Written by Tara Buddhipala
Under the shelter of fascinating Sydney Opera House glittering in the moonlight, its Utzon Hall was packed with invited guests from the Sydney community. They were there to witness the release of the first CD of songs by Sangeeth Visharad Indu Premathilake and to celebrate the 20th year of his musical journey. The CD contained sixteen emotive songs titled ‘Reflections’. Indu has two visharad degrees for violin and singing from Bhathkande University. In the wake of 1996 he had created his first song video ‘Dili Dili Sanda’ (Shining Moon), with the assistance of Rohana Weerasinghe in music and Ajantha Ranasinghe in lyrics. This is one of the songs which brought him immense fame and popularity. To-date Indu had created 35 songs, and provided music for almost every peak singer in Sri Lanka. In Australia he has formed a band titled ‘Creations’ bringing together the talented singers of Sydney and backing them with quality music. The occasion was graced by His Excellency Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, the Sri Lanka High Commissioner for Australia, who was the chief guest. His speech highlighted the importance of music in personal and mental development, and greatly acknowledged Indu’s mother Visharad Swarna Premathilake for moulding a versatile singer-musician son who could sing a duet in par with her on the same stage. The sixteen songs included lyrics by Indu and famous lyric writers such as Ajantha Ranasinghe, Kularathne Ariyawansha, Bandula Nanayakkarawasam, Upul Shantha Sannasgala, Sunil R Gamage, Praneeth Abeysundara and melody creations and music direction by Indu and well known musicians such as Rohana Weerasinghe, Suresh Maliyadda, the Late Stanley Pieris, Nawarathna Gamage and Indu Premathilake. Recorded duets had been assisted by Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Uresha Ravihari. Indu’s mother, Mrs Swarna Premathilake and Visharad Mrs Thushari Edirisinghe assisted in two duets sung at the event. Two invited speakers spoke at the occasion. Dr Piyasoma Medis, on the contribution of Hindustani music to the current culture of Sri Lankan music and praised Indu’s creations and signing talents. Mr Maithri Panagoda, well known lawyer and lyric writer, speaking on the current environment of song composition in Sri Lanka commended Indu’s artistic effort in launching his ‘Mage Sitha’ CD and evaluated his songs as creative and soul rendering. Scintillating dances were performed by Saransi Rupasinghe who performed a creative Bharat Natyam dance for the song ‘Kali Mathaji’ and Shivani Jayasinghe, who presented a fusion style dance to the song ‘Raana Mal Waralasa’. Graphical creations by Athula Kaldemulla and audio-visual management by Dinesh Ekanayake, Sandeep Liyanage and Shivani Jayasinghe kept the show in proper equilibrium. Mr Asela Jayanath and I, as invited compeers had the good fortune of presenting Indu’s achievements and poetic interpretations of the sixteen songs to a keen audience. While quoting the great words of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night “if music is the food of love” I would propose that “love is the food of music,” as love has clearly inspired our romantic musician Indu Premathilake. His inspiration was amply evident by the delivery of a wonderful night of music, by the moonlit water ripples of the Sydney Harbour.