Features

Kulturs And O’facs of Peradeniya. Remnants of Colonial English.

Published

3 years ago

2023/02/26

A passing social structure found in the Peradeniya of the 1950s, was the Kulturs and the OFacs which had much to do with English being the social residence of some of Colombo society in immediate post-colonial times.

Old Ceylon it was that gave the island some of the best and enduring about the human condition, and they were works in Sinhala. Martin Wickreamsinghe’s Changing Village, or Gamperaliya and Sarachandra’s and Peradeniya’s Maname, to mention only two, for economy.

Quite apart from the novel, Gam Peraliya it was, when Ceylon in 1948 introduced free education. This changed significantly life and opportunity for the young of rural Ceylon. At university level it showed in the large number of students entering in the 1950s, with Sinhala as their natural language of living. The Colombo and other urban city schools sent in students for whom English was their long colonial inherited mother tongue. In the country at large, urban English speaking people and Sinhala speaking rural ones lived separate lives. But concentrated together in a residential location like Peradeniya, consciousness of each other became noticeable.

Before going into this cultural division, it is necessary to say a little about the English language, because the Kultur-Ofac divide had much to do with English in immediate post colonial times being the sustenance of one, and an unknown, to the other.

Sinhalese and Tamils, before the ethnic issue was pushed in by the middle classes of Ceylon in 1956, were not a social divide because they were geographically divided, anyway. They occupied separate parts of the island, Sinhalese in the south, central and northern areas below the Jaffna peninsula. Tamils in the north and east.

Those Tamils who had been attracted by what the capital city of Colombo had to offer materially, were not of consequence in numbers before 1905. In 1905 when the first railway train service from Kankesanthurai to Colombo was begun the numbers increased, of Tamils who wanted to make Colombo their life.

Like the Sinhalese middle classes of Colombo, they became westernised, sent their children to schools such as Royal College, St. Thomas’, Ladies and Bishop’s Colleges. English became these Tamil’s language of communication and thought, like the westernised Sinhalese. The use of the native languages amongst these colonised classes was sparing and colloquial, with domestic servants and street vendors who came to the door.

The significant result was that class submerged race or ethnicity with the westernised Sinhalese and Tamils of Colombo. When many Sinhalese of Colombo protected Tamils during the much later ethnic killings, they were protections of their class. The protected Tamils were not of the classes like Tamil used bottle/newspaper collectors who came down the road. Not deliberate but social circumstance.

While culture was inconsequential and seemed to be one and the same amongst Colombo’s westernized Sinhalese and Tamils, in the large rural areas of Ceylon it was very different. Especially as this poorer majority could not benefit from school education which had to be purchased before 1948. Theirs were Sinhala and Tamil derived cultures.

In ancient times whatever reading and writing they had was from Buddhist and Hindu temples, which had thousands of years of being the only places where reading and writing could be learnt. And this temple offering was not entirely religious. It was secular as well , though limited. And before the first Christian missionaries started schools that taught English, such as Richmond College Galle in 1876, there were limited rural schools teaching only in Sinhala.

Piyadasa Sirisena born 1875 and died 1945 is relevant. There are three schools that he took his early education which were Warahena school, Induruwa, Bentara school of Bentota and Brohier’s school at Aluthgama, a missionary school where he learned basic English. He could not use English for literary creations. He is widely considered the father of the Sinhala novel, though it is the opinion of scholars that they were more like Buddhist sermons. He was the most popular novelist of the era. Suggestions that the form of the novel was not entirely a British colonial importation.

In 1948 Education Minister C.W.W. Kannangara introduced free education island-wide which eventually produced a class of people, mainly rural, who were cultured through their native languages, not through English, though some English began to be taught in the island-wide free education.

To be apparently a little desultory, a brief reference to the history of English:

That English came to Lanka through being colonized had social relevance at that time, but today has lost that significance because it has become a world language through the historical fact of the European “finding” and British founding of the United States of America, the world impact of which spread the language both for physical science and social sciences as well as world trade and political communication between nation states.

English originating from Germanic tribes which brought it to Britain, was like all languages progressively invented. English has acquired a tempting comparison to maths in its universality and its independence from cultures. But Mathematics, did not originate in any culture but was in nature before human existence. Humans discovered its existence.

