Ramaya Muttusamy was a prolific Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n music director and singer. He handled the music for most of K. Gunaratnam's productions.

Muttusamy was born on January 5, 1926, in Nagercoil

Nagercoil

Nagercoil is the 12th largest city in the southernmost Indian state of Tamil Nadu and a municipality and administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District...

, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 the only son of virtuoso Malayali musician Ramaya Baghwather. At a young age, Muttusamy was introduced to the violin and mastered the instrument by the age of ten.

Muttusamy worked as the Assistant Music Director on the first Sinhalese film Kadawunu Poronduwa

Kadawunu Poronduwa

Kadawunu Poronduwa was the first film to be made in the Sinhala language; it is generally considered to have heralded the coming of Sinhala Cinema. The film was produced and filmed in India however, and was highly influenced by South Indian melodrama...

in 1941 under the tutelage of R. Narayana Iyer. He subsequently travelled to Sri Lanka and found work there as a member of the state-run Radio Ceylon

Radio Ceylon

Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...

's Tamil Orchestra (October 20, 1952) and then with the Sundera Murugan Studio in Kandana built by producer Nayagam (1953).

Enlisted by successful producer K. Gunaratnam, Muttusamy handled his first lead music direction for the 1953 Sinhalese film Prema Tharangaya. In the film he directed the Sinhalese playback singers Dharmadasa

Dharmadasa Walpola

Dharmadasa Walpola was the most prominent Sri Lankan male playback singer of the 1950s and 1960s. Walpola was an accomplished musician adapt at playing the flute, harmonium, violin and tabla.- Early life :...

 and Latha Walpola on what would be their debut as well. Subsequently he oversaw the direction for over 225 films including Ahankara Sthree (1953), Mathalang (1955), Sandesaya

Sandesaya

Sandesaya is a 1960 film. The film based on the war between the Sri Lankan people and the Portuguese invaders in Sri Lanka. It was directed by Sri Lankan film director Lester James Peries. It was produced by K...

(1961), Allapu Gedera and Chandiya

Chandiya (film)

Chandiya is a 1965 Sri Lankan action movie directed by Titus Thotawatte. In the country, it was the first of its genre to not borrow from Indian cinema.-Cast:*Gamini Fonseka – hoodlum*Anula Karunatillake – hoodlum's sister...

(1965) working with playback singers like the Walpolas, Mohideen Baig

Mohideen Baig

Mohideen Baig was a popular Sri Lankan musician. He was a Muslim who moved to Sri Lanka from Salem in Tamil Nadu, India. Beg's son, Ishak is also a singer but not that popular in Srilanka like his father was. Baig has dueted with H. R. Jothipala, G.S.B. Rani Perera, Latha Walpola, Sujatha...

, J. A. Milton Perera

J. A. Milton Perera

J. A. Milton Perera was a leading playback singer of Sri Lankan cinema during the '60s and '70s.Milton was born on May 9, 1929 the son of J. A. Edwin Perera, also known as Tabla Podi Appuhamy, an accomplished tabla player...

, H. R. Jothipala

H. R. Jothipala

Hettiarachchige Reginald Jothipala was a prolific playback singer in the Sinhala cinema. His voice, style and songs are a blessing to the numerous listeners, who are musically inclined and could make a quote that none of those duplicated voices match the golden voice of this gifted...

, Angeline Gunatillake, Sujatha Attanayake, G. S. B. Rani Perera and Narada Disasekara

Narada Disasekara

Narada Disasekara was a Sri Lankan classical singer. He won the first Sarasaviya Award for Male Playback Singing in 1964 for his duet "Galana Gangaki Jeevithe" with a young Nanda Malini for Ranmuthu Duwa....

.

Muttusamy was awarded an honorary Sri Lankan citizenship in June 1956 by prime minister Sir John Kotelawala

John Kotelawala

General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala, KBE, CH, KStJ, CLI was a Sri Lankan soldier and politician, most notable for serving as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1953 to 1956....

. He rejoined Radio Ceylon in 1958 and served with the organization until 1981.

Muttusamy married the Sinhalese B. D. E. Neeliya Perera on October 7, 1961, and had four children, Mohanraj, Chitrangi, Prasanna Vadhani and Keerthika. Mohanraj would follow in his father's footsteps pursuing a career in music. Muttusamy died on June 27, 1988.