ආත්මා ලියනගේ
40 songs performed · 1 composition
Athma Liyanage (also romanized Aathma Liyanage), ආත්මා ලියනගේ, is a Sri Lankan singer, songwriter, and keyboardist who emerged at the end of the 1980s and built a following across two generations of listeners. He is remembered first for the song that named his debut, “Liyathambara,” and later for the love songs that reintroduced him to a younger audience after 2011.
Liyanage began recording professionally in 1989, the year he released the album Liyathambara One Man Orchestra, on which he handled vocals and electric organ himself. The title track, Liyathambara (ලියතම්බර), became his early signature and carried his name through the Sinhala music of the early 1990s. From the same period comes Epa Kandulel Sala (ඈපා කඳුළෙල් සලා), another of the songs that established his quieter, melody-led style.
More than two decades into his career, Aathma Liyanage found a new audience with a run of releases in 2011, led by “Ayemath Adaren” and the much-played Hitha Dura Handa (සිත දුර හඳ). These songs reached the millennial generation that had not grown up with his first records, and they remain among his most requested. He continued releasing singles through the decade, including Na Thawath Hithak (2015) and Ahimi Nathu Aga (2016).
Liyanage’s appeal rests on slow, sentimental love songs delivered in a soft register, often built around his own keyboard arrangements rather than a full band. That self-contained “one man orchestra” approach defined his earliest work and still marks the spare, vocal-forward sound of songs such as Kandu Pamula Sita. His more recent collaboration Sansara Adare (සංසාර ආදරේ) shows the same melodic instinct carried into a newer production style, keeping Athma Liyanage in steady rotation among Sri Lankan and diaspora listeners.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Athma Liyanage.