Einstein’s E = mc2 is the world’s most famous equation, Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. On the most basic level, the equation says that energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing. This physical relationship existed in nature

before Einstein, before any human. What Einstein did was to discover what existed and give it a formal equation. The spiral arrangements of leaves on a stem, and the number of petals, and spirals in flower heads during the development of most plants, represent successive numbers in the famous series discovered in the 13th century by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci, in which each number is the sum of the previous.

English cannot aspire to this ‘no culture’ universality because it is manmade, not discovered in nature. So, it unlike maths, will show cultural variation. However, this will not be significant enough to become separate languages in different cultures.

Free education in Sri Lanka made English possible, even though very limited, across social strata, but it took time before the Colombo school class realized that the English- based “Kulturs” was a passing phenomenon of “culture” closely associated with English of colonial association..

The origin of the expression “Kultur” may be vaguely associated with the German expression “Kultur Kampf”, or generally associated with those who were supposed to be cultured. The origin of its use in Peradeniya is from the Colombo schools. Certainly, the utterance of the term in the Peradeniya of the mid-1950s was amongst the Colombo school-undergrads. The undergrads of the Oriental Faculty were not as involved in this classification as the other “Kampf”.

Whatever social phenomena appearing in Peradeniya had to have their base and origin in the country outside.

There is a story about the opening of Maname in November 1956 at the Lionel Wendt theatre in Colombo, that suggests “Kultur” and “Ofac” were brought into Peradeniya by a segment of Colombo. The extract is from “Maname In Retrospect” by Professor K.N.O. Dharmadasa, in The Island newspaper, of June 5, 2013.

“As far as popular taste of the day was concerned the Sinhala theatre was an art form in the periphery, no one being prepared to buy a ticket for a performance except as a matter of charity. This, the university students learnt, when they tried to walk to houses in the environs of the Lionel Wendt Theatre on the four days, they stayed during the time of first performance.

“Sarachchandra himself recounted in his autobiographical Pin Eti Sarasavi Waramak Denne an incident he faced on the second or the third night. He was seated in the foyer while the play was in progress and all of a sudden, a limousine came to a halt at the entrance and a well-dressed woman walked in. She asked “What is being staged here today?” and being told that it was a Sinhala play wanted to know when it was going to be over.

When Sarchchandra told her that it would be over in two hours she was not prepared to believe him. “What! A Sinhala play being over in two hours? I am sure it will go on till about 9 or 10pm” Then Sarchchandra told her that he was pretty sure of the duration of the play and if she was keen to see it, she could get in without any payment and leave whenever she wanted.

The lady looked disdainfully at Sarchchandra and declared “Shih! I don’t want to see these Sinhala plays. I only wanted to send my servant woman and she cannot be allowed to waste three four hours here” and walked away.”

Three much repeated fictions constructed by the Kulturs, indicates that it was English that divided the two groups.

One Dr, Andipala a lecturer in Oriental culture , on board ship as he was on his way to London, had an old Englishman sit by his side on deck. The Englishmen complained, ” I’m aching from Arthritis”. Andipala responded, ” Hello, I am Andipala from Sabaragamua”.

The same Dr. Andipala was given a lift by Mrs. Doric de Souza on the way to a lecture. When he was dropped at his destination, he said “Thank you”. She responded in her western orientation, customarily ” Don’t mention”. In this made-up story of the kulturs, Andipala put his face close to the window glass , and said, blushing, ” You also don’t mention”.

Ramanathan Hall, the tallest of the residential halls, was the only one with a lift. A kultur fiction of the time was that Andipala on his first visit to his hall remarked, ambiguously,

“I was highly taken up by the lift.” The kulturs did not give him the benefit of the doubt.

In the meantime, Maname gathered momentum, largely unknown to the kulturs, though happening in their times and in the same territory.

Undoubtedly, there were segments that cut across this mental and social divide, both amongst students and lecturers. Ludowyk and Sarachchandra need mention here. Ludowyk, a Burgher developed a deep and worthwhile interest in the culture of the Sinhalese. He studied Sinhala at the Buddhist temple in Kandy. He had much interaction with Sarachchandra about Sinhala theatre, and encouraged the first translations of Gogol, Moliere, and Wilde by Sarachandra, and has left us evidence of his attempt at integrative search, in his book ” The Footprint of The Buddha”, about the culture of Ceylon, Buddhism and its teachings. Sarachchandra records all this in his Ludowyk memorial lecture in 1989.

