Dhanith Sri

Dhanith Sri (ධනිත් ශ්‍රී) is a Sri Lankan singer, songwriter, and composer, one of the most recognisable voices of the country’s new generation of pop and alternative music. He writes, composes, and performs his own material, and is best known for a run of self-produced hits that blend high, plaintive vocals with traditional Sri Lankan percussion and modern synthesisers.

Early life and background

Dhanith Sri was born on 22 December 1994 in Kandy. He studied at Vidyartha College and Kingswood College in Kandy, and went on to read electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Peradeniya. Music was a childhood interest rather than a planned career; he taught himself the guitar with friends after his A-Levels and began writing his own melodies and lyrics, an origin that explains why so much of his catalogue is entirely his own work.

Career and breakthrough

Dhanith Sri reached the mainstream with his 2018 single Pandama, an alternative-rock-leaning track that paired his distinctive upper-register voice with Sri Lankan drum patterns and electronic textures, and it topped television and radio charts at the same time. He followed it with the back-to-back successes Naukawa and Sandaganawa, both of which he wrote, composed, and sang himself. His releases resist a single genre, but a pop-rock sensibility runs through most of them.

Signature songs and collaborations

Beyond his solo records, Dhanith Sri has written and produced for other artists. He composed Udurawee for vocalist Kanchana Anuradhi Fernando, and worked with the duo Bathiya and Santhush on Sebala Puthu. His writing tends toward introspective, image-rich Sinhala lyrics, which has made songs such as Sandaganawa (සඳ ගණවා) and Naukawa enduring favourites among younger listeners and the Sinhala diaspora.

Notable songs on Lyrics-lk

• Pandama
• Naukawa
• Sandaganawa
• Sebala Puthu
• Daatha Dara

Lyrics-lk presents these songs with their Sinhala lyrics, transliteration in English (Singlish), and English translation, so listeners can follow both the words and their meaning. As an artist who writes his own lyrics, Dhanith Sri remains a central figure in contemporary Sri Lankan music.