THE ONE & ONLY PRIYA SURIYASENA
Veteran singer Priya Suriyasena who has mesmerised music lovers in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world with his captivating voice for five decades, is still in demand as he was decades ago.priya who entered the music scene as an SLBC singer, recorded his first song in 1968. Among his earliest songs were ‘Heta Dawase Apa Dedena’, ‘Andura Andura Mage’, ‘Bingu Welapeela’ and others which are evergreen hits even today.he was one of the most sought after singing stars not only in the seventies and eighties but even today. He is regarded as the biggest super star in terms of romantic hits. Priya has just returned after a musical tour in Japan and his next mission would be in Australia this month. “I have several overseas tours lined up. This has resulted in finding little time for local shows. But I do my best to cater to our local audiences too,” said Priya in an interview with Daily Mirror Life Impulse. “I did the very first cassette under Vijaya Ramanayake’s Tharanga label and it was a huge hit at that time. From then onwards it has been a nonstop musical journey for me.”
WHY HAVEN’T YOU HELD A SOLO MUSICAL CONCERT IN YOUR 50YEAR MUSICAL CAREER?
“Well, so many people and organisers had suggested holding such a concert but there was no proper mechanism to put it in place. My only son Luckshitha was away in the US for about six years. That was also another factor for that delay. Now, that my son is back on a long vacation having completed his Engineering Degrees and a doctorate, I hope to make that dream a reality soon. My son will coordinate the concert but we are on the look out for a few good sponsors for this landmark show.
WE HAVE HEARD YOUR SON SING SO WELL, IN YOUR IDENTICAL VOICE?
All my four children – Nimoshi who is a doctor, Iroshi who is a bank manager, Luckshitha who is an engineer and Gayashi a management degree student – can sing well. They can sing in various languages. I never compelled them to take up music as a profession. I gave them the freedom to pursue careers of their own choice and I am glad they are excelling in those fields.
YOUR VIEWS ABOUT THE CURRENT MUSIC INDUSTRY?
We have a lot of talented youngsters today. But they must try to make a name for themselves through their original creations. There are some who sing popular songs of other singers at amateur contests, reality shows and TV programmes. But they should limit it to those segments only. Some of them continue to sing songs of others on stage too and make a quick buck illegally. During our amateur days, even we sang songs of senior singers of that era. But we established ourselves through our original songs. Fortunately, we had gifted lyricists and music directors during our time.
“Some of them continue to sing songs of others on stage too and make a quick buck illegally. They must try to make a name for themselves by singing originals”