Sarachchandra, in this context, complements Ludowyk. While his search for foundation was his sought-after Sinhala and South Asian culture, after a British colonial childhood, like Rabindranath Tagore, he did not see all the results of the colonial experience as destructive and discardable. The British colonization of Ceylon also happened to provide Lanka’s first major contact with the best of Europe.

He saw his Sinhala culture as part of the common human story, so he identified the best of the European culture, as intergrative with the Sinhalese as part of humanity. And he was not for blind imitation of the West or for the mere revival of Sinhala tradition. Under these circumstances the need was to select and synthesise what aspects of Sinhala tradition were to be revived and how, because traditional art forms arose within a specific social and political milieu and mere revival had little significance against a modern backdrop.

How was a synthesis to be achieved so that the “foreign” would no longer be “alien”, and the traditional Sinhala culture no longer historical? He utilized tradition to create new works of art. Hence the need for new creations where the essence of tradition, relevant to our times was retained, and integrated with relevant world human culture. Maname (1956) is a modern work of art based on Sinhala tradition fusing with culture common to humanity.

That kultur of the mid-fifties was a fading smudge in Peradeniya, while Ofac was a growing creative force, was evidenced by the growth of Maname. This play though coming off the creative imagination of Sarachchandra, would not have been possible without the enthusiasm for its promise, of the creative students of the Oriental Faculty, organising for it and providing their talents in singing, dancing and conveying their dramatic feelings to audiences. Peradeniya University is now nearly 70 years, and it is unlikely that in its contributions to the country, Maname can be rivalled.

A look, sometimes desultory, at Kultur and Ofac, a passing social phenomenon, based on a superficial relationship with English by a small number, feeling elite, in those days of Peradeniya.

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Features

Justice and democracy in Sri Lanka’s new political era

Published

11 hours ago

2026/06/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

The legal processes are steadily closing in on some of the most controversial cases that have remained as open questions without closure for many years. These include the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019, the Treasury bond scam that erupted in 2015, and a range of corruption allegations that became synonymous with successive governments over the past two or more decades. What once appeared to be stalled investigations are now showing signs of movement through the courts and investigative agencies. Recent developments suggest that these long running cases are entering a decisive phase. In the Easter Sunday attacks investigation, new arrests and investigations have brought renewed attention to allegations that extend beyond the immediate perpetrators and into questions of intelligence failures and possible political complicity. The arrest and detention of former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay under the Prevention of Terrorism Act has intensified public interest in uncovering the full truth behind the attacks.

The Treasury bond scam has also re-entered the spotlight. The Supreme Court has recently overturned legal obstacles that had prevented prosecutions from proceeding and directed that the case moves forward expeditiously. This has reopened one of the most sophisticated financial scandals in the country’s recent history and brought several prominent political and financial figures back under legal scrutiny. As those implicated in these unresolved cases are leading figures from previous governments, which have spanned both sides of the political divide since Independence, it can well be imagined that there is tremendous opposition to the gradually enveloping legal processes that is both seen and unseen.

These cases that are now being investigated cut across political camps and involve individuals who occupied some of the highest offices in the country. The result is that resistance to accountability is likely to emerge from many quarters. Still to be opened are the thousands of cases of persons gone missing during the war. Presidential Commissions have been appointed with regard to them, but there has been no serious investigations of the type now taking place.

In these circumstances, it can be surmised that the government led by those who are new to power would wish to retain a maximum of power to face the pushback that is bound to emerge from those in the opposition who have wielded power for generations. The government may calculate that this is not the time to disperse authority or reduce the instruments of state power available to it. Instead, it may believe that a period of centralised control is necessary if investigations, prosecutions and reforms are to proceed without interference.

Provincial Elections

It appears that the opposition’s efforts to mobilise the people and public opinion against the government have not been successful so far. One such instance was the attempt to generate opposition to price increases. Although people have undoubtedly been affected by rising prices and economic difficulties, these efforts failed to gather significant momentum. Another attempt came when President Dissanayake predicted that opposition politicians would face imprisonment in the month of May as legal cases progressed, though this has not happened. Critics claimed that such remarks suggested an intention to influence judicial outcomes. Yet this criticism also failed to gain traction among the public. The likely reason is that public memory remains fresh. Many people continue to associate previous governments with economic mismanagement, corruption scandals, abuse of power and the eventual economic collapse. In comparison, the present government continues to enjoy a reservoir of public goodwill and credibility. As long as legal action appears to be based on evidence and proper process, the public seems prepared to give the government the benefit of the doubt.

