ප්රදීපා ධර්මදාස
17 songs performed
Pradeepa Dharmadasa (ප්රදීපා ධර්මදාස, also spelled Pradeepa Darmadasa) is a Sri Lankan singer, playback artist, and stage actress who has been active since 1981. She is known for socially conscious Sinhala songs such as Kolom Thotin Naw Nagga and Supem Hangum Oben Epa, sung with a soul and rhythm-and-blues colouring that set her apart from her contemporaries.
Pradeepa Dharmadasa was born on 26 January 1964 in Rawatawatta, Moratuwa. She studied at Princess of Wales’ College, Moratuwa, where she came under the guidance of the dramatist Somalatha Subasinghe. Her training was unusually broad: dance at the Vajira-Chitrasena school, music at the Bhatkhande Music Institute in India on a scholarship, and later academic work that included a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Kelaniya.
She began on the stage, appearing in the 1981 production Sanda Kinduri, and moved between theatre, television, and music over the following decades. Her first studio album, Duwillen Seduna Liye, appeared in 1992, followed by Kandulu Thotupola (1997), Sathyangana (2004), and Hendewata Kalin Enna (2012). She also sang playback for film, beginning with Aragalaya in 1994, and won Sarasaviya and Presidential awards for film backing vocals in 1997.
Much of Pradeepa Dharmadasa’s repertoire carries a social message rather than only romance. Kolom Thotin Naw Nagga addressed child trafficking, and songs like Ha Ha Balagenai and Sandagiri Pawwa remain among her best-known recordings. She worked with leading composers including Premasiri Khemadasa and Rohana Weerasinghe, and recorded duets with singers such as Amarasiri Peiris.
Across stage, screen, and recording, Pradeepa Darmadasa built a body of work that pairs a distinctive vocal tone with lyrics about social conscience and everyday Sri Lankan life. Lyrics-lk presents her songs in the original Sinhala script alongside transliteration and English translation, so listeners can follow both the sound and the meaning of recordings like Eka Maga Yana Sohoyuran.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Pradeepa Dharmadasa.