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Umaria Sinhawansa – A Star at the Apex of Celebrity – By Sunil Thenabadu
UMARIA SINHAWANSA RECIPIENT OF MANY AWARDS , HONOURARY A GRADE SINGER AT SLBC,BRAND AMBASSADOR OF NESTLEYS LANKA,COMPOSER OF MUSIC, LYRICIST SUNG OVER TWO HUNDRED ANF FIFTY POP,R&B JAZZ , A CONTEMPORARY SINGER ,CO SINGER WITH BnS AT APEX OF CELEBRITY
Umaria Binti Aisyah Sinhawansa ;, known professionally as Umaria, is a Sri Lankan pop, R&B, Jazz contemporary singer who had stormed into celebrity within a short period of a spell since year 1997. When young she had been an introvert ,very shy to speak in public.She had sung songs at her dwelling but it was her elder sister Umaraya who had pushed her to sing. She had begun to perform publicly at her tender age of eleven years. with her sister Umaraya in year 2003 which she reminisces as influenced by mother and sister.In that era Umaria had put on a lot of weight which she had thought to herself to reduce using the needed strategies by her visits to gym with proper workouts. She reminisced her fitness journey had begun when she was over weight weighing 69 to 70 kilos was even fondly called in school as ‘bolagediya’..
After Umaria had received awards, she had thought she could sing which had induced her to take interest in vocals, her aim was to perform on international stage one day which is her dream today..But it was a barrier as she comprehended as there are thousand with more talent in overseas countries like India and USA. Umaria said though she is a big fish in native Sri Lanka she is no where in comparison to them in foreign countries hence the process to perform overseas is very rigid., Her playback singing debut was featured in the year 2007 in the Sinhala movie ‘Asai Man Piyabanna’. She had earlier participated in international music competitions, receiving silver awards like at the Pan Asia International Music Competition and the ‘Crimea Music Festival’. Umaria had also won the Sarasaviya Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her song ’Ahi Pillamak Athara sung for the film ‘Vijayaba Kollaya in year 2019 which had induced her to sing as a craving and profession. and the SLIM-Nielsen People’s Award for the Song of the Year for Manda Pama in year 2021 which she herself too had not thought then that it would become a popular hit..
Umaria Sinhawansa was born on 5 January 1991 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.into a family of four siblings two elder brothers elder in the corporate field while the second brother is an established web designer and elder sister renowned musician and music teacher Umaraya. She been the youngest. Her parents are Tony Sinhawansa and Ayesha Sinhawansa, ancestors of Indonesian origin were both renowned musicians in western music. Umaria name is derived from half Indonesian and half Arabic words named by her parental duo, . was educated at Muslim Ladies’ College and Gateway International School in Colombo..She reminisced that in school sister Umaraya had been the choir leader hence was mostly in the choir room., also had been an active member of the interact club, her most adored subject was ‘business studies’.When Umaria was four years younger to Umaraya who when she was ten years old had produced a cassette on ’Nursery Rhymes’ aided by her parents. She had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music.]One older brother, Subandrio, who is also a musician, and Hartono, a music producer, entrepreneur and web designer, in fact all members of the family are musicians via hereditary affiliations. Umaria’s grandmother, Rani Perera, was an actress in Sri Lankan cinema. She is also a granddaughter of the late songstress and celebrated actress Rukmani Devi.[
Umaria is a goal oriented selfless enormously emotional individual who deems strongly in achieving her goals , from her young days she jots down the goals and follow achieving them .When she was nineteen she wanted to have a driving license and by twenty one her goal was to own a car both she had accomplished. She believes profusely in positive thinking and belief n God. Another thing was the belief in the conduct of the ‘Universe’ which returns to each person the good or bad one does. At her tender age of eleven, Umaria had performed with her sister Umara for a public audience, marking the beginning of her professional music career. She had performed a few songs for US Aid with Sri Lankan music producer Sri Shyamalangan like ‘Snehaye’, through him only the duo Umaraya and Umaria had met BnS twosome, before that her sister Umaraya had sung the Arabic genre song ‘Saheena’. She and sister Umaraya later joined with renowned music duo Bathiya Jayakody and Santhush Weeraman (BnS) . After the song,’Saheena’ she too collaborated with BnS for the songs for Udayakantha Warnasuriya’s ‘film ‘ Asai Man Piyabanna’ playback song “Pathu Pem Pathum“.The song was a triumph and a huge hit thus fetched her a turning point in her singing career. At a television dialogue Umaria said there are pros and cons in social media but is advantageous to all if it is manipulated in the proper manner. Also she believes one could publish own contents by which one could know how the fans would react positively or otherwise Umaria advises not to make this popular among young generation as the control is with the user.In Umaria’s Instagram and Facebook pages she had opened a link ‘ONE PROMISE; to assist those children, adults, husbands and wife’s in distress, depressed ,suffering with diverse family issues who are reluctant to report problems to police or to any given platform. Umaria recollected one incident during a television dialogue of a young girl with Instagram account styled ‘Starch’; who is very depressed from Anuradhapura who says she gets the only consolation when she listens to Umaria’s songs, in fact she had come all the way to Kandy when she performed to speak to her Umaria adds that one could come out of an ‘anxiety state’ only if one addresses it predominantly not keeping it embedded in mind, she too had been a depressed person herself had learnt to halt using the word ‘depressed’. This girl is one who is inspired by her singing to get her off the blocks to commence the day which is equivalent to an energy boost. When felt lazy to get up in the morning after listening to Umaria’s song she gets inspired She recollects accompanying a young female mother and kid to police station to lodge a complaint against the actions of a separated discourteous husband. Umaria too had confronted this issue as she was short and dark but because of her melodious voice she had triumphed. .At a television dialogue she had confessed she hates injustice and talks against such prejudices. Umaria had confessed that after her most performances many applaud her saying she sang beautifully but only she knew she had faulted in singing some notes. This her father too had conveyed to her by saying not to be too complacent as there are so many who could sing better, hence you need to keep on improving your singing..
In year 2007, she became the youngest singer ever to be nominated for the ‘Best Female Playback Singer at the Sarasaviya Awards. In year 2009, she voiced the theme song for the television serial ’Gehenu Lamai.’ She also scripted lyrics for the song “Gum Nade” for the movie ‘ Rosa Kele’.
In year 2010,as a teenager aged sixteen, Umaria represented Sri Lanka in ‘Pan Asia Music Festival’, an international singing competition, which was held in Beijing, China. She later won first place from the semi-finals and the Silver medal from the entire competition. She was invited again to an international competition, this time in Turkey, where she was the only Asian contestant. In that competition, she won a bronze medal]
Later, she participated in the ‘Crimea Music festival’ with her sister. They both performed an original song titled “My Dreams“,]also covered the song “Halo by Beyoncé. The duo won third place from that competition. After winning many international competitions, she returned to Sri Lanka, when she joined the’Ashanthi School of Music conducted by Ashanthi De Alwis as a voice trainer for about an year .She with Stephine Siriwardena had commenced a cake business which did not flourish. During this period, she featured with Randhir Witana in the song ‘Mal Madahasa’ In year 2010, Umaria executed on the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA Awards) with the BnS twosome.
In year 2013, she performed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) opening ceremony held in Sri Lanka. She recorded a duet with W. D. Amaradeva titled ‘Hanthana Sihine’ in year 2022 before his death which became a very popular song even today. While singing the duet Umaria added Master was unwell but was singing note by note to perfection guided by his son Ranjan. When Umaria met Asha Boshle at BnS concert she had said she endures her voice training practices daily which proved her dedication In year 2014, she featured with Dewasri de Silva . the song “Nidahase Inna“,, took part in many BnS collaborations such as “Kavikariye”, “Baila Gamuda Remix Karala”, “Hinipeththata”, and “Hitha Wawannema Na” all songs are very popular hits even now..The voice of Umaria had added the needed spice to all songs of the BnS duo.
In year 2015, Umaria released her first original hit, Denuwan Piya, to the lyrics of Sampath Fernandopulle produced by BnS, which achieved a huge commercial triumph. Meanwhile, she became a judge for the singing reality show, Sirasa Superstar season 07.Thereafter she merged with the celebrity reality show “Hiru Mega Stars” for the team “Sooryans” along with Yureni Noshika, Himali Sayurangi, Asanka Perera, Pathum Rukshan, Piyumi Botheju and Akila Dhanuddara.