The government’s deliberate and cautious approach to political reform that would reduce its centralised power needs to be seen in this context. The monthly approval by Parliament of the emergency regulations is justified by the government as due to the continuing need to respond to the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah. However, when viewed together with the reluctance to hold provincial council elections on the grounds of electoral reform, the failure to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the postponement of constitutional reform, they all appear to reflect a preference for retaining maximum control at a politically sensitive moment. There is a logic to this approach. Governments facing major legal and political confrontations often seek stability and control. So does every despot. However, there is also a downside.

When political competition is denied to legitimate outlets, it often finds expression in confrontation, obstruction and polarisation. The advantage of prioritising the conduct of provincial council elections at this time is that it could reduce the political pressures that are building up. The main opposition parties are united in calling for these elections to be held. Conducting them would provide an opportunity for opposition political parties to obtain a measure of democratic representation and political authority at the provincial level. This would be especially true in the northern and eastern provinces, in which the ethnic and religious minorities predominate. It cannot be forgotten that the provincial council system was developed as a constructive response to the ethnic conflict. Elections at the provincial level would create opportunities for a new generation of political leaders to emerge through democratic competition rather than patronage. Many of those now facing legal scrutiny belong to an older generation to whose needs the younger may be less deferential.

Two Pillars

Another reform that could command bipartisan support is the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The PTA has once again become controversial because it is being used in situations that extend beyond its original purpose. The detention of former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay under the Act, the continued incarceration of some Tamil detainees from the war period, and the arrest of individuals accused of speech related offences have all revived concerns regarding prolonged detention without trial and excessive executive power. The reason the PTA has been difficult to repeal is that it is closely associated with concerns regarding national security and territorial integrity. Introduced in 1979 as a temporary measure to confront the emerging separatist conflict, it survived through decades of war and has remained on the statute books long after the conflict ended.

At the same time, history shows that extraordinary powers are likely to be misused. Laws that permit detention without trial or broad executive discretion are rarely confined to their original purpose. Governments of different political parties have used such powers against opponents and critics. The temptation to do so is inherent in the possession of unchecked authority. The way forward could therefore be a combination of accountability and reform. The government should continue to support independent investigations and prosecutions in major corruption and security related cases. Demonstrating political will in this regard would strengthen public confidence in the rule of law and reinforce the principle that no individual is above the law. The PTA could be replaced with legislation that amends the Criminal Procedure Code and Penal Code in a manner that addresses legitimate security concerns while complying with democratic norms and human rights standards.

There are also international dimensions to consider. The European Union has repeatedly linked governance and human rights reforms, including reform of the PTA, to Sri Lanka’s continuing access to the GSP Plus trade concession. Progress on these issues would strengthen Sri Lanka’s international standing at a time when economic recovery remains a national priority. The government has a rare opportunity. It possesses a strong electoral mandate, public goodwill and a reputation for integrity that previous governments lacked. It can combine the pursuit of justice in long delayed cases with meaningful democratic reforms that reduce political resistance and broaden public support. At this time, accountability and power sharing are the two pillars which Sri Lankans need to be committed to build a just and democratic society for a better future without delay. Failure now would make for a long period of waiting for the next time.

by Jehan Perera

Features

Pitfalls and exclusions in academic recruitment

Published

11 hours ago

2026/06/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Academic recruitment

A public university relies on its teachers in fulfilling its responsibilities to the wider community. While teaching remains the chief responsibility of the academic staff, they also conduct research and play a central role in keeping the university a vibrant space where they and students can freely participate in conversations that concern not just routine classroom education but also society at large. The broader intellectual culture and intellectual integrity of a university thus depend on how its academics perform their functions. Therefore, universities should take the task of recruiting their academics seriously. It is important to ensure that this task is done responsibly, transparently and credibly through a fair, thorough and multi-phased evaluation process.

