Chitral Somapala

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Chity Somapala

Chitral "Chity" Somapala (born November 4, 1966 in Colombo , Ceylon ) is a hard rock and heavy metal singer.

Life

Somapala was born the fourth child into a family of musicians. Both the father PLA Somapala and the mother Chitra Somapala were well-known folk music singers in Sri Lanka. PLA Somapala also worked as a composer, arranger and producer for film music. At the age of 10, Chitral 'Chity' Somapala began taking guitar lessons, at 14 he switched to the electric bass and began to sing shortly afterwards. At the age of 17, he performed with the country's leading musicians and bands in the capital's nightclubs .

In 1985 he became a member of the alternative band Shock in Sri Lanka , which was founded by the keyboardist and pioneer of computer-aided music production in Sri Lanka, Diliup Gabadamudalige. In 1986 he toured Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Finland as the bass player and singer of the top 40 band Rendezvous (later renamed Friends ). T. as support for bands in the respective countries.

In 1994 Somapala left the top 40 scene to focus primarily on a career as a hard rock / heavy metal singer. In 1996 he joined the German hard rock / underground band Court Jester , with whom he recorded the album Forced to Believe .

Somapala achieved cult status in Sri Lanka through the song Nadee Ganga Tharanaye , which was broadcast as a TV / radio advertising song by the local "Lion Beer" brewery from 1998 and is still popular today - unique due to the first combination of hard rock music with singing in the local language Sinhala .

Chity Somapala Berlin 2009

Shortly afterwards he joined the German melodic / power / prog rock band Avalon as a singer and frontman. Charlie Bauerfeind was also involved in the production. Avalon's third album , Vision Eden , received good reviews and on the Vision Eden tour that followed, the band opened up for Hammerfall , Uriah Heep , Metallica , Motörhead , Royal Hunt and Pink Cream 69 . In the summer of 2000 Avalon's 4th album "Eurasia" was created under the direction of Sascha Paeth . In addition to singing, Somapala also makes music on the Chapman Stick on Eurasia . The album contains elements and influences of Sri Lankan music. After the subsequent European tour with Metalium , the band broke up.

In 2002 Somapala composed the song Greenlands Theme for the Isipathana International Rugby Championships in Sri Lanka together with the guitarist Frank Rohles, a member of the German Queen tribute band Innuendo . This collaboration resulted in the melodic rock band Faro , who released the album Dawn of Forever on MTM Music in 2003. In the same year the album Echoes of a Nightmare was created with the Swedish symphonic metal band Moonlight Agony .

At the end of 2003 Somapala accepted an invitation from the Greek guitarist Gus G to accompany his band Firewind on a headlining tour through Japan in January 2004. After the tour Somapala became a permanent member of the band and worked with Gus G. on the album Forged by Fire , which made it into the top 100 of the Japanese charts. After the subsequent tour with Hammerfall during the Ice Breaker Festival , Somapala left the band in 2005 for personal reasons.

In 2006 Somapala founded his own band Civilization One (album Revolution Rising, published 2007), which was disbanded in 2010.

He also works with the German prog / metal band Red Circuit and the British classic rock / metal band Rekuiem , one of the co-founders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement from the 1980s. In 2010 Somapala becomes the new singer / frontman of the English power metal band Power Quest .

Somapala lives in Trier and teaches bass and singing at the Modern Music School there.

style

With his versatile voice (comparable to Ronnie James Dio and Klaus Meine ) and his large vocal range, he adapts to any musical situation, from blues and soul to intense, aggressive heavy metal, from melodic pop music to classic rock.

Discography

  • Court Jester - Forced to Believe (Allister Records) 1996
  • Avalon - Vision Eden (Omega Records) 1998
  • Avalon - Eurasia (Omega Records) 2000
  • Another Piece of Metal - Tribute to Scorpions (Dwell Records) 2001
  • Shadowkeep - A Chaos Theory - (LMP) 2002 (backing vocals)
  • WOLFF - Metanoia - (LEICO Music, LC-7701) 2002 - Guest Vocals (some songs)
  • Faro - Dawn of Forever (MTM Music) 2003
  • MTM Compilation - Volume 9 (MTM Music) 2003
  • Final Chapter - The Wizard Queen (Underground Symphony) 2004 (guest appearance)
  • Moonlight Agony - Echoes of a Nightmare (Massacre Records) 2004
  • Mystic Prophecy - Never Ending (Nuclear Blast) 2004 (backing vocals)
  • Firewind - Forged by Fire (EMI / Toshiba) 2004
  • Firewind - Forged by Fire (Century Media Records) 2005
  • Faro - Angelost (MTM Music) 2006
  • Red Circuit - Trance State (LMP) 2006
  • Civilization One - Revolution Rising (Metal Heaven) 2007
  • Red Circuit - Homeland (LMP) 2009
  • Civilization One - Calling The Gods (LMP) 2012
  • Chitral "Chity" Somapala - Photographic Breath (AudioGate) 2012

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ »In the great, kitsch-free ballad“ Land of Eternity ”, which closes the album, he also sounds a lot like Klaus Meine (Scorpions). « CD review" Forged by Fire / Firewind 2005 "  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.evilized.de  
personal data
SURNAME Somapala, Chitral
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Somapala, Chity
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sri Lankan rock singer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th November 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Colombo