Premasiri Khemadasa

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Premasiri Khemadasa
Born	January 25, 1937
Origin	Sri Lanka
Genre(s)	Sri Lankan music
Occupation(s)	Music Director
Notable instrument(s)
Premasiri Khemadasa at the Internet Movie Database

Premasiri Khemadasa (born January 25, 1937) also known as "Khemadasa Master" is an influential composer in Sri Lankan music. Inspired by the work of his predecessors like Ananda Samarakoone, Pandith Amaradeva and Sunil Santha, Khemadasa endeavored to develop a music style unique to Sri Lanka. He used Sinhala folk music as a basis for his compositions adapting them to fit contemporary music.

1 Life and career
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Film composer
2 References

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Khemadasa grew up in Talpitiya, Wadduwa and attended Sri Sumangala Vidyalaya and St. John’s College, Panadura. As a teenager, he became a gifted flutist.

Khemadasa was asked to come to the Radio Ceylon for an interview on the day he was scheduled to take his Senior School Certificate examination. He finished the examination much ahead of time and travelled to the audition. He passed the audition and became a member of Radio Ceylon.^[1]

[edit] Film composer

Khemadasa debut as a film composer came with Sirisena Wimalaweera's Roddie Kella. He then began collaborating with acclaimed director Lester James Peries handling the music for films like Golu Hadawatha and Nidhanaya. Critics praised his film scores and he was honorally dubbed "Khemadasa master."

Lately Premasiri Khemadasa has given his contribution to films such as Agnidahaya and very recently to “Ammavarune”, the last film by Lester James Peiris who has announced his retirement from cinema. Apart from film music Dr. Khemadasa has composed music for teledramas, theatre, etc. Symphonies like Muhuda and Mage kale mavni too are his compositions. The presence of operatic vocals in his music is explained by his vast knowledge of opera. Khemadasa is the only known Sri Lankan musician who practises and creates opera. Khemadasa has many students whom he uses in his operas. His famous operas include Manasawila and Doramandalawa. Recently he created the opera, ‘Agni’ about civilization. The fact that his operas are written in Sinhalese makes them unique. In his operas he has tried and succeeded in capturing the meaning of the words using voice. Lately “Khemadasa Master” fell ill. But after a long layoff following a kidney transplant he has returned to create music for his fans. Even at the age of 70 he perseveres in his field as a giant, trying to secure the future of Sri Lankan music.