* Lyrics & Acting in Video: Dr. Samira Jayasinghe

* Music: Dr. Devaka Ratnapala

It was the first week of October last year and I was in a small hotel room overseas, having just finished packing my bags to return home the next morning. It was in the thick of the Covid wave in Europe. I had just dropped my daughter in the university and was returning home the next morning, bags lighter, heart heavier.

I was scrolling through the Facebook feed to distract my mind for a moment from the rush of emotions welling up. There was one shared by one of my classmates, penned by him and music composed by another batch mate of mine. The song was about daughters.

“Nirathuru mage gatha dawatena, Muwa hasarali nithi nanwana” (often lingering around, and the smiles that bring to one’s heart) were the opening lines of the song. The familiar voice of T. M. Jayaratna, the same singer who sang “Amma Sandaki mama e lowa hiruya ridhi” (mother is the moon, I am the silver sun), the most beautiful song I have heard, sung by a father. His voice seemed mature, but still smooth as it has ever been.

He was singing about his daughter, and of all daughters. As he pauses, the second voice slides gently into the conversation, as a mother sometimes would waft into a conversation between a father and daughter, may be with a steaming cup of tea in hand.

As for me, Nelu Adhikari has always been that perfect voice one can listen to for hours. My distraction was becoming counteractive, the welled up emotions of leaving my daughter behind in a distant land to fend for herself, were rushing in from deep within and overwhelming my mind. I stopped the video.

Waiting for boarding at an empty Heathrow Airport the next day, I sent a quick message back to my old friend who shared the post, Dr. Samira Jayasinghe, the lyrics writer of the song, telling him honestly the effect the weave of words and the music had on me. I was delighted to learns that the music composition was also by another friend, Dr. Devaka Ratnapala.

I started prodding down memory lane. Samira and I followed two paths and ended up in the same school after passing the grade five scholarship exam, almost 35 years ago. We spent a few of our best years in school as class mates. Although, we parted ways after, and have kept very little contact, our friendship has not waned. The nostalgia of us singing song after song gathered around a school desk drum in free periods flowed in from bygone days.

Since then I have listened to the song many times. Surrendering to the urge to write something, I pen these thoughts not as a critique (to do so I am not qualified) but merely from an average father’s perspective, listening to the song.

The first verse bring memories of the first time a father sees the petite being. The moment many a men realize what an angel in flesh and blood looks like. The chorus, akin to the infinite waves that visit the shore, reminds you of the laughter, the gentleness that was a daughter that fill a home. The last verse has the line that captured me the most, when the father sings of watching from a distance and being content of simply being a father.

This song in whole feels like our story, parents somewhat lost in their empty nest where the young ones have taken their flight to find their own fortune. Feelings of pride, glee and loss fill the heart. Samira’s lyrics flow through, flipping through memories of seeing one’s daughter for the first time.

How she took baby steps and walked in to the centre of your heart and captivated it and grew up to be a young lady. Devaka’s smooth melody calms one’s conscious to allow it to reach deep within and stir up deeper feelings.

A man would become a better man because of a woman for sure, but he will become the best man he can be because of a daughter. Samira’s and Devaka’s creation has captured that essence

“Diyani obai ma sanasana” is a unique creation in another aspect as well. Both lyricist and the musician are Specialist Consultant Surgeons, who have excelled in their chosen fields. Samira becomes an actor in the music video with famous actress Manjula Kumari.

Dr. Samira Jayasinghe, a Consultant General Surgeon, is a journalist and author as well. He has authored three books and “Adaraneeya Corona” was the third launched during the pandemic. He writes a weekly column “Vini Viduma” in a Sunday national newspaper. On the other hand, Dr. Devaka was the music composer of the popular song “Ahasata soduruda Sanda ketharam” which has touched the hearts of many.

Jaliya Pilimatalawwe, From Hong Kong