Raju Bandara

Raju Bandara
රාජු බණ්ඩාර
Born(1960-04-14)14 April 1960
Kegalle, Ceylon
Died15 January 2026(2026-01-15) (aged 65)
Ragama, Sri Lanka
Resting placeKanatte Cemetery
EducationKegalu Vidyalaya
OccupationsSinger, composer, guitarist
SpouseSandya Kumari
Children3
MotherChandra Bandara
RelativesD. C. Kodithuwakku (grandfather)
Premnath Kodithuwakku (uncle)
Mahinda Bandara (brother)
Dhammika Walpola (sister-in-law)
Latha Walpola (mother-in-law)
Dharmadasa Walpola (father-in-law)
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentsVocals, Guitar
Years active1978–2024
Labels
  • Torana
  • Tharanga
  • Ransilu

Raju Bandara (14 April 1960 – 15 January 2026) was a Sri Lankan musician and singer.[1][2] Starting as a guitarist,[3] Bandara became one of the most influential singers in the Sri Lankan pop music industry in early 1990s and continued in a career spanning more than four decades.[4][5][6]

Background

Raju Bandara was born on 14 April 1960 in Kegalle,[6] Sri Lanka, as the fifth child of the family with nine siblings. His grandfather D.C. Kodithuwakku,[7] was a lecturer on tabla playing at the Heywood Aesthetic Center (currently known as the University of the Visual and Performing Arts). His mother, Chandra Bandara, was a Grade A singer at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).[8][1] His mother's brother, Premnath Kodithuwakku,[6] was also a musician and tabla player who worked extensively in the Sinhala film music industry.[9]

He had three elder brothers (Ganganath, Ranjith and Mahinda), one elder sister (Shanthi), two younger brothers (Shammi and Thilanka) and two younger sisters (Rani and Nirmali). Mahinda Bandara is also an accomplished musician and guitarist who excelled in a career for about four decades.[9][10] Mahinda is married to fellow singer Dhammika Walpola, the daughter of the Sri Lankan music singers Latha Walpola and Dharmadasa Walpola.[1] Dhammika's brothers, Amith, Suneth and Chaminda, are also musicians.

Bandara completed his education from Kegalu Vidyalaya where he did mathematics for the GCE Advanced Level Examination. During school he engaged in many musical competitions.[9][6]

He was married to Sandya Kumari, who is a teacher. The couple had two daughters: Viloshini, Gaya and one son: Ramithu.[11]

Career

After completing his school education in 1976, Bandara made the musical band "Blue Shadows" with school friends.[6] Then he joined the musical band "Super Jades" led by Ananda Perera. In 1978, Bandara joined the band "Nayagra" led by Rookantha Gunathilake as the lead guitarist.[3] He continued to play in the band until 1982 and made continuous shows in Kurunegala and Habarana hotels. Then in 1985, he along with Rookantha formed the band "Madhārā" with fellow musician Clarence Wijewardena and later with the band "The Universe" in 1987 and traveled to countries like England and France.[3][6] After few months, Gunathilake went abroad and Bandara also quit the band.[9]

However, at the invitation of Stanley Peiris, he later joined the band "Fortunes" where his elder brother Mahinda has played.[6] In the band, Bandara started to play as the rhythm guitarist, as his brother is playing the lead guitar. He performed in the band for many years along with his brother and fellow musician Keerthi Pasquel.[6] At that time, he was also employed at the Ramada Hotel in Colombo. In 1993,[11] he sang his first solo song "Ma Adarei Mulu Lowatath Wada" in his debut album "Man Aadere Ran Seenu". He later made the popular hits such as: "Kawudo Mage Lowe Serisaruwe" and "Ran Seenu Nada De".[12] He later collaborated with his friend Rookantha to make the popular duet: "Ulath Ekai Pilath Ekai".[9]

During the early 1990s, Bandara established himself as a solo artist and started to dominate the outdoor musical shows for more than a decade, where he sang the songs: "Kanduḷæli Dǣsē", "Oya Rū Sōbā", "Hada Wēdanāva", "Rōsa Mal Kumārī" and "Ran Malak".[6][13] Meanwhile, he also performed as the guitarist in the original solos "Bambara Pahasa" and "Anātha Māruthē" sung by Rookantha.[9] Bandara made the duet "Hada Gī Pothē" with his mother, became popular among the public.[3]

Apart from the musical career, Bandara acted in Asoka Handagama's television serial Diya Keta Pahana, and played the critically acclaimed role "Deepthi",[14] where he was nominated for Best Emerging Actor in that year.[9][6] In 2009, he joined the musical reality program Sirasa Superstar as one of the three judges in season 2 and 3.[15]

