Chitral Somapala

Chitral "Chity" Somapala — vocalist born in Sri Lanka — built a career in European melodic metal, with spells in various German bands and projects. His path is uncommon by origin. The European power metal circuit is overwhelmingly made up of musicians from Germany, Scandinavia, Italy and the Netherlands; a Sri Lankan singer working in that field is a rare case, requiring geographic relocation and the building of a network from scratch. Somapala has the voice the genre asks for — high register, sustained power, clean pitch — and has circulated through hard rock and power metal bands across decades, while also keeping projects of his own. It is the career of the European professional singer in the genre: called for recordings and tours, working in more than one project at a time. Metal, despite its reputation as a closed genre, has international circuits that are quite permeable once technical competence is proven. Somapala is an example of that.