නීලා වික්රමසිංහ
41 songs performed
Neela Wickramasinghe (also spelled Neela Wickremasinghe), නීලා වික්රමසිංහ, born Dona Delicia Neela Wickramasinghe, was a Sri Lankan playback singer and music teacher whose warm, classically trained voice carried hundreds of Sinhala film and radio songs across more than five decades. She is most widely remembered for Master Sir (Panam Aten), one of the best loved school and teacher themed songs in the Sinhala repertoire.
Neela Wickramasinghe was born on 30 March 1950 in Wattala, in what was then Ceylon, the youngest daughter of the family. She contracted polio as an infant, yet went on to a full career in performance and teaching. She studied music under the maestros Vincent Somapala and Ananda Jayasinghe, and after training in North Indian classical music she graduated in 1974 with a Sangeeth Visharada degree.
She first sang for Radio Ceylon in 1959 as a child on the amateur voices programme, and by 1973 she had been graded an A class artist by the broadcasting corporation. As a playback singer she lent her voice to 67 films and recorded hundreds of songs for radio and stage. Her enduring hit Master Sir became a fixture of Sri Lankan life, and in 2012 she staged a concert under that name to mark forty five years on stage.
Wickramasinghe’s catalogue moved easily between tender love songs, devotional pieces and gentle children’s themes. Lyrics-lk hosts a wide selection of her recordings, including:
Wickramasinghe was a four time recipient of the Sarasaviya Award for best singer, and also won a Presidential Award and a Sumathi Award among other honours. Alongside her music she taught for many years, including a long period at Visakha Vidyalaya in Colombo. Late in life she entered the diplomatic service, serving as Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Milan. She died in Milan, Italy, on 17 January 2022 at the age of 71. For Sri Lankan listeners and the Sinhala diaspora, Neela Wickremasinghe remains the voice behind some of the most affectionate songs about teachers, childhood and devotion.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Neela Wickramasinghe.