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Asuntha
Karunaratne Asuntha is an emerging young talent in Melbourne, daughter to the well-known local artiste Rohana Karunaratne. She is the female vocalist of “Tharanga” led by Cameron Colombage. Asuntha was first revealed to the public through dancing. She was a Kandian dance pupil of Soma Kirialla at Vishaka Montessori from the age of five, and appeared in her first dancing concert at “Nawa Rangahala”. From the age of six she attended Musaeus College and became a pupil of Daya Nellampitiya’s dancing group. While in Sri Lanka Asuntha has also taken part in a few children’s programs in Sri Lankan radio. After moving to Australia in 1992 she became a regular voice in “Lama Mandapaya” on Radio 3ZZZ in Melbourne. In Christmas 1992 she sang her first original Sinhala song “Nisala Rayakadi” on the community radio. She took piano and violin lessons in her childhood (in both Sri Lanka and Australia) before gaining an exceptional liking to singing. Asuntha also attained keyboard lessons in Melbourne by Seetha Kulasekara from 1993 to 1996. To maintain her dancing trait she attended Pushpa Liyanage’s “Lakmal” dancing school in Melbourne from 1992, then Namali Perera’s dancing group. From then on she kept part-taking in the many Sri Lankan cultural shows, dancing with these groups; under the instruction of some visiting dancing teachers from Sri Lanka; and also improvising with fellow dance pupils. She also appeared on Channel 31 with the “Lakmal” dancing group. Asuntha’s debut performance in Australia was at Sunil Edirisinghe’s “Sandakada Pahana” concert in 1993 singing “Monawada Mutthe” with Rohana Weerasinghe. From then on she participated in the many music concerts around Melbourne by way of solo performances and participation in the chorus of popular artists from Sri Lanka such as W.D. Amaradeva, Victor Ratnayake, Nanda Malini, Lakshman Wijesekara, Nirosha Virajini, etc. A song now well-known to the Sinhala community in Melbourne, “Onna Sanda Payala”, was Asuntha’s first original song to be released together with Rohana Karunaratne’s song compilation – “Mal Yahane” – in 2000. In early-2001 she became a member of the local band “Melbourne Ceylonese” led by George Rodrigo singing 60s to 90s old favourites as well as Baila. Then she joined “Tharanga” in end-2002 performing Sinhala classics and Baila. Meanwhile, she attended Jaanz School of Singing to explore her vocal arena. Now, having become a regular performer at the latest on-going youth night “Dance Explosion”, she is slowly revealing her hidden talents performing the latest R&B and Pop music. Asuntha
is an Honours graduate of Bachelor of Biomedical Science, currently
undertaking a PhD on Medical Ethics at Monash University.
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