- Birth Name - Egodahage Geroge Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon
- Other Names - Ananda Samarakoon
- Birth Day - 13th January 1911
- Death - 5th April 1962
Egodahage George Wilfred Alwis Samarakoon belongs to a Christian family in Padukka, on January 13, 1911. He had his primary and secondary education at Sri Jayawardenapura M.V.Kotte. His Sinhala Guru was Pandit D.C.P. Gamalathge. Later he served his Alma mater as a teacher of Music and Art. Samarakone left for the Visva-Bharathi University Santinikethan in India to study art and music. After six months he abandoned his studies and returned to SriLanka, and changed his name to Ananda Samarakoon, embracing Buddhism. Then he served as the music teacher of Mahinda College Galle from 1938 to 1942.
In 1937 , the popular music of Sri Lanka consisted of songs derived from the Ragadhari music. These songs lyrics often contained meaningless phrases with little or no literary merit. Samarakone set out to create a form of a music that can be classified as Sri Lanka's own and came out with the song Endada Menike (1940) [Listen to ennada manike] that paved the foundation for the artistic Sinhala music. In 1940, he composed Namo Namo Mata [listen to Namo Namo Matha (NATIONAL ANTHEM OF SRILANKA)] to instil patriotism and love for one's country, in his students at Mahinda College That song was later selected as the National anthem of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan government.
The love themed song ' Endada Menike ' unfolds in the form of a dialogue between a young village boy and a girl. Poetic and beautifully rustic, it became a success and Samarakone followed it with a string of successful songs in the early to mid 1940s, the period considered his golden age. Among his best known works are:
- Podimal Etano [listen to podi mal ethano ]
- Vilay Malak Pipila
- Poson Pohoda
- Asay madura [listen to asey madura]
- Sunila Guvanay
- Punchi Suda [listen to punchi suda]
- Nilvala Gangay
- Sumano [listen to Sumano]
- Pudamu Kusum
- Siri Saru Saara Ketay
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