Ashanthi De Alwis

Ashanthi de Alwis (Sinhala:අශාන්ති ද අල්විස්) is a Sri Lankan singer. She is the only Sri Lankan female R&B / Hip-Hop artist who signed with an international record label, Sony Music in 2003 and Universal Music in 2006. She began as a singer with Bathiya and Santhush, and continued that role after achieving solo success.

Career

Ashanthi's first major label album was as half of the duo Ashanthi'n'Ranidu, with the album Oba Magemai released in 2003. Her debut solo album Sandawathuren was released in 2006. This was the first R&B hip hop, solo album to be released by a Sri Lankan woman. Her general style of music is ethnic R&B and hip-hop coupled with pop & soul ballads of mass market appeal. Sandawathuren was sung in the Sinhala language, with the exception of two English songs.
Ashanthi has toured internationally in countries throughout Europe, North America, Australasia and Asia. In 2006 Dialog Telekom, Sri Lanka's flagship telecommunications company signed up Ashanthi to be a brand ambassador for their pre-paid brand KIT.
At the 2008 Derana Music Video Awards, Ashanthi won the award for 'Best Hip Hop Video' for Alawanthiyak