Sri Lankan Pop

Desmond De Silva

2011-05-18T08:32:00.001+05:30

Desmond de Silva one of the best entertainers Sri Lanka ever produced mesmerizedfans worldwide for over 40 long years. This article looks at penning a fewlines on his contributions to the Sri Lankan baila scene.

Desmond is famous world over as an entertainer, especially noted for hisyouthful voice that has changed little over four decades of performing, andregarded as the "King of Baila."

Born in Matara in southern Sri Lanka, De Silva isnow resident in GreatBritain and has performed to packed concert halls across theworld.

"Des," as he is known tohis fans, launched his career in popular music in Colombo in 1963, he was the lead vocalistof the Fire-Flies. His music was featured widely on RadioCeylon andsubsequently the Sri LankaBroadcasting Corporation, the oldest radio station in South Asia. Des has alsoperformed with leading Sri Lankan pop groups - "Spitfires,""Gabo and the Breakaways," and the "Jetliners." He sang asong titled 'Oba Nisa' with Mignonne Fernando and the Jetliners - it was hailedas a musical masterpiece at an international song festival. In 1976 he decidedto form his own band, ' Desmond and the Clan.' They performed in variouscountries in South-East Asia, including the Maldives. In 1984 Desmond de Silva decided to go solo.

Desmond de Silva has representedSri Lanka at the 5th Olympiad of Songs in Athens, Greece in 1979 and at the Yamaha Festival of Song in Tokyo, Japan.

He has celebrated 40 years in show business,selling millions of CDs around the world. De Silva is known for his popularrenditions of Sri Lankan 'baila' music, which is a style whose origins are in Portuguese and Spanish music. He has had a string of bailahits including: 'Polkatu Hande,' ' Yaman Bando,' 'Chuda Manike,' 'Mamma No,''Miss Sri Lanka,' 'Hai Hui baby Achchi,' 'Rajasangabo' 'Komali Pane,' as wellas popular recordings of anonymous baila songs. He is also known for a wholerange of 'Party Time' non-stop baila music sold around the world.

Desmond de Silva now resides in London and has performed with London basedbacking group Foreign Affairs at many a concert in the United Kingdom.

De Silva has championed the cause of autism and Asperger syndrome: he created history in August 2005 by beingthe first Sri Lankan musician to appeal on behalf of autistic children and people with autism in Sri Lanka, urging Sri Lankans to 'speak up for those whocannot speak up for themselves.' De Silva received a standing ovation.

De Silva told thousands at the BMICH in Colombo: 'Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder affecting so many around the world.Autism is not mental illness, these children and adults think differently. Albert Einstein theysay was autistic. How many in the audience know that there are 38,000 autisticpeople in Sri Lanka? So we as entertainers, urge you all to 'speak up for thosewho cannot speak up for themselves.' Lets spread awareness of autism,particularly when numbers of autistic children are rising and we urge ourgovernment to also provide public services – who knows we may even produceAlbert Einsteins if we provide education, health, specialist speech therapy forautistic children in our lovely island....'

Desmond de Silva launched the first ever Concertfor Autism for Sri Lanka in Sydney, Australia on 31 March 2006.

He remains one of Sri Lanka's popular entertainersand is in heavy demand in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Indiaand other places.

Clarence Wijewardana Saga

2011-05-14T16:22:00.004+05:30

Facts about a legend...

Clarence Wijewardana can be identified as the musician who pioneered the use of electric guitar in Sinhala music industry. He who revolutionized Sri Lankan music in the 1960s and is often called as the father of Sri Lankan pop music. Most of his songs comprise of a simple story, appealing melody and lead guitar tunes which captures the hearts of everyone.

Clarence was born on August 3, 1943, in Matale, to an estate medical practitioner. His family moved to Batugedara, Ratnapura, and abandoned a budding planting career to pursue music full time.

Moonstones

Clarence formed the Moonstones at the age of 21 with Annesley Malewana as lead vocalist. Managed by a advertising icon, Sri Sangabo Corea, the group recorded several songs to be aired on the Saturday Star program in 1966. The young musicians were mentored by Sri Sangabo Corea together with veteran Radio Ceylon/SLBC broadcasters Vernon Corea and Vijaya Corea. Their 1968 debut EP Mango Nanda was released on the JVPC007 Philips label selling up to 5000 copies. It included the songs "Mango Nanda," "Ruwan Puraya," "Seetha Ude" and "Menike." The sophomore release More Hits by the Moonstones came out November that year on the Sooriya label and included the hits "Kalu Mama", "Rosa male", "Ramani" and "Goyam Kapanawa." "Mango Nanda" was selected the best Sinhala song by the Hit Parade program on Radio Ceylon. In 1969 the Moonstones welcomed female vocalist Indrani Perera who sang lead on the best selling "Dilhani." Wijewardena himself only sang lead on "Dileepa Podi Puthu," an adaptation of a poem written by Karunarathne Abesekara to his son.

