Sanali Lihansa Silva a Singing Sensation in the Making – By Sunil Thenabadu Sanali Lihansa Silva the twenty two year old singing sensation from Kiribathgoda had proved her singing prowess in the Derana Dream Star reality gruelling singing contest is being currently held for the 11th season. This reality singing contest is clearly the most sought among the other similar contests. Over the years many contestants had found proper routes to become popular singing artistes having had the roots  and groomed from the previous Derana Dream Star  contests. Some vocalists had been selected to portray roles in many tele dramas in the TV Derana popular channel. In every season many new budding artistes have been able to become overnight stars via performing in this contest. One contestant who has won the hearts of the panel of adjudicators and listeners this season has been Sanali Lihansa Silva. Among over one hundred thousand ...

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PIYUMI PATHIRAJA A PHENOMINAL QUALIFIED MUSICIAN POSSESSING ABUNDANT OF VOCAL TALENT  AT THE APEX OF FAME – by Sunil Thenabadu All singers should possess a singing voice with intermittent breathing, the love for music, commitment. patience, determination, and discipline. All these traits are possessed by Piyumi already an acclaimed singer.  Piyumi Pathiraja a native of Makola educated at Mahamaya Girls College Kadawatha having excelled as a promising vocalist in school concerts and competitions. Father a retired officer at People’s Bank while mother a housewife could sing a bit.But Piyumi’s singing talent is  owing to innate talent not with any  hereditary affiliations, which is her passion had affirmed her life revolves around as a self-employed singer, performer and a recording artiste having been a permanent member of the ’youth extreme’ and ‘special music’  groups at the National youth Services Centre in Maharagama.Piyumi had travelled to overseas countries with these groups to countries ...

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FALAN snatches coveted Derana Dream Star Season 09 trophy – by Sunil Thenabadu Falan Andrea Jansen, 25 years old hailing from Kalutara who shone as a singer throughout the grueling Derana Dream Star season 09 contest, won the coveted Dream Star trophy together with presents to the tune of Rupees thirty million which included a modern apartment valued at Rupees 15 million. Incidentally this all included prize was the highest ever awarded in the annals of our history for a winner in a reality contest. This is only the second occasion a female singer had won this coveted title after Upekha Nirmani won in season 02 almost a decade ago.According to the three  Judge board panel comprising of the famous musical trio Keethi Pasquel,Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Nadeeka Guruge, it was in this season the competition among the co contestants were at a very high ebb.There were contestants who had even possessed higher music cognition from Universities in India and from our visual and ...

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Shiromi of “Kondanamagena” fame, 50 years celebrity in Canada by Sunil Thenabadu  The child singing prodigy Shiromi Fernando, born in year 1960  ‘Baby Shiromi” celebrity domiciled in Canada is planning to commemorate her golden milestone in singing since coming to fame in year 1971 with her ‘kondenamagena’ song recorded for the Sooriya label. The lyrics and music compositions of this song and three other songs ‘Amma Pembara Amma’,’Sakala Bujan”,and Handa Haami’ recorded together in a disc under famous Soorya label which were sold then, as hot cakes at the Children’s book shop. This was a feather in the cap for the eleven year old Shiromi as her disc was grabbed by music enthusiasts when in the same era with discs of songs sung by then famous artistes reminiscing, The Moonstones, Dharmaratne Brothers.Mendis Foursome,Golden Chimes,Samanalayo,La Bambas,Three Sisters,Spit Fires, esteemed individual artistes like MS Fernando,Paul Fernando,AE Manoharan,Priya Suriyasena,Milton Mallawarachchi,Dalrene Arnolda etc.All of ...

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