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The 71-year-old popular musician of Sri Lanka Premasiri Khemadasa has passed away at a private hospital in Colombo on October 24, 2008. The Lankan musician, popularly known as 'Khemadasa Master’ has contributed much for the development of Lankan cinema. He was one of the most popular figures in country's cinema industry.
The music composed by Khemadasa for several Sinhala language films were so popular that they out performed other Hindi and Tamil music of that time. His best works comes out in Sinhala language films like 'Nidhanaya', 'Agnidahaya' and 'Ammavarune'. Besides composing music for films, Premasiri Khemadasa also held several shows at international level.
Khemadasa was the first musician to introduce opera format in Sri Lankan music and performing arts. He also pioneered a unique music style in Sri Lankan music industry. The musician attained much of popularity with the ‘Manasawila’ opera. Apart from cinema, he was also one of the aspiring personalities in Lankan television industry.
