He requested all artists and scholars to guide the government in this regard.

The President made these remarks at the cremation ceremony of late great musician W. D. Amaradewa. The cremation ceremony was held yesterday (Nov. 05) at the Independence Square with full state honours.

Following is the full statement made by President Sirisena as a tribute to late great musician.

At this moment the entire country is saddened by the demise of Dr. W. D. Amaradewa.

From the news of the demise of him the people of the entire country, Sri Lankan expatriates, foreign scholars who knew him and his fans were very saddened.

Amaradewa was a great man of the era who awakened the nation. As Prof. Sunil Ariyarathne said there is no other artist who can be placed at par with W. D. Amaradewa. I think everybody indisputably agrees with it.

Though Mr. Amaradewa left us two days ago, I believe that the vision, voice and great values of him have now been reborn. He is eternal and his voice and the vision are alive.

Before 25 years I invited him to come to Polonnaruwa, a difficult area and give his voice and the knowledge to the school children there to provide a valued service. He accepted my invitation with a nice smile and without any condition. He went to Polonnaruwa several times and held a series of programs for the school children in Polonnaruwa.

On a day he went to Polonnaruwa I spent nice evening with him, sitting on a stone slab at the Parakrama Samudraya. He talked about the Parakrama Samudraya, temples and dageba. He spoke about how the art, literature and large farming lands are nicely mixed with the lives of the farmers.

He was awarded as a great artiste nationally and internationally. He became a great artiste through the appreciation of the people of the entire country, scholars, artistes, politicians, government officials, school children and the public. Therefore, Amaradewa was adored by the people in this country. He was considered as a person to be worshipped.

As a government we decided to pay full state respect to him, declare one week of mourning and selected the Independence Square to pay the highest respect to this great pragmatist of the era.

The academics of universities and the field of art as well as our beloved artistes have a responsibility to build our future generation according to the way and the vision of Amaradewa.

We will take the program ahead to establish a Center for Amaradewa, an art institute and national center. I request our beloved veteran artistes to guide the government on this regard.

May the great musician Amaradewa attain Nibbana! May he will be born in our motherland before he attains Nibbana.