Recreating Rukmani’s voice with Esraj
Sarath Kumarasinghe, the well-known Sri Lankan Esraj soloist recently released his forth esraj instrumental CD “Sonduru Sathsara 4” in Colombo.
His first two CDs were Esraj instrumental renditions of much loved Sri Lankan and Indian melodies. The third one was fully dedicated to the works of the great Indian singer Lata Mangeskar. For the latest CD, Sarath has focussed on the work of the Sri Lankan nightingale Rukmani Devi.
“Rukmani was the truly unequalled queen of Sri Lankan cinema, as she was equally capable of acting and singing. She sang for nearly four decades and left us a legacy of several memorable songs. After listening to more than 250 songs, I selected 16 for the CD with great difficulty” Sarath said. Sarath started playing the Esraj when he was 12 years of age and nurtured his skills in classical vocal and instrumental music from, the Bhatkande University of Music, Lucknow, India.
His first Esraj instrumental solo was telecast on the Independent Television Network (ITN) of Sri Lanka in 2000 bringing him to overnight fame. Sarath held his maiden Esraj instrumental concert in Sri Lanka in 2007 at the prestigious Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall and repeated it in 2011 at the Bishops College auditorium, Colombo.
Sarath Kurnarasinghe is considered one of the foremost Esraj players in North America and is also a renowned music tutor heading the Sathsara School of Music in Mississauga, Ontario. Sarath is a Chartered Accountant and holds accounting designations from Canada and U.S.A. He currently works in senior management in a major Bank in Toronto, Canada and lives in Mississauga, Ontario with his family.