Kaushalya hits the top Down Under
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K aushalya Fonseka Mark, winner of last years Best Female Artiste of the Home Grown Awards, is now a popular name in the music arena. Kaushalya, who lives Down Under, has won a Silver at the ‘Prestigious Serendib Lankan Awards’ in Melbourne recently. The Sunday Times asked her a few candid questions about her thoughts about her passion, which is song writing and composing and her life.
The soul behind your inspiration as a lyric writer………. I guess every lyric writer has what inspires them most and mine is sad heartbreaking thoughts or events. I am able to connect with it more and use writing to express myself., whether it be something directly affecting me or someone close to me. What is the type of music that appeals to you……
Coming from Sri Lanka I’ve been lucky enough to grow up around good RNB music and radio stations there have always played a good variety. Even though music written by me may not exactly fit in to this genre, that’s definitely my favorite. I remember listening to my first boyz2Men album on repeately as a kid for years.
What the first ever Home Grown Award of Best Female Artiste and the Silver at the Serendib Awards in Melbourne meant to you…….
While there’s little you can do with an award except be grateful for the recognition and honor, there, comes with it a feeling that Is very difficult to put in to words. You are considered a lucky person if you follow your passion and do what you love. But being appreciated by someone else for it, is a feeling out of this world. It’s like someone thanking you for being the world’s richest woman.
Singers who inspire you……
Toni Braxton was a singer.I was really crazy about for a long time as a kid. She had that voice that brought out how she was feeling. Alecia Keys has also been someone I have admired for a long time and I was lucky enough to see her perform live on stage last year. I’ve grown to appreciate EmilySande and Sia as they both started as song writers first.
A bit about your family
background and early years…….
Well as much as I dislike mentioning who my parents are, with the sole reason of not wanting to make a name through their fame, this is something that cannot be avoided. The truth is both my parents are outrageously talented and made their mark in the country. My father, Gamini Fonseka, was not only an actor but a writer, an artist and many things more. My mother Angela Seneviratne is not only an actress and she too is a writer an artist a singer and an amazing event organizer. So I too have received most of these talents from them and am very lucky to be from such a creative artistic
family. The most important person whom my life revolves around is my husband, Anton Mark. We are now in Australia though our hearts are back home in Sri Lanka. (SW)