Gajanayake Arachchige Madhumadhawa Aravinda Siriwardana, (Sinhala: මධුමාධව අරවින්ද සිරිවර්ධන), better known as Madhumadhawa Aravinda, is a Sri Lankan singer, actor, journalist and a politician.[1] He is also a past president of the Sri Lankan Singers Association.[2]
Personal life
Coming from a family of artists, Aravinda's father Sunil Siriwardana is a musician in Sri Lanka. His mother Susiri Siriwardena also a lyricist. His younger brother Dananjaya Siriwardana is also a popular actor in television and cinema. He was married to popular actress Nilmini Tennakoon, and they have one daughter Shvetha Mandakini Siriwardana.[3] He met Nilmini during the teledrama Pini Bindu in 1992. They got married on 5 May 1996.[4] They divorced in the early 2000s.
In 2011, Aravinda married a Muslim woman named Renusha. The wedding was celebrated on 14 February 2011 Pegasas Reef Hotel, Wattala. They divorced in late 2015 due to racial differences as said by him.[5][6] In March 2019, he married Niluka Boteju, which is Aravinda's third marriage.[7]
Aravinda's grandfather, Peter Siriwardena was an accomplished musician and an actor. He worked as a lecturer in music at the Government Women's Training College, Polgolla. Aravinda's grandmother Srimathi Karuna Devi was a music teacher as well as an actress.[8]
Aravinda's aunt Chandrika Siriwardena is also a popular songstress and playback singer.[9] She was married to Anton Alwis, who was a journalist as well as a lyricist.[10] Anton died on 26 March 2018 at the age of 64.[11] Chandrika's granddaughter Dulshara Dasanthi is also a singer.[12]
Aravinda commenced his singing career in 1990 along with his friend, Namal Udugama. He sang his first song in 1990 and the producer of that program was his father Sunil Siriwardana.[18] Although he only recorded few handful of songs, when compared with his fellow musicians, songs such as Lamba Sawan and Sith Sith gain enormous popularity.[19]
Television
Aravinda, along with Suranga Lakmal Senevirathne had produced the television show, Kiyum Kerum, which was based on expressions, idioms, proverbs, imagery in Sinhala.[20] He performed in season one of Sirasa Dancing Stars and Derana Star City. He also participated in Sirasa Superstar generation 4 as a judge.
