Chandrasena Hettiarachchi

Chandrasena Hettiarachchi (චන්ද්‍රසේන හෙට්ටිආරච්චි, also written Chandrasena Hettiarachi) is a Sri Lankan singer and music director whose warm, ballad-leaning voice carried songs such as Mal Mal Vile and Amma Jeewana through the 1980s and beyond. He came up through the youth-choir movement and built a catalogue rooted in pop, soul, and a strain of Indian classical phrasing.

Early life and training

Hettiarachchi was born on 7 September in Yatiyanthota, in the Kegalle District, and studied at Garagoda Sinhala Junior College. His father worked as a mason and his mother on the area’s rubber estates, so music was something he pursued rather than inherited.

His first break came in 1979, when he won a national youth singing competition. In 1980 he joined the National Youth Services Council choir, where he trained under Premadasa Mudunkotuwa and Sisira Kumara Marasinghe, the grounding that shaped his phrasing as a soloist.

Career and signature songs

Emerging from group singing into his own recordings, Chandrasena Hettiarachchi became known for tender, melody-first love songs and devotional pieces. Mal Mal Vile Ron Soya and Amma Jeewana, a song addressed to a mother, remain his most recognised work, alongside Oya Nisa Mage Sina, Kelesaka Keewath Oba Gana Mathakaya, and Nawala Annasi. His Sindi Bindi Adare kept him in circulation with newer listeners.

He works as a music director as well as a performer, and has marked his career with milestone concerts. The Hettiaarachchi name continues in the next generation: his daughter, the singer Lihini Hettiarachchi, recorded Man Gawa Thaniwechcha, for which he wrote and composed.

Notable songs on Lyrics-lk

• Mal Mal Vile Ron Soya
• Amma Jeewana Uyan There
• Oya Nisa Mage Sina
• Kelesaka Keewath Oba Gana Mathakaya
• Nawala Annasi
• Sindi Bindi Adare
• Dura Atha Athithaye Oba Ha Awida