ජයලත් මනෝරත්න
27 songs performed · 1 lyric written
Jayalath Manoratne (also spelled Jayalath Manorathne, ජයලත් මනෝරත්න) was a Sri Lankan stage actor, dramatist, and singer, remembered as one of the defining figures of Sinhala theatre and for the songs he performed in landmark stage plays such as Andarela, Dutugemunu, and Siwamma Danapala. His full name was Keselgaspe Manatunga Jayalath Manoratne, and he was active across stage, cinema, and television from 1970 until shortly before his death.
Manoratne was born on 12 June 1948 in Nuwara Eliya, in the central hill country of Sri Lanka. He came up through the world of Sinhala stage drama at a time when theatre carried much of the country’s serious cultural and political conversation, and he went on to work not only as a performer but as a dramatist, director, producer, and lecturer.
Critics counted Jayalath Manorathne among the small handful of actors who dominated the Sinhala stage. He appeared in more than 80 stage productions over his career and directed about eleven of his own, winning the State Literary Award for his play Andarela. Much of the music on this page comes from that body of theatre work: the songs are drama numbers sung in character within the plays, which is why titles arrive tagged with their production, as in “Madura Pura Raja Geyaka Upanne” from Andarela and “Sriya Kanthawa Se” from Dutugemunu.
Alongside the stage he built a long film career, beginning with Handaya (1979) and continuing through some thirty films, with award-winning roles in pictures such as Sooriya Arana and Ho Gaana Pokuna. He gathered honours at the State Literary, Sarasaviya, Presidential, Sumathi, and Raigam festivals for both acting and direction.
Lyrics-lk hosts the drama songs Jayalath Manoratne performed across his stage productions, presented in Sinhala script with English translation and transliteration. Among them:
Jayalath Manoratne died on 12 January 2020 in Maharagama, aged 71, while being treated for cancer. He is remembered as a versatile artist who moved easily from drama to comedy, and the songs carried by his plays remain part of how Sinhala audiences recall that era of the theatre. The spelling Jayalath Manorathne is common among Sri Lankan music and lyric sites, and both forms refer to the same artist.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Jayalath Manorathne.