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'Rattaran Duwe' is a parent's most endearing form of addressing a daughter. She is so precious and valuable. Academician turned lyric writer Professor Carlo Fonseka created a highly emotional and touching song beginning with the words 'Rattaran duwe ape rattaran duwe' expressing most poignantly the feelings of a parent when the daughter moves out after getting married. It was an instant hit when the audio cassette 'Carlochita Gee' was released a few years back. A CD with his creations has just been released using 'Rattaran Duwe' as its title.

We listen to Professor Fonseka often at book launches and felicitations to artistes. He is interesting to listen to. He mixes substance with wit and has a style of his own in delivery. The CD, described as "Carlo Fonseka's songs of a lifetime", highlights his talents as a fine lyric writer and talented melody maker. A little booklet carrying the words of the songs is included in the CD.

A blurb on him in the booklet gives an insight into his creative mood. It says: When in a mood of devotion or love or joy or sadness or dejection or whatever, words expressive of the mood suggest themselves to him even as he breathes a melody into them. By dint of repetition he records them in his memory.

Then over the next few days or weeks or more, he fine-tunes the melody and refines the lyric. Finally he sings the songs to a musician for orchestration.

A little known fact is that Carlo had been initiated into Sinhala music as a schoolboy by Sunil Shantha in 1948. In his inimitable style, he says that his songs are a product of his confidence and ignorance - confidence derived from the fact that his musical guru was Sunil Shantha himself; and ignorance of lyric poetry and the theoretical complexities of musical composition, as the booklet put it.

A notable feature in his compositions is the simplicity and the genuineness of the words. His ability to select the right melody to suit the mood of the song stands out. For the devotional songs, be it homage to the Buddha or honouring Jesus Christ, he picks the appropriate melody and chooses the ideal singer to deliver it. Pandit Amaradeva leads a chorus to sing the opening song in the CD - 'Sambuddha Raaja'. Anton Charles and chorus sing 'Jesu Upanda'. Rohana Weerasinghe who directs the music in 12 of the 18 songs in the CD, also sings three songs. Two of them are duets - 'Rattaran Duwe' with Nanda Malini, 'Chirani Duwe' (lament about a daughter) with Deepika Priyadashani. The other, a solo, 'Aasiriwan Ayubowan' is a birthday song.

The varied selection includes a felicitation song on Dr. N. M. Perera sung by Edward Jayakody who directs the music too. An interesting composition is an undergrads' song -'Sarasviyen Iparani Kelaniye' - by the medicos of Kelaniya University where Carlo last served. Pradeep Ratnayake is the music director. Incidentally, Carlo is Emeritus Professor of Physiology in the Universities of Colombo and Kelaniya.

Victor Ratnayake, Sunil Edirisinghe, Amarasiri Peiris, Laxman Wijesekera and a newcomer- Hirantha de Silva are the other singers. A rare gathering indeed.