Four top-notch Sri Lankan female singers representing two generations of island’s indigenous music will present a musical extravaganza in Toronto in December. The organisers describe the show as once in a lifetime opportunity to see the prolific foursome on the same stage.
Aptly titled ‘Yuga Yuga Ridhma’, (Rhythms, Generation to Generation), the show will be held at Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute auditorium in Toronto on December 16. All the proceeds will go to Toronto Maha Vihara, a prominent Sri Lankan Buddhist temple situated in Scarborough East.
The youngest among this unique quartet is Uresha Ravihari whose childhood dream was to be a music teacher, according to one of her interviews. Blessed with beautiful looks to complement her melodious, haunting voice, Uresha is the daughter of veteran radio and TV personality Dharmasri Wickremasinghe. The Nugegoda Sumudradevi Balika Vidyalaya alumna has been singing since she was eight. Her debut was an album of children songs put together by her mother, first person to be star-struck by her young daughter’s rare vocal talent, which she thought, seemed too good to be true for a eight-year-old.
Uresha has become an icon in the younger generation. She has won 12 awards for her playback singing, including a couple for her melodies in television serials. The special feature in her award-winning songs is that music for all these melodies has been directed by acclaimed musician Rohana Weerasinghe.
Uresha was not even born when Indrani Perera hypnotized Sri Lanka with our own brand of indigenous pop. A pioneer of Sinhala pop music along with entertainers like Clarence Wijewardene and Annesley Malewana, she has been singing for four decades with hundreds of songs frequently being heard on radio, television and social media.
Her foray into music began as Dalrene hired her as a backup singer in her band Fireflies. Later, Indrani joined the Moonstones pop quartet in 1968 and is still known for her debut Dilhani, a haunting lullaby which can draw us back to the nostalgia of the glorious music of the 60s and 70s. Indrani is the first female Sinhala pop singer of Sri Lanka who has also made a name in semi-classical genre.
The Moonstones eventually broke up and Indrani joined her siblings, Mallika and Iranganie, to form Three Sisters emerging as a leading all-female musical outfit in Sri Lanka. After singing for two decades with her sisters she embarked on a solo career and even today remains a formidable force in Sinhala music. She was self-made and the only member in the Three Sisters to have classical music training was her younger sister Mallika who learnt under late Pandit Amaradeva. Few people may know that Indrani accompanied Mallika for her music classes at YMBA Borella and practised her singing, seated outside the classes.
Organisers describe the musical extravaganza as once in a life time chance to see the four leading ladies reigning supreme in Sri Lankan music sharing the same stage, backed by an orchestra of extremely talented musicians
Deepika Priyadarshani and Nirosha Virajini are well known in classical and semi-classical genres and remain hugely popular. Deepika who has been singing since she was 14, has sung duets with many well-known male singers such as Amaradeva, Sunil Edirisinghe, Edward Jayakody, Karunarathna Divulgane and Amarasiri Pieris, as well as with young artistes like Kasun Kalhara, Amal Perera and Bhathiya-Santhush duo. The beauty and the range of her voice, tempered with a meditative, hypnotic quality, is rarely matched and she is seen as the female version of Sunil Edirisinghe.
Armed with a Bachelor of Music degree from renown Bhathkande Sangeeth Vidyapith, India, and a Master of Arts from the University of Kelaniya, she has been working as a music teacher since 1989.
Deepika lent her voice as a child to many popular TV cartoons. Her foray into music began with a song in the tele-drama ‘Sabavu Sihinaya’ but it was really her toe-tapping, Portuguese-inspired ‘Aji Thapara Lahila’ in ‘Bagya’ tele-drama that took her to the top becoming a household name.
Virajini Lalithya de Silva, also known as Nirosha Virajini, claims a busy career of 23 years enriching Sinhala music as a singer, musician and music director. Versatile in both pop and semi-classical genres, she has also sung in Tamil, English, Hindi, Malayalam and Japanese. Though Virajini’s mother tongue is Sinhala she has been named as a super-grade singer in Tamil by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. She is the only Sinhala female singer to receive this prestigious honour.
Nirosha who comes from a musical family was highly talented from her school days. She began singing during her primary school days at St. Anthony’s Convert in Kandy and later at St. Joseph’s Convent in Kotahena. Her kid brother plays the lead in a Western band in Colombo.
Nirosha learnt music under Sujatha Aththanayake, Austin Munasinghe and Sanath Nandasiri till she left for India for higher studies in South Indian music at Kala Keshestra Academy of Music. She began her career by singing popular Hindi and Tamil songs and it was the melody ‘Punsanda Reta Avidin’ that helped her to scale greater heights in music.
The music for ‘Yuga Yuga Ridhma’ will be directed by Samantha Perera, a pupil of maestro Premasiri Khemadasa. He will be backed by musicians Dhananjaya Somasiri, Praneeth Saranga, Dasun Perera Jayathilake and Yasharu Perera.
