Karunaratne Abeysekera (3 June 1930 – 20 April 1983) was one of Sri Lanka's most famous Sinhala broadcasters. He was also a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and was widely admired for his excellent command of Sinhala. Abeysekera wrote the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

to over 2,000 songs, a record for a

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

in Sri Lanka. His compositions are still covered by some of the island's top musicians to this day, introducing his lyrics to new audiences in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, and his songs are played regularly by the

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) (, ''Shrī Lankā Guvan Viduli Sansthāva'', , ''Ilangkai Oliparappuk Kūṭṭuttāpaṉam'') came into existence on 5 January 1967 when Radio Ceylon became a public corporation. Dudley Senanayak ...

Early years

Abeysekera was born on 3 June 1930 in Ratmale near Matara in Southern Sri Lanka. He was educated at

Nalanda College Colombo Nalanda College () is a Buddhist school in Sri Lanka that provides primary and secondary education for boys.Gunadasa Amarasekara Gunadasa Amarasekera (born 12 November 1929) is a prominent Sinhala writer, poet, and essayist from Sri Lanka. Early life and education Gunadasa Amarasekera was born in Yattalamatta in Galle District. He was educated at Mahinda College, Galle ...

, Stanley Jayasinghe, Dr

Harischandra Wijayatunga Wijayatunga Mudalige Harischandra Wijayatunga (; born 25 October 1931) is a Sri Lankan author, translator, lexicographer, teacher, lawyer and politician. He held various offices in different institutions of the Government of Sri Lanka. At prese ...

, Dr

Hudson Silva Deshabandu Dr F. G. Hudson Silva was the founder and president of the International Eye Bank, Tissue Bank, and the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society. He was an honorary Fellow of the College of Ophthalmologists of Sri Lanka. Early life and educati ...

, Hon. Rupa Karunathilake, Hon. Dr

Dharmasena Attygalle Dr Dharmasena Attygalle (19 February 1925 – 1 June 1989) was an MP in Sri Lanka's parliament from 1972 to 1982. He served as the Deputy Minister of Health (1977–1980) and Minister of Indigenous Medicine (1980–1982) representing the K ...

, Dr Henry Jayasena, Bernie Wijesekera. Siri Perera was Abeysekera's

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; Sinhala: , , ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. It is also the first ...

teacher at Nalanda. He was discovered by the children's

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

programme ''Ḷamā Piṭiya'' ("Children's Field") hosted by Siri Aiya (also known as U.A.S. Perera - Siri Perera QC) and broadcast over

Radio Ceylon Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...

, the oldest radio station in South Asia. ''Ḷamā Piṭiya'' was a showcase for young talents, and Abeysekera performed with his

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

s on the Radio Ceylon programme in the 1940s. He was an instant hit with the general public and remained a

pop icon A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

until his death. His younger brother Daya Abeysekara was a renowned journalist and an actor. He died on 29 March 2019 at the age of 80. The funeral was held on 31 March 2019 at Kanatte Cemetery.

A teenage broadcaster

Abeysekera was a pioneering Sinhala broadcaster. He was a rare breed, a "teenage broadcaster" launching a broadcasting career with Radio Ceylon, which he joined in 1950 at the age of 20. In 1958 he was sent to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for specialist broadcasting training with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Studio 5 of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation has been named after him.

Career

Abeysekera was an

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience on a broadcast media programme or live event either on radio or television. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaki ...

, compere, lyricist, dialogue writer, and poet - he also wrote

children's stories A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

. He worked very closely with another famous broadcaster,

Vernon Corea Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the S ...

. It was one of the most productive radio partnerships in Sri Lanka. His songs have been sung by a range of musicians, among them Pundit Amaradeva,

Nanda Malini Mirihana Arachchige Nanda Malini Perera ( Sinhala:නන්දා මාලනී: born 23 August 1943), popularly as Nanda Malini, is a Sri Lankan musician. One of the best known and most honoured singers of Sri Lanka, Malini's choice of singing ...

, H. R. Jothipala, Milton Mallawarachchi,

J. A. Milton Perera Jayasinghe Arachchige Milton Perera (; 5 May 1938 – 24 October 1991), popularly known as Milton Perera, was a singer, composer and playback singer of Cinema of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan cinema. One of the most respected artists in Sri Lanka, Milton ...

and Mignonne Fernando and the Jetliners. Karunaratne Abeysekera won the prestigious

Sarasaviya Awards ''Sarasaviya Awards'' (Sinhala:සරසවිය සම්මාන) is an award bestowed to distinguished individuals involved with the Sinhala cinema, each year by the Sarasaviya weekly newspaper in collaboration with the Associated Newspapers ...

for his lyrics on two occasions. The Government of Sri Lanka named a road after him in the capital city of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Pioneer Sinhala cricket commentator

Abeysekera made history in the world of radio by being the first

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

commentator using the Sinhala language. He commentated on matches played by Ceylon against visiting English,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n and

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n teams from the 1950s to the 1970s. He also commentated on local cricket matches. He had to devise cricket

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

to describe cricketing actions - this was uncharted territory in Sinhala; his words to describe various aspects of cricket are used to this day.

Quote on Karunaratne Abeysekera

Bibliography

*''Cricket and National Identity in the Postcolonial Age'', ardcover Stephen Wagg (Editor), Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (7 July 2005),

References

External links

Daily News Colombo: Karunaratne Abeysekera of Radio Ceylon - The Legacy Lives OnBBC Radio 4 - Empire: Young Ceylonese TalentsReflections on Karunaratne Abeysekeraඑන්න මඳ නළේ ගොස් පවසන්න දුක මගේ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abeysekera, Karunaratne Sri Lankan radio personalities Sri Lankan cricket commentators Sri Lankan lyricists Sri Lankan songwriters Sinhala-language poets Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo 1930 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Sri Lankan poets