Veteran Sri Lankan singer and actor Priyankara Perera has died at the age of 64.
Perera died on Tuesday, September 1, while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital, family members told Ada Derana. He had been ill for some time.
He was the eldest son of the late singer Milton Perera and a brother of the singer Chalaka Chamupathi, Hiru News reported. Hiru said he gained wide popularity during the cassette era and through the 1980s and 1990s. Alongside his music, he worked as an actor.
The songs
The two outlets listed largely different bodies of work, and between them named a broad catalogue. Ada Derana cited “Supun Sandak,” “Sandun Gase Saman Welak,” “Sikuruliya” and “Agadha Sagare.” Hiru News listed “Ran Pokunen Diya Nagena Enne,” “Sihina Devduwe,” “Pissu Vikare,” “Samana Ve Epadi Divi Thalave” and “Pera Athmayaka Eka Rathriyaka,” along with the same Agadha song, which it rendered as “Agadha Sagaraye.”
Only that one title appeared in both accounts, under two transliterations.
Funeral
Perera’s remains will be placed at a private funeral parlour in Colombo on Tuesday, September 2, with funeral arrangements to be announced later, Hiru News reported, citing his wife, the veteran actress Dilhani Ekanayake. Ada Derana did not report funeral details or name his family.
Neither outlet specified the illness. No statement from a music industry body had been reported at the time of writing.
Update: the President pays his respects
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has paid his final respects to Perera, Ada Derana reported early on Thursday. The report gave no location or time for the visit and carried no statement from the President.
The same report settles a day-of-week discrepancy in the earlier accounts, which is corrected above: Ada Derana now places the death on Tuesday the 1st, not Monday. September 1 was a Tuesday.
