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==Personal life==
Somapala was born on 13 September 1921 in [[Colombo]], Sri Lanka. His father A. D. Edmund was also a stage drama producer. He received his primary education at Clifton Girls' School. Then he received his secondary education from Lawrence College, Maradana. He left school in 1941 and worked as a clerk in a Maliban Street office of a rubber exporter.
He met his future wife Chithra Somapala in 1942. At that time she was a girl going to study at St. Bridget's Convent. She was born on May 25, 1932. She is 11 years younger than P. L. A. In 1947, Chithra succeeds as a radio singer. In 1948, she sang on Columbia records under Master U. D. Perera.
==Career==
It was during his time at rubber company, he learned music from musicians T. Sandarasekara and Lionel Edirisinghe. Then he excelled sitar and violin. During this time,
At the same time, he met his future wife Chithra Somapala. In 1946, he first sang a song with Chitra. He composed many songs to Chitra and together they sang several duets including: ''Yamuna Yamuna Sobana'', ''Dambulu Gale'' and ''Sukomala Bada Lelawa''. For this song ''Yamuna Yamuna Sobana'', Somapala first used clarinet, saxophone, piano, guitar, drummer, double bass. That song became world famous where the daughter of Governor Soulbury, Ramsbottom requested this song and sent it to H. M. V label which was put on disk and sent abroad. In 1954, the film ''East in the West'' produced by the British Department of State Information had the good fortune of incorporating the song ''Isurumuniya'' into a foreign film for the first time.
The duo later made several popular songs in the early classical song history such as: ''Lalita Kalā Opa Karanā'', ''Sīgiri Landunē æyi Oba Thanivī'', ''Dambulu Galē'', ''Dunhinda Hælenā'', ''Sukomala Banda Lelavā'', ''Uḍaraṭa Kandukara Siriyā Paradana'', ''Sarasamu Lankā Naḷavamu Lankā'', ''Isurumuṇiyehi Pætali Galeka'', ''Dakuṇu Lakē Aga Nagarē Gālu Purē Siri'', ''Nuvara Alankārē'', ''Nuvara Vævē'', ''Pembara Mātā'' and ''Raṭa Raṭa Ekkoṭa''.
On March 4, 1955, he became a film music director with the blockbuster ''Asoka''. Somapala composed the music for the film and all the songs were extremely popular and all the songs were taken from Hindi and Tamil films. Some songs were taken from the Hindi films ''Anarkali'' and ''Dosth'' and also from the Tamil films ''Avan''. Some songs such as ''Katharagame'', ''Pem Geethe'' and ''Sumihiri Paane'' were recorded twice in Sri Lanka and in Madras for commercials.
In 1958, Somapala became a radio producer and became an additional music controller. Somapala was involved in a film for the second time in 1956 with ''Dingiri Menika''. In the film, he was a co-music director with an Indian composer S. S. Veda. In the film, he produced the popular songs: ''Peradiga Muthu Atayay Me'' and ''Goviyawe Rataka Bale''.
==Filmography==
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