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ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්
Rice from Achchi's Day
Achchige Kale Haal
On harvest morning the old red rice Achchi grew up on has come off our own field, and Thaththa rubs an ear in his palm to show the red grains. At lunch the first plate goes to Achchi, who takes one mouthful, shuts her eyes and says that is it, son.
Lyrics
Chorus
ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්, ආයෙත් අපේ කුඹුරේ!Achchige kale haal, aayeth ape kumbure!The rice from Achchi's day is back in our paddy!
රතු පාට ඇට, බර කරල්, අපේම අතින් කැපුවාRathu pata ata, bara karal, apema athin kapuwaRed grains, heavy ears, cut by our own hands
ආච්චි කටක් කාලා, ඇස් දෙක වහගෙන කිව්වාAchchi katak kaala, as deka wahagena kiwwaAchchi ate one mouthful, shut her eyes and said
"ඒකමයි පුතේ, ඒකමයි!""Ekamai puthe, ekamai!""That's it, son, that's it!"
ආච්චිගේ හාල්, ආච්චිගේ හාල්Achchige haal, achchige haalAchchi's rice, Achchi's rice
අපේ කුඹුරේ, අපේ මේසේ, ආච්චිගේ හාල්!Ape kumbure, ape mese, achchige haal!In our paddy, on our table, Achchi's rice!
Verse 1
කපන උදේ, කුඹුරට ඉර පායද්දීKapana ude, kumburata ira payaddiHarvest morning, as the sun came up over the paddy
තාත්තා කරලක් අල්ලේ පොඩි කළා, රතු ඇට ටිකක්Thaththa karalak alle podi kala, rathu ata tikakThaththa rubbed an ear in his palm, a few red grains
මම කෑ ගැහුවා, "ආච්චී! එන්න බලන්න!"Mama ka gahuwa, "Achchee! Enna balanna!"I shouted, "Achchi! Come and look!"
ආච්චි නියර දිගේ හෙමින් ඇවිත්, අත දිගු කළාAchchi niyara dige hemin awith, atha digu kalaAchchi came slowly along the bund and held out her hand
Before the chorus
දවල්ට බත් මුට්ටියෙන් හුමාලේ නැගලාDawalata bath muttiyen humale nagalaAt lunch, steam rising off the rice pot
ආච්චිගේ පිඟානට පළවෙනියෙන්ම බෙදුවාAchchige pinganata palaweniyenma beduwaAchchi's plate was served first
අපි ඔක්කොම බලන් ඉන්නවා, කවුරුත් කතා නෑApi okkoma balan innawa, kawuruth katha naAll of us watching, nobody says a word
ආච්චි හැන්ද උස්සලා, කටක් ගත්තාAchchi handa ussala, katak gaththaAchchi lifted the spoon and took a mouthful
Chorus
ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්, ආයෙත් අපේ කුඹුරේ!Achchige kale haal, aayeth ape kumbure!The rice from Achchi's day is back in our paddy!
රතු පාට ඇට, බර කරල්, අපේම අතින් කැපුවාRathu pata ata, bara karal, apema athin kapuwaRed grains, heavy ears, cut by our own hands
ආච්චි කටක් කාලා, ඇස් දෙක වහගෙන කිව්වාAchchi katak kaala, as deka wahagena kiwwaAchchi ate one mouthful, shut her eyes and said
"ඒකමයි පුතේ, ඒකමයි!""Ekamai puthe, ekamai!""That's it, son, that's it!"
ආච්චිගේ හාල්, ආච්චිගේ හාල්Achchige haal, achchige haalAchchi's rice, Achchi's rice
අපේ කුඹුරේ, අපේ මේසේ, ආච්චිගේ හාල්!Ape kumbure, ape mese, achchige haal!In our paddy, on our table, Achchi's rice!
Chant
ආච්චී!Achchee!Achchi!
අපේ කුඹුර!Ape kumbura!Our paddy!
පරණ හාල්!Parana haal!The old rice!
ඒකමයි!Ekamai!That's it!
Verse 2
මාසෙකට පස්සේ, දවල් කෑම වෙලාවට ෆෝන් එකMasekata passe, dawal kama welawata phone ekaA month later, the phone at lunchtime
කොළඹ කඩෙන් කෝල් එකක්, "ඊළඟ කන්නෙත් ඔක්කොම අපිට!"Kolamba kaden call ekak, "Eelanga kanneth okkoma apita!"A call from the Colombo shop: "next season's whole crop to us too!"
ආච්චි ඇහුවා, "මගේ පරණ හාල් ඒ ගොල්ලන්ට මොකටද?"Achchi ahuwa, "Mage parana haal e gollanta mokatada?"Achchi asked, "what do those people want my old rice for?"
