WOMAD

Sri Anura Puppets

From Sri Lanka

The tradition of puppetry in Sri Lanka goes back 250-300 years. The early puppets were about 1/2 feet tall. The puppets today are up to 3 and 1/2 feet tall. Sri Anura puppets was created to honour Nalin Gamvary's father, Lamneris Gamvari, a renowned puppet maker and animator who won many accolades in his time.Upon his passing away, his son has taken on the responsibility of carrying on the family tradition. Nalin began to make and animate string puppets from a young age, taught and inspired by his father. He too has been awarded many medals for best puppeteer in Sri lanka. Like his father before him, Nalin is adept at carving, making and animating while singing and improvising dialogue. Nalin has performed in Japan, Taiwan, India, Pakistan and Iran. This year, he made his first WOMAD appearance at WOMAD Rivermead in the UK.Nalin's creations are taking the art of puppetry in new directions with a performance titled "Famine" for the World Food Organisation. He has designed another performance titled "Sea Prince" with a grant from the Finish government.Nalin is one of the few professional puppeteers in the country. He is the father of four. With no direct support for the puppet craft and the art of puppetry, this is indeed a dying artform with just 5 puppet families in the whole of Sri Lanka.