‘Nadee Ganga Tharanaye’ is a familiar song heard not only on radio and TV but also sung by contestants at popular reality TV programmes in Sri Lanka. Released in 1998 by Chitral “Chity” Somapala for a TV/Radio commercial to promote a beer brand, it became an instant hit.
It is a unique song with Sinhala lyrics but sung in a hard rock and a bluesy style with an abundance of emotion. During the 2011 Cricket World Championship he composed and sang the song “Believing the Dream” which was played on Radio/TV during the finals.
Chitral (Chity) is no stranger to the International Hard Rock/Metal music scene, being the son of the famous singing duo Chitra and P L A Somapala, whose songs such as “Dambulu Gale” and “Lalitha Kala” are still popular among both the young and old. P L A Somapala was also a music composer and producer, along with his wife Chitra, who contributed the soundtrack for the film ‘Asoka’ and many other smash movies during the hype of the Sri Lankan film industry.
Born on 4 November 1966 in Sri Lanka, Chitral Somapala radically deviated from his parents’ style of singing and embraced hard rock and heavy metal and has pursued this path ever since with great success, especially in Europe. Chity made a name for himself, stepping into the first league of European Metal Scene working with highly skilled musicians and has released several albums.
According to music critics, his style of singing combines blues and soul, with the heaviness of hard rock and metal. Following his entry to the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal scene in the 90¢s, Chity Somapala has recorded a number of albums, toured, and made numerous guest appearances with several well-known bands around the world, including his venture with Firewind and the Guitarist GUS G who is touring now with Ozzy Osbourne. Chity's and Gus's collaboration with Firewind entered the Japanese TOP 100 with the album “Forged by Fire” in 2004.
Chity is also a skilled musician who is not only a singer, but plays Bass, Guitar and Keyboards, among other instruments, and has his own studio where his creative talents are professionally exploited and realized. He’s quoted as saying: “The older I get, I focus on Music looking through a kaleidoscope where the creativity has tons of possibilities for composition.”
He has gone on to say: “It has been always in my thoughts that I should do what my father did with music for films. So finally I did get the chance to come out with instrument compositions of my own creation that evolved into ambient, film, drama, Western classical and New Age music with the release of my album ‘Photographic Breath’.” |
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