“Every man and his profession has its own art within. If he or she captures that art, the job will be of significance. As a dentist, I see the beauty and art in my profession, which makes it special and a wonderful experience.”
Dr Asela Wijesundera does not just have a fondness for art, he lives on it. Being a reputed dentist, having achieved many things in life, he started another journey in a ‘different’ field that he loves, i.e. music.
His interpretations of some popular songs bound in a volume, ‘How to read life from a song’ was launched recently at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.
Dr Wijesundera hails from a small village called, Nagollagama, in the Kurunegala district. Recalling his childhood memories he says, he was drawn into art by his village surroundings. “Our village was a long stretch of paddy fields with no end in sight. Staring at the night sky on a full moon day at the village tank, awakened my aesthetic feelings,” he says.
Dr Wijesundera studied Sinhala Literature up to the O/Ls, but his love for Medicine inspired him to follow that path, and he graduated from the University of Peradeniya as a Dentist.
However, during his time in the University, he associated with professors and other senior lecturers who were well versed in Sinhala literature.
Dr Wijesundera first started listening to Sinhala songs as a form of entertainment, and eventually, began to enjoy the hidden meanings of the songs. Songs sung by veteran singers such as, Sunil Edirisinghe and Amarasiri Peiris persuaded him to go beyond entertainment and define life through song.
“I wouldn’t say that entertainment sans wisdom is useless. If a person can enjoy any form of art, it would be a great piece of art for that person. It is a person’s individual taste,” says Dr Wijesundera.