As a teacher, Bandara started the music academy "Raj Music Centre".[16] In 2019, he released the solo song, "Mage Hitha Hadagena".[11] In 2022, he made a cameo role in the television serial Divithura. In 2024, he released his final solo album titled "Dannawada Oya".[6]

Illness and death

Bandara had been ill for about three years due to a kidney ailment.[17] He also underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2024.[18] However, he had to take continuous medication from the hospital since then.[9]

Bandara died at his residence in Ragama, on 15 January 2026, at the age of 65, after suffering from prolonged kidney disease.[19][20] His remains were kept in a private funeral parlor in Borella on 16 January for public respect from 10am.[21] The final rites were held on 17 January 2026 at 6:00 pm at the Kanatte Cemetery.[9][22][23]

Albums

Man Aadere Ran Seenu
Sanda Kathakarai
Bandura [11]
Thahanam Deshaya [11][24]
Raju with Sunflower [25]
Dannawada Oya

References

  1. ^ a b c "මියුරු හඬක් නිහඬ වෙයි – රාජු බණ්ඩාර සමුගනී". ziradaily.com. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  2. ^ "රාජු බණ්ඩාරගේ අවසන් කටයුතු හෙට". lankadeepa.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "රාජු බණ්ඩාර දිවසැරය නිමකරයි". subanetha.com. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Superstars of the 90's: Raju Bandara". Divaina. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  5. ^ "ප්‍රවීණ ගායක රාජු බණ්ඩාර දිවියට සමුදෙයි". Dinamina. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "සංගීතඥ රාජු බණ්ඩාර දිවිසැරිය නිමාකරයි…". lankatruth.com. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  7. ^ "The second branch of the family tree The largest art family tree in the world in Sri Lanka". Sarasaviya. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Page of the erased Hada Gee book: Chandrara Bandara". Dinamina. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "රාජු බණ්ඩාර: සංගීතඥයෙකු, ගායකයෙකු සහ නළුවෙකු වූ සුප්‍රකට වාදකයාගේ අප්‍රකට තොරතුරු". BBC. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  10. ^ ""ඒ කාලෙදී තමයි මම මුලින්ම ධම්මිකාව දැක්කේ. එයා එතකොට ඉස්කෝලෙ යනවා..." - මහින්ද බණ්ඩාර". hirufm.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d e "එක සැරයක් ඡන්දේ ඉල්ලන්න මාව ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න හැදුවා. මගේ බිරිඳ ඒකට තදින්ම අකමැතියි - රාජු බණ්ඩාර". hirufm.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Veteran singer Raju Bandara passes away". dailynews.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  13. ^ "හද ගී පොතේ පිටුවක් ඉරී යයි – රාජු බණ්ඩාර සමුගනී !". lankanewsweb.net. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  14. ^ ""දීප්ති යන්නම ගිහින්.." - අශෝක හඳගම". mirrorarts.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  15. ^ "රාජු බණ්ඩාර සමුගනියි". ada.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  16. ^ ""පෞද්ගලික ජීවිතය සමබරව පවත්වාගෙන යනවා. ප්‍රශ්න තියෙනවා, නැත්තේ නැහැ..." - රාජු බණ්ඩාර". hirufm.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  17. ^ "රටක් ආදරය කරන ප්‍රවීණ ගායකයා ‍රාජු බණ්ඩාර.. ඔහු අද සිටින තත්වය". hirufm.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  18. ^ ""මේ ඔහුට ඔබේ උදව් අවැසිම අවස්ථාවකි..." ප්‍රවීණ ජනප්‍රිය ගායන ශිල්පියෙකු පිළිබඳ සංවේදී පුවතක්..." hirufm.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Veteran singer Raju Bandara passes away". dailymirror.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  20. ^ "ගායන ශිල්පී රාජු බණ්ඩාර අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වෙයි". Dinamina. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  21. ^ "ප්‍රවීණ ගායන ශිල්පී රාජු බණ්ඩාර දිවි ගමනින් සමු ගනී!". mirrorarts.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  22. ^ "ප්‍රවීණ ගායන හා වාදන ශිල්පී රාජු බණ්ඩාරගේ දේහය පිළිබඳ අවසන් කටයුතු අද බොරැල්ල පොදු සුසාන භූමියේදී..." newsfirst.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  23. ^ "Funeral of singer Raju Bandara today". dailynews.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  24. ^ "Thahanam Deshe". newchapter.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  25. ^ "Raju Bandara with Sunflower". newchapter.lk. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.


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