In year 2017, she joined the reality program “Youth with Talent – Generation Next” as a guest judge. In year 2018, Umaria was complimented by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her performance of the song “Vaishnav Jana To,” for a musical tribute for Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, which was another feather to the already decorated.cap of Umaria
In year 2018 she released a single, Malak Nowe and then featured with Ruwan Hettiarachchi for the song video “Hiru Mal Kiniththak Dara“. In the same year, she made playback singing for the film ‘Bimba Devi’ alias ‘Yashodhara’. After that song, she was made an A-Grade singer at Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. This was given to Umaria as an honorary award for her immense contribution to music which otherwise one has to pass auditions at the SLBC to be graded. Advise to novice singers by Umaria is if one possesses talent and be committed to learn the music ethics has to be supercilious not be swollen headed should learn to sustain it,. She is perhaps the youngest artist to have achieved this feat. She later collaborated with BnS for the album ‘Oba Nisa and toured for the Oba Nisa’ concerts worldwide.
In year 2019, she was a playback singer for the blockbuster ‘Vjjayaba Kollaya’, directed by Professor Sunil Ariyaratne. In the same year 2019, she premiered her single, “Rangume” on 9th August. On 11th December 2019, she collaborated with BnS and Sanuka Wickramasinghe for the song ‘Saragi’
Umaria had wanted to sing a song with a melody deviating from her previous songs had selected this Arabic style melody in consultation with her husband Dimitri Fonseka , married in year 2018 a resident of France a music director and a professor who as described by Umaria is a very kind hearted loving husband possessing unbelievable unique humane qualities . She believes this creation was a result of her joint endeavour. In November 2020,with all her recognition she was an automatic selection to join the coaching panel of the very popular reality show of Sirasa Television– “The Voice’ Sri Lanka“. Umaria is also known for her role as a coach on the televised singing competition ‘The Voice Sri Lanka,season 1’ and also ‘season 2’ where she was the winning coach of the season year 2021. While working on “The Voice Sri Lanka” competition, she released the song “Rathu Eli”.She also made cameo appearances in the films ‘Dancing Star’ and ‘Spandana’.
In November 2020,with all her recognition she was an automatic selection to join the coaching panel of the reality show of Sirasa Television “The Voice’ Sri Lanka“. Umaria is also known for her role as a coach on the televised singing competition —The Voice Sri Lanka,season 1 and also season 2 where she was the winning coach of the season year 2021. While working on “The Voice Sri Lanka” competition, she released the song “Rathu Eli”.She also made cameo appearances in the films ‘Dancing Star’ and ‘Spandana’.
In year 2020 Umaria was awarded ‘Kala Keethi Abhimani award for her contribution to music. Also in the same year for the best woman in singing category Was awarded the TV Derana ‘Aya Pranama’ for her contribution to music.Umaria was awarded SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Award for the song of the year “Manda Pama”.Also in the same year was awarded a appreciative award Sri Lanka ‘Vanithabimani’ for her contribution to music to the country .In year 2023 at the 20th Presidential Awards Umaria was adjudicated as the best Playback female singer 2019 for the song ‘Ane Ganadura’ while in year 2024 she also won for the best playback female singer 2019 at Sarasaviya awards for the song ‘Ahi Pillamak Athara’.
On 4 February 2021, she released the single “Yuda Gini Dumaraya“ as a tribute to war heroes. Umaria has to date sung over two hundred and fifty songs including commercial jingles, theme ,duets and film songs. Umaria is the brand ambassador for ‘Nestamalt in Sri Lanka a product she had loved to consume from her young days.. A few of her popular songs are as below:-
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“Denuwan Piya”
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“”Kumuduniya””
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“”Sandak Lesin Paya””
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“”Araliya””
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“”Malak Nowe””
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“”Rangume””
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“Ayachana”
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“”Yuda Gini Dumaraya””)
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“”Rathu Eli””)
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11
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“”NAANE” “
12 Wassanayata Atha Wanana
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Umaria possess exceptional unique qualities .She needs to keep her dwelling in good stead by mopping ,hoovering always keep in a spotless trim state. She plans her daily routines by writing on a large board in her dwelling what she needs to do each day as shopping, laundry. her music schedules ,practices, exercises etc.She is someone who prefers to stay at her dwelling not liked to be seen outside other than at concerts. She is one who does not deem in accumulating material wealth. Umaria is a very emotional particularly when her husband Dimitri is away in France. Umaria is an individual who goes for her targets possessing an incomparable mindset. She does not like to be comfortable, but she goes for her targets at any cost.Umaria is a character who likes to do different things in life conducive to her only. All her countless fans would no doubt wish her for all her future plans and endeavours.
Sunil Thenabadu in Brisbane email sthenabadu@hotmail.com