As both an applicant and a member of selection panels for recruitment, I hold that the recruitment procedures, currently in place in our university system, require radical reforms. Echoing some of the concerns raised by Kaushalya Perera in her Kuppi article on recruitment in March 2026, I focus on the limitations I have observed and experienced, specifically in the recruitment of Lecturer (Probationary) and Senior Lecturer positions. The article also aims to explore how these shortcomings could be addressed.

The Advertisement

Recruitment for Lecturer (Probationary) and Senior Lecturer positions is done through an open-advertisement which also involves an interview with shortlisted candidates. Advertisements are finalised in line with a template issued by the Registrar’s Office. Generally, an initial draft, prepared by the Registrar’s Office, is sent to the relevant academic departments for revisions. The revisions have to be made within the template provided, which allows space for the mention of only specialisation requirements.

It should be noted that not all revisions to the advertisement, suggested by the Department Head, are accepted in the next round. Deans, Vice Chancellors and Registrars, who have very little understanding of the disciplines associated with the position, sometimes reject the changes proposed by the Department. Technocratic in their thinking, they don’t recognise that an academic programme can be taught by persons with specialisation in another overlapping discipline. For instance, a position in English, at a university in Sri Lanka, is very well suited to not just those who have postgraduate qualifications in literary studies but also those who are from the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies or Translation Studies, as these areas are taught as sub-fields of English studies at most universities in the country. These disciplinary overlaps, even when pointed out by Heads, are often overlooked by our administrators.

In place of this process, dominated by academic administrators and registrars, the advertisement should ideally emerge, from the relevant department, in the form of a comprehensive job description. It should mention the nature of the position advertised, the kind of teaching (and research) expected, how the position relates to other positions in the department, in terms of specialisation and workload, and the ways in which the recruited candidate would contribute to overall institutional development.

There can be no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to recruitment. Individual departments vary in size, strength and specialisation requirements. Departments with sizable academic staff may want to emphasise specialisation during recruitment, whereas smaller departments may prefer generalists who can handle a wide-array of courses. Specifying the rationale for the requirements included in the job description may help potential applicants get an understanding of the position advertised and the selection panel to conduct the evaluation process in a fair manner.

Review of Applications

Once applications are received, we sometimes find promising candidates but with qualifications that don’t carry in their title the name of the discipline or the department in which the position is advertised. Sometimes the disciplines or fields of specialisation that appear in the advertisement and the ones that appear in the qualifications are not identical in nomenclature, even though the research undertaken by the applicant during their graduate studies is strongly relevant to the position advertised. Even when such applications are accompanied by strong and relevant publications, our system does not view them positively. Instead, nomenclatural differences are used to reject promising candidates. Such differences are also used as a pretext when universities want to exclude a candidate for their cultural background, political beliefs or other reasons. Even if academic departments recognise such applications, at the next stage, the administrators of the university try to veto them. We lose inter-disciplinary scholars of high academic standing because of the high-handedness of university administrators.

Selection Panels

Selection panels for academic positions typically comprise the Vice Chancellor, the Dean of the Faculty, the Head of the Department, two academics nominated by the Senate and two members of the University Council. In the case of programmes/disciplines jointly housed under a single department, if the Head comes from a discipline other than the one in which the position is advertised, they may not be able to contribute in an informed manner to the recruitment process. However, some Heads refuse to appoint nominees from the relevant discipline in their place as they view sitting on selection panels as their exclusive privilege.

Sometimes university Senates do not take the appointment of Senate nominees seriously. These appointments are decided in a hurry without serious deliberations at senate meetings packed with numerous agenda items. Sometimes even if the relevant department has suitable academics to serve as Senate nominees, the Senate chooses academics from other departments or disciplines who do not have a nuanced understanding of the requirements of the position advertised and its disciplinary parameters. Sometimes specialists in the relevant discipline may not be available at a university. On such occasions, Senates tend to fill up the positions with academics from other disciplines, instead of inviting external nominees from other universities. At a state university in Sri Lanka, I was interviewed thrice for academic positions by selection panels that comprised not even one specialist from the relevant discipline.

The Marking Scheme

The marking schemes used in recruitment have their own drawbacks. Publications are sometimes evaluated for their quantity rather than quality. The opinion of the subject specialist is not sought or taken seriously when a candidate’s research is evaluated. This is why our universities are saddled with academics who engage in plagiarism or predatory publishing. The evaluation process should be tightened in such a way to bar the entry of those who lack academic integrity.

