Edward Jayakody

Edward Jayakody (also spelled Edward Jayakodi, එඩ්වඩ් ජයකොඩි) is a Sri Lankan singer, composer, and music director, born 6 April 1952 in Hettimulla, Kegalle. Active since the late 1970s, he is known both as a warm-voiced playback and stage singer and as a prolific composer for Sinhala cinema, television drama, and children’s programming.

Early life and training

Jayakody was raised in the hill town of Kegalle, the son of Don Raphael and Victoria Jayakody. He sang first in a church choir at Bandaranaike Junior School, then studied at St. Mary’s College, Kegalle, where he took his formal music grounding under the teacher H. Samarapala. From 1980 he taught music at Nalanda College, Colombo, a teaching habit that runs through much of his later work with younger performers.

Career and breakthrough

From 1977 Edward Jayakody built a career on two tracks at once: singing and scoring. As a music director he worked across hundreds of films and television serials, and his singing earned the Swarna Sanka Award for Best Male Singer in 1987 for the film Gedara Budun Amma, after earlier Best Music Director honours in 1979 and 1980 for the stage plays Nidane and Aparadaya Saha Danduwama. His albums, among them Seethala Pinimatha and Deduna Palama, gathered the songs that listeners still request today.

Signature songs and children’s music

Much of Edward Jayakodi’s enduring popularity rests on songs that sit easily in everyday Sri Lankan life, from devotional pieces such as Bo Sewanak Se and Appachchi (Bo Sewanak Se Sisila Sadadi) to the title track of his album, Seethala Pini Matha. He is also one of the most recognised voices in Sinhala children’s music, with the playful Chak Gudu Gudu a fixture of that catalogue. He married singer Charitha Priyadarshani in 1991, and the two have often shared the stage.

Notable songs on Lyrics-lk

• Yalu Yalu
• Me Prema Katha
• Seethala Pini Matha
• Bo Sewanak Se
• Chak Gudu Gudu
• Sandawatha Hadai
• Me Koi Yanne

Legacy

Carried by his touring Marambari concert series, which he has performed for Sri Lankan audiences across Europe, North America, Australia, and the Gulf since 2010, Edward Jayakody has stayed close to listeners at home and in the diaspora. In 2019 Sabaragamuwa University recognised him with a lifetime achievement award. Both as a singer and as a composer of Me Prema Katha and Yalu Yalu, his songs remain part of the shared Sinhala songbook.