At the tender age of four, she sang in a group, the popular movie song, ‘Vesak Kekulu’ without having the slightest idea that she was destined to win the hearts of many thousands by singing beautiful melodies like a nightingale. Perhaps, one teacher in her school had sensed it when she asked this little girl to sing that same song as a solo in the school concert at the age of five. That is how the now famous Nuwandhika Senarathne started her journey.
Nuwandhika started to learn music formally only when she was ten years old, but she has been singing with her inborn talent as far back as her memory goes.
Sunday school was a tremendous inspiration for her singing. There, she got many opportunities to sing and gain confidence. Nuwandhika has fond memories of a singing competition that she took part in to represent her Sunday school. She won second place in that competition. She was too young to know that these were the signals that, one day her inborn talent for singing will place her amongst the elite.
Good music teachers
Nuwandhika was blessed with good music teachers in school. In her Mayurapada Junior School, she had two teachers, Ms. Mali Jayamaha and Ms. Asoka. At Mayurapada Central School, she had two other teachers, Ms. Asoka Samaraweera and Chandrasoma Jayasinghe.
Jayasinghe of Mayurapada Central had the foresight that this prodigy with a golden voice was born to sing. Like the North Star guiding the sailors at night, he guided her to the grand gate of the University of Visual and Performing Arts. She says that a teacher has a huge responsibility to help students achieve their full potential. After finishing school, she qualified as a Visharada. She also has a Grade A singers’ license from the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.
One of the happiest moments in Nuwandhika's life was when she opened a very special letter received in the mail. Although she was confident about getting admission to the University of Visual and Performing Arts, seeing that in writing was special. She knew that this brought her one giant leap towards her goal of living her passion of singing.
Being fearless to accept challenges is Nuwandhika's way. She chose western vocals as her area of specialization in the university.
Her advice to young children who hope to be good singers is to practice difficult melodies and embrace challenges. Following her own motto of embracing challenges, she entered a university wide competition to sing her inaugural western song on stage. Although she finished third, she considered this as another salient milestone on her journey. With that confidence, she entered into her next competition and won the grand prize of a full sponsorship to represent her university in the South Asian Inter-university Music Festival in India.
Star
Her dreams turned into reality, transforming her to a star, when she competed in the TV reality show Derana Dream Star. In the audition, she had to sing only for a few seconds to impress the judges. A judge on the panel compared her selection of the first song in the competition to eating curd with a razor blade. She was highly praised by the judges for the accuracy with which she sang.
The momentum of that remarkable beginning continued gathering more energy all the way to the grand finale. By the time she reached the finals, she was already a celebrity and the queen of hearts for tens of thousands of fans. The second place in this competition was not a defeat, but a source of determination for her next move. It was the launching pad for her journey beyond the reality experience.
I had the opportunity to talk to her about a week after the grand finale. My first impression was that Nuwandhika is not only an amazing singer but also a wonderful person. One thing I will never forget about that conversation is Nuwandhika’s long-term vision for helping upcoming artists. She talked about the importance of the quality of productions. She said that her journey would be slow but long. Since that time, I was curious to learn more about her and her plans. We had a few conversations on many topics, which inspired me to write this article.
Nuwandhika's singing voice has a magical power to mesmerize her audience. She knows how to do justice and beautifully decorate a piece of music with her voice.
Her choice of the brand name Nuwandiusic with the tagline "where voice is simply music" reflects this uniqueness.
She has sung more than 15 new songs and appeared on at least four programs on national TV in the past eight months. Her new songs include two theme songs for tele-dramas and a movie song.
She also had her very first experience of hosting a television program during the Vesak festival.
What a coincidence that the title of this Vesak program was ‘Vesak Kekulu’, the same title of her very first song she sang on stage when she was four years old. She has been on a world tour of live concerts, which is presently on hold due to the pandemic. I am sure there are many more programs up her sleeve.
A renowned singer and musician sitting on the panel of judges made a public statement during the recent Derana Dream Star Season X that the Sri Lankan music industry has a shortage of good female voices.
I am confident that Nuwandhika will abundantly fill this void.