Umara Sinhawansa ( Sinhala: උමාරා සිංහවංශ, born 14 March 1989) is a Sri Lankan pop, R&B and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer. She is also a songwriter, producer and audio engineer.

Early life

She was born into a family of professional

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s, father Tony Sinhawansa and mother Ayesha Sinhawansa, who allowed her to be exposed to all genres of music from jazz to hip hop to classic to RnB. She has one sister (

Umaria Sinhawansa Umaria Binthy Ayesha Sinhawansa ( si, උමාරියා සිංහවංශ, born 5 January 1991), popularly as Umaria Sinhawansa, is a Sri Lankan pop, R&B and jazz singer. She is the youngest musician to be ever awarded A-Grade by Sri La ...

) and two brothers. Umara was educated at Muslim Ladies’ College and represented Sri Lanka in three international singing competitions, and won first prize at the All-Island Singing Competition of Sri Lanka.

Career

She did her first professional recording at the age of 10 along with her sister Umaria and made her first public performance at the age of 13. Later on Umara teamed up with the popular singing duo Bhathiya and Santhush (BNS) and was the designated audio engineer when they toured. She has a vocal range of four and a half octaves. Some of her chart toppers are "Wassanayata","Shaheena", "Sihina ko" and "Malak Thibuna" with Chithral Somapla and Kasthuri. After her marriage to Risky Fahmi, she moved to Hong Kong, where she mastered the art of jazz under Dylan Lye. During a 6-year stint in Hong Kong, she performed in the Chinese market and established herself as a Sri Lankan vocalist while performing with her band Proteus. After returning from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 2017, Umara launched her academy, Umara Music Studio (UMS) which provides music and vocal training for students of all ages.

Awards and accomplishments

* Represented Sri Lanka at two international singing competitions held in Kazakhstan and China. * Won the Bronze Award at the Crimea Music Festival held in Ukraine (2011), singing along with her sister

Umaria Umaria is a municipality city in the Umaria district of the Shahdol Division of Madhya Pradesh, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second ...

. * Became youngest female artist in Sri Lanka to have collaborated with the international artist

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tami ...

(

Shankar Ehsaan Loy Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

)

Television shows

Filmography (Music department)

References

{{authority control 1989 births Living people Women pop singers 21st-century Sri Lankan women singers 20th-century Sri Lankan women singers Contemporary R&B singers Women jazz singers Sri Lankan singer-songwriters Women record producers Sri Lankan record producers Women audio engineers People from Colombo Sri Lankan playback singers