, 2050 වසරේ දී ත්, දෙමළ මනුස්සයෙකුට 'දෙමළා' යැයි අමතන, විදෙස් රට වල සිටින දරුවන් ගේ මෙහෙ ඉඩ කඩම් ණය වෙනුවෙන් ලංකාවේ බැංකු සමඟ ඇණ බැන ගන්නා දෙමව්පියන් සිටිනා සමාජයකි. මේ අද වන විටත් මකෙමින් පවතින තත්වයන් ය. කැත්ලීන් ගේ අශුභවාදය එතරම් ය.

ද්‍රෝහී ලෙස මා නම් කියෙව්වේ  තමනට වඩාත් ම කීමට ඇති දේ කුමක් දැ යි තෝරාගත නොහැකි, බොහෝ දේ කීමට තැත් කරන, ඇයගේ සාමාන්‍ය දාර්ශනික ආනතියට පක්ෂ,
සුළු සුළු මාතෘකා, ස්වයං තර්ක කිරීම් වලට ඉඩ දීම සඳහා වේදිකාවක් කර ගත්, ඒ නිසා ඇය ගේ පෙර ලිවීම් ගැන විශ්වාසයෙන් පොත් මිල දී ගත් පාඨකයින් ගේ කාලය කා දමන පොතකි. මාංශ භක්ෂණය හේතුවෙන් ඇති වන සත්ව අවිහිංසාව, කැරපොත්තෙක් දුටුවොත් ඌට විඳවන්න නොදී අධිමාත්‍රා විෂ දී ඌට ක්ෂණික මරණය ගෙන ඒම,  ආදී එකි මෙකි හිසට නැගෙන හැම දේම මේ පොත ඇතුලට එබ්බවීමේ ඇගේ තනි අභිලාෂය වූයේ ද?

මේ පොත අන්තිම දුර්වල නවකතාවකි - කිසිදු පාලනයකින් තොරව, අවතාර චරිත කිහිපයක් මගින් ඇය කිය වූ පොත් කීපයක අදහස් වමාරන, ඒ කිසිදු අදහසක නව්‍යතාවක් නොමැති, පාඨකයා ට ඇත්තට ම පීඩාවක් ගෙනෙන නවකතාවකි.

ඔබ ඔබට උදවුවක් කරගන්න - මෙය නොකියවා ඉන්න!

ශ්‍රේණිය: *1/2