ධර්මදාස වල්පොල
19 songs performed
Dharmadasa Walpola (ධර්මදාස වල්පොල, sometimes written Darmadasa Walpola) was a Sri Lankan playback singer and multi-instrumentalist, widely regarded as the leading male voice of Sinhala cinema through the 1950s and early 1960s. Across a recording life of more than three decades he sang for well over a hundred films and left a body of songs that Sri Lankan and diaspora listeners still return to.
Walpola was born on 27 November 1927 in Deiyannewela, Kandy. He left formal schooling early to help support his family, and came to music through the stage, singing virindu and acting in plays before the gramophone and the cinema gave him a wider audience. He was a genuine multi-instrumentalist, equally at home on the flute, harmonium, violin and tabla, and he trained under teachers including R. A. Chandrasena, grounding the soft, melodic delivery that set his voice apart from the more declamatory styles of the day.
In a 1952 public poll for the most popular vocalist, Walpola won handsomely even as a relative newcomer, ahead of established names of the era. From his film debut in the early 1950s he became the male voice that Sinhala directors reached for, recording for labels such as HMV and Columbia and travelling to Indian studios for many of his sessions. His film songs include “Seeya Manamalaya” from Asoka (1955), and the much-loved “Kate Kiri Suwanda” from Sandesaya (1960), both of which remain touchstones of early Sinhala film music.
Walpola’s most enduring partnership was with Latha Walpola, the playback singer he married in 1956 and with whom he recorded duets for some thirty films. Together and apart they shaped the sound of a generation of Sinhala cinema. His devotional and patriotic recordings, among them “Uththama Muni Dalada”, broadened his reach beyond the screen into radio and ceremonial repertoire.
Walpola died on 25 December 1983. He is remembered as a singer who lifted the standing of Sinhala playback singing, both through the quality of his voice and through a principled approach to his craft. All five of his and Latha Walpola’s children went on to careers in music, and recordings such as Kate Kiri Suwanda keep Darmadasa Walpola’s name in steady circulation among listeners who grew up with early Sinhala cinema. Lyrics-lk hosts these songs in the original Sinhala script with English transliteration and translation.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Dharmadasa Walpola.