ඉන්ද්රාණි සේනාරත්න
9 songs performed
Indrani Senaratne (ඉන්ද්රාණි සේනාරත්න), born Indrani Wijebandara (also written Indrani Wijebandhara, ඉන්ද්රානි විජේබණ්ඩාර), was a Sri Lankan singer and cinema playback vocalist whose recording career ran across more than six decades. She is remembered both for a warm catalogue of children’s songs and for the on-stage musical partnership she shared with her husband, the singer Sisira Senaratne.
Indrani Wijebandara was born on 15 July 1935 in Borella, in what was then British Ceylon. She came up through the radio and recording world of the 1950s, the period when a new generation of Sinhala vocalists was reshaping local music away from imported film-song styles.
Wijebandara entered Sinhala cinema as a playback singer with the landmark 1956 film Rekava, and went on to lend her voice to dozens of films over the following decades. She met fellow singer Sisira Senaratne while both were travelling to Madras (Chennai) for film recordings, and the two married in 1962. As a duo they toured widely with their “Sisindra” stage shows, performing across Sri Lanka and abroad, and were credited with helping usher in a new era of Sinhala popular song in the 1950s.
Indrani Senaratne is especially associated with a body of much-loved children’s and devotional songs, including Vesak Kekulu, Sudu Sanda Eliye, Olu Nelum Neriya, Rathu Pata Mal and Mal Sutikko. These remain staples for Sri Lankan families, particularly around the Vesak season.
Over a career that spanned the 1950s into the 2010s, Indrani Senaratne received honours including the Deepashika Award and the Rana Thisara Award. She died on 23 June 2019 at the age of 83. Her recordings, many performed alongside Sisira Senaratne, continue to be played by Sri Lankan listeners and the Sinhala diaspora, and her Vesak and children’s songs in particular have outlived their era.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Indrani Senaratne.