ගෙදරම හිනා, තාත්තා කිව්වා "කන්න අම්මේ, කන්න!"Gedarama hina, thaththa kiwwa "Kanna amme, kanna!"The whole house laughed, Thaththa said "to eat, Amma, to eat!"
Before the chorus
දවල්ට බත් මුට්ටියෙන් හුමාලේ නැගලාDawalata bath muttiyen humale nagalaAt lunch, steam rising off the rice pot
ආච්චිගේ පිඟානට පළවෙනියෙන්ම බෙදුවාAchchige pinganata palaweniyenma beduwaAchchi's plate was served first
අපි ඔක්කොම බලන් ඉන්නවා, කවුරුත් කතා නෑApi okkoma balan innawa, kawuruth katha naAll of us watching, nobody says a word
ආච්චි හැන්ද උස්සලා, කටක් ගත්තාAchchi handa ussala, katak gaththaAchchi lifted the spoon and took a mouthful
Chorus
ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්, ආයෙත් අපේ කුඹුරේ!Achchige kale haal, aayeth ape kumbure!The rice from Achchi's day is back in our paddy!
රතු පාට ඇට, බර කරල්, අපේම අතින් කැපුවාRathu pata ata, bara karal, apema athin kapuwaRed grains, heavy ears, cut by our own hands
ආච්චි කටක් කාලා, ඇස් දෙක වහගෙන කිව්වාAchchi katak kaala, as deka wahagena kiwwaAchchi ate one mouthful, shut her eyes and said
"ඒකමයි පුතේ, ඒකමයි!""Ekamai puthe, ekamai!""That's it, son, that's it!"
ආච්චිගේ හාල්, ආච්චිගේ හාල්Achchige haal, achchige haalAchchi's rice, Achchi's rice
අපේ කුඹුරේ, අපේ මේසේ, ආච්චිගේ හාල්!Ape kumbure, ape mese, achchige haal!In our paddy, on our table, Achchi's rice!
Bridge
කලින් ඒ රතු ඇට ටික බෝතලේක, රාක්කේ උඩKalin e rathu ata tika bothaleka, rakke udaThose red grains used to sit in a bottle on the shelf
ආච්චි කිව්වා "දැන් මේවා කවුරුත් වවන්නේ නෑ"Achchi kiwwa "Dan mewa kawuruth wawanne na"Achchi said "nobody grows these any more"
අද ඒ අතපුර ඇට ටික, කුඹුර පුරාමAda e athapura ata tika, kumbura puramaToday that handful of grains is the whole field
නියරේ ඉඳන් නියරට රතු, ආච්චිගේ කාලේ වගේමNiyare indan niyarata rathu, achchige kale wagemaRed from bund to bund, just like in Achchi's day
Chorus
ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්, ආයෙත් අපේ කුඹුරේ! (අපේ කුඹුරේ!)Achchige kale haal, aayeth ape kumbure! (ape kumbure!)The rice from Achchi's day is back in our paddy!
රතු පාට ඇට, බර කරල්, අපේම අතින් කැපුවාRathu pata ata, bara karal, apema athin kapuwaRed grains, heavy ears, cut by our own hands
ආච්චි කටක් කාලා, ඇස් දෙක වහගෙන කිව්වාAchchi katak kaala, as deka wahagena kiwwaAchchi ate one mouthful, shut her eyes and said
"ඒකමයි පුතේ, ඒකමයි!" (ඒකමයි!)"Ekamai puthe, ekamai!" (ekamai!)"That's it, son, that's it!"
ආච්චිගේ හාල්, ආච්චිගේ හාල් (ආච්චිගේ!)Achchige haal, achchige haal (achchige!)Achchi's rice, Achchi's rice
අපේ කුඹුරේ, අපේ මේසේ, ආච්චිගේ හාල්!Ape kumbure, ape mese, achchige haal!In our paddy, on our table, Achchi's rice!
Outro
ආච්චිගේ කාලේ හාල්Achchige kale haalThe rice from Achchi's day
ආයෙත් අපේ කුඹුරේ.Aayeth ape kumbure.back in our paddy
From the book
- Idea 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at 10 times the commodity price
- Cluster 14Farm to shelf
The book behind the songs
Every song here is sung from inside one moment: the day someone in Sri Lanka has already done one of the book's 500 ideas, and the family is celebrating.
This song is a story about one idea from the book Why Not Sri Lanka. It promises nothing. No real person or business is shown in it. The book's ideas belong to whoever builds them. Music and vocals created with Suno from original lyrics written for this channel. The pictures in the songs are made with AI too.
© 2026 Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. Lyrics, music recordings, films and pictures. All rights reserved. Please do not re-upload or reuse these songs; to use one, get in touch through whynotsrilanka.com.