මැණිකේ අත්තනායක
14 songs performed
Manike Attanayake (මැණිකේ අත්තනායක), born Attanayake Mudiyanselage Podi Manike on 23 August 1947 in Thalwatte near Kandy, is a Sri Lankan singer and stage, film, and television actress. She is known for her singing in the nadagam and noorthi traditions and for her roles in Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s classic Sinhala dramas, and her voice survives on the songs from those stage works.
Attanayake grew up in the Kandy hills and was educated at D. S. Senanayake College and Mahamaya Girls’ College in Kandy. Her path into the arts ran through theatre rather than the recording studio, and she carried a classically trained voice into both fields.
Her stage debut came in 1976 in Sarachchandra’s landmark verse drama Maname, and she went on to perform in his other major works including Sinhabahu, Lomahansa, Mahasara, and Wessanthara. In 1979 she joined the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation as an A-grade singer, with a repertoire spanning noorthi, nadagam, and classical styles. Because these stylized dramas are sung throughout, much of her best-known singing comes directly from the theatre.
Several of the songs Lyrics-lk hosts come from this body of stage and broadcast work, including Wan Me Aranne from Maname and Oba Sihilathi Sewane from the play Kuweni, with lyrics by Henri Jayasena. Her recorded numbers such as Rathandara Siriya Paradana and Girikula Mudune show the same classical grounding.
On screen, Manike Attanayake is widely remembered for the title role in the television serial Palingu Manike, and she was among the earliest faces of Sri Lankan television. In 1987 she received the Kala Suri national honour, reportedly the youngest recipient at the time. She also won acting prizes at the State Drama Festival in 1981 and 1991. The combined stage, singing, and screen career has kept her work, and the songs the spelling “Manike Attanayaka” also turns up under, in steady circulation among Sri Lankan audiences.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Manike Attanayake.