සමන් ද සිල්වා
22 songs performed
Saman de Silva (සමන් ද සිල්වා), also written Saman De Silva, was a Sri Lankan baila singer who became one of the most recognisable voices in the country’s dance-floor music. Across a career of more than five decades he popularised the chorus baila style and was a constant presence at indoor concerts, outdoor shows, and overseas events for the Sri Lankan diaspora.
Saman de Silva was born on 6 February 1956 in Passara, in the hill country of what was then Ceylon. He was schooled at Sri Sumangala College and later at Nalanda College, Colombo. He began his full-time musical career in 1975 and would spend the rest of his life performing, eventually settling in Moratuwa, a town long associated with Sri Lankan baila.
Saman de Silva built his reputation on songs made for celebration, the kind that fill a wedding hall or a village dance and refuse to leave the memory. His best-loved recordings include Niyare Piya Nagala, Punchi Kurulu Kuduwe, Santhosa Wenna, and Thana Nilla Dige. He is also closely tied to Surangani (සුරංගනී), the open-source baila standard that travelled from Radio Ceylon to audiences across South India.
His playful, party-ready repertoire ran from Parasindu Kolompure and Lankawata Baila Gena to the comic Nona Mage Nurse Nona. The chorus-baila format he championed, where a lead voice and a call-and-response chorus drive a relentless dance rhythm, became a template that younger Sri Lankan baila acts still follow.
Beyond performing, Saman de Silva served as President of the Singers’ Association of Sri Lanka and was known among colleagues for mentoring younger artists. He performed widely abroad, carrying Sri Lankan baila to expatriate communities around the world. He died on 27 April 2025 in Colombo at the age of 69, and his songs remain staples at gatherings and celebrations wherever Sinhala music is played.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Saman De Silva.