Reporting by Nimal Punchihewa

Sri Lankan community in Sydney were recently treated to an unforgettable experience in song-writing, singing, music and dancing. The event is acclaimed as unprecedented in Australia.

At Ananda College, Maithri Panagoda was known to everyone for his academic achievements, gathering a cluster of Gold medals and prizes, particularly for Sinhala, and language proficiency.

Maithri literally had inherent qualities of an unsung hero for his contribution towards Sinhala literature and song writing. Simplicity being his mirror of reflection, Maithri was a man without ornamentation, while his subtle contribution qualified for piles of appreciation.

In 1970 Maithri wrote lyrics for many famous singers such as Neela Wickremasinghe, TM Jayaratne, Abeywardena Balasuriya, Niranjala Sarojini,  HR Jothipala, just to name a few.

Maithri’s lyrics are complimented by highly recognised composers such as Premasiri khemadasa, Dayarathne Ranathunga, Lional Algama, and Justin Galage. Those songs still ring in our ears while the community would have been unaware of a song writer who was adorned with such a wealth of talent and continue to enrich our culture.

Maithri left Sri Lanka at a young age for further studies which was a great loss to the Sri Lankan music industry at that time. After 30 years of stillness, he embarked on the production of a new CD which included some of the professional musicians in Sydney Australia.  From start to finish it took over 14 months for this extravagant CD launch "Sudu Weli" to take place at the Thornleigh community centre with over 350 invitees who graced the occasion.  The show was professionally presented with an array of entertaining performances fulfilling the expectations of the gathering.

On the 22nd of October, the show opened up with Dr Don Wickrema’s address with a summary of Maithri’s achievements at Ananda College, which contributed to his musical career today.

The CD also contains songs that Maithri wrote for professional artists in Sydney, some of which appeared on stage and performed live. Nimal Punchihewa, Aruna Kannangara, Lalith Kalupahana, Lanka Priyangani, Duncan Karunarathne, Chandrani Buddipala, Thisal Padhukkavithana, Dulip Jayakodi and Chaminda Kuruppu are the local singers who participated in the ‘Sudu Weli” CD.

Some of the songs were accompanied by professional dancers and children from the age of 6.

One of the highlights of the show was the Cello recital by Maithri’s son Mathisha Panagoda who holds an honours degree in music from Sydney University.

The master of ceremonies was Asela De Mel.

The debut CD was dedicated to Maithri’s 18-day-old grandson Ravi and was accepted on behalf of the baby by Maithri’s daughter Ruvani.

The event production team consisted of Ananda Jayarathne, Kithsiri Karunarathne, Athula Kaldemulla, and assisted by Aruna Kannangara, Lalith Kalupahana, Asela De Mel and Nimal Punchihewa. The Media partner was Ozlanka.

Click here to view an album of photos by Nimal Punchihewa and Eranda Kumaraperuma