Kanthi Wakwella

Appreciations
Kanthi Wakwella

Seventeen years ago, a sudden hurricane turned my life upside down, when I lost him. He was my inspiration, my companion, my everything. Echoes of his beautiful voice, visions of his warm smile, memories of his loving ways, hardships and difficulties he had to undergo, just to achieve his dream of winning me as his life keep coming back to me, almost everyday. He will never know how much I miss him or how much I wish everyday to see him even in my dreams. My elder son has taken after him. He sings beautifully bringing tears to my eyes, memories to my mind and silent aches to my heart, but I am grateful to him for making me feel his father is still with me.

Even though so many years have gone by, I will never get over missing him, because he was and still remains so very special to me, a lasting memory to my family, today, tomorrow and throughout my life.

Karuna

One was B. S. Perera and the other P. L. A. Somapala. It was B. S. Perera who composed the tunes for a host of evergreens from Kanthi Wakwella's 'Dura Penena Tenitala', Vincent de Paul Peiris' 'Siripade Samanala Knada Pene' & 'Bicycale', Rohitha Jayasinghe's 'Sobana Sendewe' to Rukmani Devi's 'Vana Bambara'. P. L. A Somapala's 'Lalitha Kala', 'Dunhinda Helena' & 'Sukmala Banda Lelava' were among the many favourites he composed in the western mould.

Among others moving in this direction were C. T. Fernando, Susil Premaratne, Sydney Attygalle and Maurice Dahanayake.