Currently signed with Universal Music & M Entertainment, Ashanthi is the ‘Queen of Sri Lankan Hip Hop music’ and the youngest and only female in the Island to be signed to an internationally recognized record label (Universal Music). Touring the globe, wowing audiences worldwide on stages from the Sydney Opera house to the Millennium dome in London, The Cannes film festival in France and beyond, Ashanthi has made her mark in the music industry as a female music icon of Sri Lanka.


Discography -

Oba Magemai (Sony Music 2003)
The Ashanthi‘n’Ranidu album ‘Oba Magemai’ produced under the Sony Music & M Entertainment labels in 2003, was a phenomenal success in the Sri Lankan market selling over 60,000 copies in the first 3 months of release

Sandawathuren (Universal Music 2006)
Branching out as a solo artiste with her debut solo album ‘Sandawathuren’ (2006), Ashanthi has taken the Sri Lankan music industry by storm with a sound unique to her alone. The album features many popular hits - ‘Sandawathuren’ which topped the charts even before the release of the album, ‘Alavanthiyak’ - the tune that shot straight up to the charts with the phenomenal music video and made the whole of Sri Lanka rock the floor, the soulful tear jerkers ‘Oba Ven vi’ and ‘Denayana Hamuwe’ which set new standards in female music in Sri Lanka are only but a few of the many favourites to be mentioned on the album Sandawathuren’.

Hanthane (Universal Music 2010)
Ashanthi is about to release her 2nd solo album – Hanthane in April 2010. Singles ‘Pem Kumara’, ‘Hanthane’ & ‘Piyanani’have soared to No. 1 within the first week of release on all Radio & TV Channels in Sri Lanka, making Ashanthi one of the most requested and most popular youth icons in the music field in the island.


Music Business

Ashanthi is one of the only Sri Lankan Pop Stars with a Music School to her name in the island. ‘Ashanthi’s School Of Music’ nurtures aspiring young musicians from a very young age, grooming them into professional artistes.

‘Ethno Entertainment Audio & Video Productions’ is also the brainchild of Ashanthi, a professional production house that caters to Sri Lanka’s best musicians and Advertising Agencies for all their creative needs.

Background info on the Artiste

The daughter of the famous Sri Lankan pop/jazz vocalist Antoinette de Alwis, Ashanthi is a past pupil of Ladies College Colombo, where she was actively involved in music from her childhood years under the supervision of Mrs. Christine Perera and was Choir leader in the year 2001 under the supervision of Mrs. Sharmini Wettimuny. Ashanthi was also a student of the Wendy Whatmore Academy of Speech and Drama under the supervision of Mrs. Anthea Peiris Flambert. She is also a past pupil of Mrs. Marianne David - Merry An singers where she had her formal training in Operatic and classical music.


•    Ashanthi has been the voice of many English / Sinhalese Radio / TV jingles from the tender age of 6 and currently voices 75% of the advertisements in Sri Lanka for Radio & TV.

Popular Advertisements to her credit are –

Kandos - (Kandos smile), Marmite, Newdale, Sunsilk, Tang,
Samsung - (Samsung Digital), Dialog - (Dialog Global), Ole - (Ole cream    soda) Coca Cola, Anchor - (Anchor Boneeto), Union Assuarance, Arpico, Sunlight, D.S.I - (D.S.I exclusive), Lipton Late and a host of others….


National & International Awards / Achievements -

•    Brand Ambassador for Dialog Telekom’s pre-paid brand ‘KIT’

•    Winner of the ‘Most promising Singer award’ at the Shanghai Asia music festival, where she represented Sri Lanka in China (2000)

•    Winner of ‘song of the year’ for her Solo hit ‘Angel’ on the ‘Oba Magemai’ album at the Golden Clef Music Awards in Sri Lanka (2003)

•    Winner of Best Hip Hop Video of the year at The Derana Music Video Awards (2008)

•    Judge for Sri Lanka’s own version of American Idol music reality TV show ‘Yes Superstar’ (2010)

•    Ashanthi is also actively involved in Advertising (lyric writing & production) and has created many Ad’s / theme songs which have been aired on international TV stations such as BBC Channel V & MTV

Some of her most popular recent works -

Sirasa ‘We shall rebuild’ Tsunami song (English lyrics)
Neththara/Moving on – Bathiya & Santhush (off the Neththara album)
Alright – Bathiya & Santhush (off the Neththara album)
Angel – Ashanthi (off the Oba Magemai album)


International Tours & Performances-

Ashanthi has performed on many a stage within the country as well as overseas. Namely in India, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Canada, USA and other countries, performing to international audiences worldwide.

Milestones in performances overseas include -

•    Millenium dome (London, UK) 2003

•    Child aid concert for Tsunami relief at the Opera house (Sydney, Australia) 2005

•    ITB World Conference (Berlin, Germany) 2005

•    Cannes film festival (Cannes, France) 2005



Connect with Ashanthi

Web: www.ashanthi.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/ashanthi

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Ashanthi-de-Alwis/16416457267?ref=ss  

OR

search for page ‘Ashanthi de Alwis’

You tube: www.youtube.com/ashanthionline