Athula Adikari

Athula Adikari (also spelled Athula Adhikari, අතුල අධිකාරී) is a Sri Lankan pop singer, composer and actor, born in 1966 in the Chilaw district. He is best known for romantic pop ballads of the late 1980s and 1990s and for the long string of duets he recorded with singer Samitha Mudunkotuwa, to whom he was married for much of that period.

Early life and first bands

Adikari grew up in the Chilaw area on Sri Lanka’s north-western coast. He came to music young, joining the band Sunflowers as a keyboard player in 1981 while still in school. Years of playing live with a working band shaped the smooth, melody-led pop, soul and rhythm-and-blues style that would later mark his solo records.

Career and breakthrough

He stepped out as a solo vocalist with his debut album Ran Palase in 1988, the record that produced his early hits and established him as a singer rather than only a sideman. The title song Ran Palase and Ran Palase Wathiri remain among his most requested numbers.

Through the 1990s Athula Adhikari built a catalogue of gentle, sentimental love songs that sat easily on radio and at weddings. Tracks such as Daiwaye Saradamin, Mage Kiya and Ma Dase Adare show the register he is loved for, plain language, a clear hook and an unhurried delivery.

Duets with Samitha Mudunkotuwa

Adikari met Samitha Mudunkotuwa in the late 1980s, and the two married and recorded together for years. Their pairing became one of the most familiar male-female duet acts in Sinhala pop. He wrote and sang with her on songs hosted here including Hada Panak Se Awidin and Dahasak Mal Pipila, and he composed the music for Sansare Pathu Pathum Nima Nowena, her well-known tribute to a mother. The couple later divorced, but their joint recordings are still revived on stage, including the 2023 “Athula-Samitha” concert at the Nelum Pokuna theatre in Colombo.

Notable songs on Lyrics-lk

• Sanda Warunawata
• Daiwaye Saradamin
• Ran Palase Wathiri
• Ma Dase Adare
• Mage Kiya
• Email Kavi Kaariye
• Sililaara Sitha Nayana (Soorya Nagare)

Acting and later work

Beyond music, Athula Adikari has worked steadily as a screen actor, with roles in films and in television dramas. He remains active as a performer, and his songs continue to circulate widely among Sri Lankan listeners at home and across the diaspora.