Kala Suri Visharadha Dr. Mudunkotuwa Munasinghe Arachchige Sujatha Perera (born 12 May 1942: as සුජාතා අත්තනායක), colloquially known as Sujatha Aththanayaka , is a Sri Lankan singer. She is a prominent playback singer in Sinhala cinema and also in Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil cinema. Considered the golden bell of Sinhala music, she holds the record for the most number of cassettes produced by a Sri Lankan woman singer with more than 115 cassettes in a career spanning more than seven decades. She is the first female music director in Sri Lanka. She contributed for nearly 400 Sinhala films and 20 Sri Lankan-Indian Tamil Films as a playback singer. She sang more than 6000 Sinhala songs and more than 1000 songs in 9 different languages.
Personal life
She was born on 12 May 1942 in Kelaniya as the third of five siblings. Her father Mudunkotuwa Munasinghe Arachchige Dharmadasa Perera was a police sergeant. Her mother Gertrude Margaret Wolboff aka Vimala Kantha was a tower hall actress and singer. She started education in 1947 from Wedamulla Maha Vidyalaya, Kelaniya. She has two sisters and two brothers. Her sister Ranjani Perera is a renowned dance teacher and her younger brother Susil Perera is a popular comedian and musician.
She is married to Navaratne Aththanayaka. She met Navaratne at the State College of Music. The couple has three sons - Hely Sajeewa, Chanaka, Samin. Her second son Captain Chanaka Sanjeewa died on September 25, 1992, in Pooneryn during Eelam War II. Since his death, Aththanayaka quit singing and start to wear white sarees.
After his son's death, she left Sri Lanka for America in 1992. Due to the huge fan demand, she performed a series of successful concerts titled Jeevana Vila Meda in 2012.
Music career
In 1950, she sang Malse Dileva for a feature program in SLBC. After school life at the age of 18, she studied at the State College of Aesthetic and then at State College of Music in 1960. At first she was a lecturer at the Kalutara Teachers Training College and then became a Director of Education (Music) at Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka. In 1967 she went to India to complete a master's degree and "Visharadha" Exams from Lucknow College of Music in singing and playing sitar. After returning, she started to work at Radio Ceylon becoming the only female singer to perform classical music programs on Sri Lanka Radio. He retired as the Director of Aesthetic Education. In 1958 she became the first Sinhalese singer who sang a Hindi song for the program “Bal Sakha”.
In 1975, she became the first Sri Lankan female music director and directed music for films such as Hariyata Hari and Sanda Kinduru. Apart from music direction, Aththanayake involved as a playback singer and radio drama singer for many years started with 1956 film Sohoyuro at the age of 14. She sang several popular playback film songs such as Jeewana Vila Meda, Maligawe Ma Rajini, Onchilla Thotili, Guwan Thotille, Herde Rasa Malige, Parawunu Mal Wala and Puthune Me Ahaganna. She recorded four playback songs for four films in one day, which is a record in Sri Lanka. The first song was recorded at Kandana S. P. M. studio. The second song was done in the afternoon at Hendala Vijaya Studios. The third song was recorded at the University of Kelaniya studio and the fourth song was recorded at Lanka Studios. She sang playback songs for nearly 400 Sinhala Films. In 1979, a special music test conducted by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation won the first place in the rankings, beating all other singers.
She is the only singer to perform in India where she sang in different languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, English and Nepali. In 1980, she had the opportunity to sing the song Subha Kamina at the President's House when Nepal King Birendra and Queen Vimla arrived Sri Lanka. She was the first Sinhala singer to perform a Nepali song in the Asian Hindi Service. She also performed a Tamil one-man concert Swaram in Bambalapitiya as well as an Islam concert Ilampirai Geethangal in Maradana. She sang Tamil songs for 20 Tamil Films. She sang playback songs for Indian actresses like Radhika Sarathkumar, Thanuja Mukherjee & Vaijayanthimala.
Her husband was the musician in some of her popular songs including Aganthuka Kurulla, Bolan Podi Nangi Tikak Hitapan, Jeewathwana Thuru Ma, Neth Wasa and Wessata Themi Themi. Apart from singing, she is a talented Katak dancer who studied under Sirimathi Rasadari. In 1985, she represented Sri Lankan cultural delegation at the SAARC Summit. In 1992, after the death of her son, she launched a cassette "Yuda Bima Kandulak" to commemorate her son's first death anniversary.