South East Asian Legend Amaranath Ranathunga is a connoisseur who has brought two unalike Euro styles of guitar music together in composition and performing in Sri Lanka. He is the first in South Asia as well as in the whole world to introduce this neo invention of experimentation of unifying the sounds and rhythms of entirely contrasting two guitar styles; the Classical and Flamenco.

    The Classical and Flamenco modes were happened to be the most different and sometimes even rival practices in Guitar music in the western world. Yet this great South Asian Maestro Amaranath Ranatunge never perceived these two styles as separate components in guitar music. He experimentally searched an approach to intermingle these two styles into a one unique mode of melody.

    Amaranath is a simple but an immeasurable man who came through a history of a thorny life. Yet he never wasted his time like any other common artist who is badly affected by financial deficiency. He developed his life experiences into a musical philosophy where he could pierce these two different approaches into a unique sound of guitar music.

    In the beginning this was like a promise that he has given to his own self of music. Yet he held on to this promise for decades even though the situations were not sufficient enough to him to do so. Thus he still stands unyielding on playing, teaching and composing as one of the best Classical and Flamenco guitarists in South East Asia as well as in the world today.

    Any genius of any aesthetic practice is an extraordinary being in living. Yet they cannot reach this extraordinariness without working hard. Amaranath Ranathunge is a genius in his classical and flamenco guitar, and is, most obviously, an extraordinary being in living.

    Amaranath Ranatunge is the first Asian in the world to develop a university syllabus for the Classical and Flamenco Guitar studies. And this is the first and only Syllabus of the above twofold guitar mode that designed until now for a university degree in the whole East Asian world of guitar music.  He is the first University lecturer for this guitar mode of studies in Sri Lanka and has brought up a cluster of refine students who deeply involved in this study of practice within and out of the university limits of this Island Nation.

    He started this long career at the age of eight in the 1950’s and he is still competently committed to this twofold way of guitar. He even still practices his guitar for five and eight hours a day. Consequently, his first specialized harvest came out as a Sinhala book named ‘Classical and Flamenco Guitar’ in 2007 with an attached CD which comprised as a variety of his Classical-Flamenco filtered music pieces. This book was an historical conjuncture in Sri Lankan history of guitar music though it didn’t acquire that much of massive hype as in a developed country in the west.

     After three years of public silence, Amaranath was again blossomed with his second endeavor; a CD called ‘Guitar Unknown’ has been launched with new sounds and rhythms created by himself. This CD was also comprised seven of his own unique compositions and eight of world’s best compositions as well.

    His systematic education of the guitar started in 1964 under the classical guitarist Mervyn Sanders of USA, the Mexican Fredric Bruno the perfectionist of Flamenco Guitar (1977), and thereafter he continued his studies under Mrs. Indrani de Silva of the Royal School of Music (in 1978). In yesteryears, it was a case of spending a huge sum of money to fly overseas Australia, America or Spain to learn these guitar styles. But today, through the hard life and labour of Amaranath, this dream of a Classical and Flamenco sound of a stage has come true. Amaranath’s extraordinary way of nonstop action took this precious gift to our country.

    Andante to Allegro is his new Classical and Flamenco Guitar Concert. He and the other fingertips of his students are going to perform this Classical-Flamenco Guitar concert on December  14th 2013. This is one of the historical events in Sri Lankan music since this type of Classical-Flamenco Guitar concerts cannot be found in any other event of music in this island anymore.

    Classical or Flameneco Guitar styles of Concerts are very popular in the Western Euro-Us world. This concert is a significant event especially for the foreigners who are curious to know how Asians maintain such Euro aesthetic practices today.