It is worrying to see that marking schemes and schemes of recruitment penalise applicants who have excelled in their graduate studies and are well-reputed for their recent research and publications just because they did not earn a first-class or second-class upper-division pass at the undergraduate level. Our narrow focus on a candidate’s first degree prevents us from giving due recognition to how that person has gained intellectual depth over the years. Some marking rubrics, which allocate points for eye-contact and posture during the interview, dilute the seriousness associated with the academic position, de-prioritise scholarship and turn the interview process into a stage performance.

Cultural Credibility

In recruitment, many universities look for cultural credibility (a term that I borrow from the work of Sulaxana Hippisley) as an unwritten requirement. Some departments are reluctant to hire applicants who are not their alumni. Some selection panels discriminate against candidates from certain ethnic or religious backgrounds. In some departments, women are rejected because they are likely to go on maternity leave or have more domestic responsibilities than men. Gender and sexual minorities have to mute and censor their identities at interviews because they are likely to face rejection if they openly declare their orientation. We have no policies and procedures in place to ensure recruitment is conducted in an inclusive way that sees diversity as a strength.

The Way-forward

When recruitment fails, the entire intellectual culture of that university takes a hit, and several generations of students are affected. Some of the current problems, related to quality in our higher education system, stem from bad recruitment policies and practices. Instead of trying to address these issues through rigorous and inclusive recruitment practices, we try to seek solutions via band-aids like quality assurance and workshops on curriculum writing and pedagogy for university academics.

In developing alternative recruitment policies and practices, we have to demand that the needs and expectations of individual departments are heard. Our selection panels should include more subject specialists than administrators and council nominees. Most of the evaluation should be completed before the interviews, and interviews should be treated as opportunities to get to know candidates in person and pose clarifying questions rather than as occasions for full-scale evaluation. We have to be open and receptive to new, inter-disciplinary scholarship and cultural, ethnic and gender diversity. If we are unwilling to introspect and bring about these reforms and revise our marking schemes, we will continue to recruit the wrong candidates and thereby fail our students and the wider community.

Mahendran Thiruvarangan is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Linguistics & English at the University of Jaffna.

(Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.)

by Mahendran Thiruvarangan

Features

Rocking scene … in Japan

Published

11 hours ago

2026/06/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Chitral ‘Chity’ Somapala, now based in Sweden, has been active in the music scene for many years, and is known for his hard rock work with European bands like Firewind, Power Quest, and Avalon.

In Sri Lanka, he’s a household name and that’s the reason why he checks out the local scene, on a regular basis, keeping rock music lovers in the groove.

His shows are invariably ‘full house’’ events.

Sri Lanka’s rock star is now ready to do the needful … in Japan, and rock fans in that part of the world are already gearing themselves up for a rock explosion, with Chitral in the spotlight.

The show is scheduled for 03rd October, 2026, at the Hattori Ryokuchi Park, in Osaka, with Wayo.

The blast off is from 1.00 pm onwards.

However, before he checks out the Osaka scene, Chitral has another important date in his itinerary – a spectacular Sri Lankan musical extravaganza at the Sydney Opera House, in Australia.

The concert is titled Rhythms of Sri Lanka and will be held on 23rd August, 2026.

Back in Colombo soon to oblige local rock fans

Although Chitral Somapala is, indeed, a big name, as a rock artiste, he also revives the music of his parents, as well, often performing their music, along with his own songs, at live programmes.

In fact, the album ‘Dambulugale’, released in 2018, which is a tribute to his parents, famous Sri Lankan musicians P. L. A. Somapala and Chitra Somapala, turned out to be a massive hit, not only in Sri Lanka, but with Sri Lankans the world over.

The album, a compilation of various cover songs, previously written and performed by his parents, was dedicated to Chitral’s parents, and released on the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence.

He also dropped ‘Chitral Somapala Live In Concert’, in 2023, with 22 tracks, and has several other releases to his credit.

Besides his rocking career, Chitral was asked by veteran film directors Chandran Rutnam, Asoka Handagama, Priyantha Colombage, Udayakantha and Shameera Naotunna to contribute his talent for their soundtracks, and he won a Presidential award and an International award for the movie ‘Let Her Cry’ by Asoka Handagama.

Chitral will be back in Colombo soon with another rocker for his fans, so watch out for Rock Meets Reggae.