Soduru Atheethaya- maiden solo by T M Jayaratne

Ishara Jayawardane

T M Jayaratne fans will be pleased to hear that the maestro of the violin himself will perform live at the Solo Concert Soduru Atheethaya on April 9 at 6.30pm at the Museus College Auditorium.

Renowned singer T M Jayaratne was lauded by everyone who attended the media conference to announce his upcoming event. The kind of respect and devotion he commanded was quite an eye opener, not lost on anyone. The fact that he arrived almost one and a half hours late for his own media briefing did not deter anyone from turning the man into a Sri Lankan Music Idol. It really was quite amazing, the adulation that he commanded, which had Jayaratne dabbing at his eyes as the flow of tears gave him away. Such praise can normally turn a man's head but it was not Jayaratne's head that was turned. The people who spoke about him certainly got carried away, their language being somewhat verbose and high flown, in an attempt to to describe their good opinion of him.

Born on April 13, 1944 in Dodangoda he grew up to be a popular Sri Lankan singer, who received the Presidential Award in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1987 and awarded the Best Male Singer award at the Raigam Tele Award Festival. "The Musical Journey that I started in 1969 is completing 44 years this year.

In making it a memorabilia, this is the first time that I have decided to have my first solo performance, which I believe is a special moment in my life as well as in my musical journey.

Playing the violin is something harmonious. It is a delicate and sensitive instrument.

The reason this event has taken so long to become a reality, is frankly because I was not prepared and matured enough. I prolonged it.

But now I am ready to do my concert," T M Jayaratne added.

"This solo concert gives us great pleasure. This concert was in the making for long time and better late than never.

I am grateful for the fact the Jayaratne was encouraged to do this because this kind of events are very rare. Twenty five songs will be performed by Jayaratne at the auditorium.

This is in itself a rarity as we have not seen even 12 songs by Jayaratne performed at a stretch.

I must say that the voice of T M Jayaratne is one of the most beautiful voices I have heard. We must consider ourselves very fortunate to be a part of this", Professor Sunil Ariyaratne said paying tribute to Jayaratne.