ප්රෙඩී සිල්වා
20 songs performed
Freddie Silva (ෆ්රෙඩී සිල්වා; also spelled Freddy Silva) was a Sri Lankan comic actor and playback singer whose mock-serious baila and novelty numbers, among them Aron Mama and the Kundumani tune, made him one of the best-loved comedians of Sinhala cinema and recorded song from the 1960s onward.
Born 18 May 1938 in Puwakaramba, Moratuwa, he carried the long given name Haupe Liyanage Athukorala Morris Joseph Ranabahu before adopting the stage name by which audiences knew him. He died on 29 October 2001 at Siddamulla, Piliyandala, at the age of 63.
Freddie Silva built parallel careers as a screen comedian and a recording artist. His film work ran from 1963 into the early 2000s across a very large body of pictures, where he was a fixture of the comic register but also took dramatic turns. He often shared the screen with actor Vijaya Kumaratunga. In 1989 he received the Ranathisara honour from the magazine Sarasaviya.
On record, Freddy Silva specialised in songs that wrapped social mischief and broad humour in catchy baila and calypso rhythms. He worked closely with lyricist Premakirthi de Alwis and with composer Victor Rathnayake, who set several of his comic pieces. The duet Chin Chin Nona paired him with the playback singer H. R. Jothipala.
The number most associated with him is the Kundumani tune, hosted here as Mannaram Piti Welle (Kundumani). Alongside it, Aron Mama, Pankiriththa and Parana Kot remain staples of the comic-baila repertoire, songs that still surface at parties and on radio decades after they were cut.
Freddie Silva’s comic songs occupy a particular corner of Sinhala popular music, the place where baila meets satire and a singer plays the fool to land a sharper point. His recordings are still covered by younger performers, and for many Sri Lankan and diaspora listeners the voice of Freddy Silva is the sound of an older, funnier era of the music.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Freddy Silva.