චන්දනකුමාර කන්දනආරච්චි
11 songs performed
Chandra Kumara Kandanarachchi (චන්ද්ර කුමාර කඳනාරච්චි), also written Chandrakumara Kandanarachchi and sometimes Chandrakumara Kadanarachchi, was a Sri Lankan singer whose warm, unhurried voice carried a string of Sinhala love songs that have stayed in rotation for half a century. He is best remembered for Age Sinahawa Thahanam, a tender ballad that became one of the most loved Sinhala songs of its era.
Kandanarachchi rose to prominence in the 1970s, a period when Age Sinahawa Thahanam (also spelled “Ege Sinahawa Thahanam”) was first recorded and took hold on radio. Over the following decades he built a catalogue of gentle, melody-led songs that suited his soft, conversational delivery rather than vocal display.
His most enduring recordings include Pem Benda Sith Benda Neth Kalma, Ganga Nadi Thirayedi (often listed as “Ganga Nadee Theeraye”), and Sithe Sathuta Jiwithaye. These four titles are the songs most consistently named when his work is recalled, and each remains a request on Sinhala oldies programmes.
Across roughly five decades of singing, Chandrakumara Kandanarachchi remained a familiar voice on Sri Lankan radio, the kind of singer whose songs are tied to a generation’s memories of romance and youth. He died on 26 March 2024, aged 76, after receiving treatment at the Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama. For listeners at home and across the Sinhala diaspora, his recordings, led by Age Sinahawa Thahanam, continue to define the gentle ballad style he made his own.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Chandrakumara Kadanarachchi.