The funeral of veteran journalist and lyricist Saman Chandranath Weerasinghe took place at the General Cemetery, Borella on Thursday amidst a large number of mourners including relatives, artistes and media persons.
He passed away in Colombo on Tuesday. He was 75. Weerasinghe, who left an indelible imprint in journalism, was a hugely respected journalist whose work ranged from news and feature writing to the art of writing lyrics that he went on to specialise in. He was a remarkably talented and versatile journalist who possessed a vast knowledge of many subjects and built his own identity in the field.
A lyrical genius, Weerasinghe had composed more than 1,500 songs. A number of songs such as Sanda madale sita (Malini Bulathsinhala), Nambara goyamata (Gunadasa Kapuge), Sodura mata samu denna (D. D. Gunasena), Biduwak iwasa (Punsiri Soysa), Kavikariye (Keerthi Pasqual), Samakoni thrikonayaki (Dayaratna Ranatunga), Hima renu vetena (Greshan Ananda), Sathara vatin kalukaragena (Sujatha Attanayake) and Sandaleka (Rukantha-Chandraleka) written by him became very popular among the public.
He started his career as a journalist with the Lankadeepa newspaper. Later he held a number of positions in the Dinamina too. He was the Consultant Editor of Dinamina at the time of retirement. Saman Chandranath Weerasinghe is the son of late Lankadeepa Editor Wimal Weerasinghe and the brother of journalist and creative writer Bharathi Weerasinghe.
He was the husband of Dayalatha Weerasinghe and a father of three. The eldest daughter, Tikiri Kumari Weerasinghe, is working at a music institute and son, Chamikara Weerasinghe, is a Deputy News Editor of the Daily News. The second daughter, Nadee Kumari Weerasinghe, is a music teacher.