During the 'Moonstones' era, Wijewardena, who performed as a composer and music director, became a singer. Wijewardena took the initiative to start a three-man band, he was only the finest self-taught guitarist, and as yet unknown. However, later the 'Moonstones' were formed with Annesley Malawana playing the key role as lead singer. Since then this exceptional man and his music dominated the Sinhala pop music industry. He is regarded by many as a pioneering Sri Lankan musician in the realms of Sinhala popular music.

After he left the Moonstones in 1970, he held a musical show in Moratuwa with Shanaka Perera and Wijith Peiris and the show was named as "Breakaways from the Moonstones".

Golden Chimes

Wijewardena departed the Moonstones and formed a new music group called the Golden Chimes, with ex-Moonstones bassist Chanaka Perera and Lankika Perera in January 1971. Their first release included "Kimade Nawe", "Mage pelpathe", "Sihin Sinawai" and "Samanalayo." Subsequently English language vocalist Anil Bharati joined. The second EP on Philips label contained "Malai Velai", "Sihil Nuwan", "Surangana Vesvala" and "Mage Viyowen" and third EP contained "Iru Dina", "Sandai Tharui", "Muhudu Rella" and "Thakkita Tharikita."

At this time Wijewardena found a professional lead guitarist at a wedding. He was the maestro Dixon Gunaratne.

When Christmas bells chime this man is never forgotten with the breeze in December. The Sinhala channels take the lead with the popular Christmas hit "Bethlehempure". He is none other than the popular man who emerged from another Wijewardena group "Golden Chimes" – Anil Bharati. Clarence is a man who found new talent into Sinhala pop scene. Anil was one of them.

After evaluating Anil's performance for one year, Wijewardena decided to enter him into the Sinhala pop music scene. Wijewardena composed "Ada Wei Iru Dina" for Anil which became an all time hit followed by the lovely Christmas song "Bethlehempure" and "Maa Adarai Nangiye". Clarence offered him another all time hit "Tikirimalee" with "Ma Mulin Liyu Pem Pathe", "Desa Vidala", "Bambaraku Aduna", "Sarojini" and "Iru Dina Pamanak".

In 1972, Wijewardena and Dixon Gunaratne left the Golden Chimes and they both formed a new band known as Super Golden Chimes also with the support of Annesley Malawana in 1973.

Super Golden Chimes

Wijewardena formed the "Super Golden Chimes" back in the company of his lifelong friend Annesley Malawana. It was one of the most productive music groups in Sri Lanka and together they hit the number one slot in the Sri Lankan music charts on both the Sinhala and English Services of Radio Ceylon and subsequently the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. For many years they enjoyed the reputation as Sri Lanka's number one group in the 1970s and 1980s. After three years Wijewardena decided to go solo when Annesley Malewana announced his plans for marriage. The late Mike Gunesekere took over the Super Golden Chimes after Clarence left the group.

Experiments in music

Wijewardena, like the Beatles, experimented with sitar music and introduced the sitar to some of the songs of the 'Moonstones.' Wijewardena was a musician's musician. He had the ability to grasp new trends in modern popular music. For the first time (for a recording) he used a guitar wah wah pedal for the song 'Pemkathwawa.' Also the song 'Sigiriya' was the first Bossa nova beat song in Sri Lanka & later he used this beat for the songs Piyaneni, Mage Palpathe, Muhudu Rella, Renin Piyabanna, Maliniye, Ramya (Previously sung by Wijewardena in 4/4beat), Ran Monarun (Winslow Six), Lalitha Kala (Chithra Somapala) etc. Also he used two guitar players to play lead parts & counter parts of songs such as Sumudu Mal Pipinu, Dileepa Podi Puthu etc. For the first time in Sri Lanka he used the blocked guitar tone for the song 'Kusumalatha'. Wijewardena introduced some of the guitar techniques through his songs via a single guitar harmony style in the introduction of "Dellepa podi puthu" and arpeggio styles in "Sihina Lowak" and "Malata Bambareku Se".

"The Twist” was a dance in the 1960s, inspired by rock and roll music of the West. It became a worldwide craze, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. Wijewardena composed a song Ma langin for this style and released the song in "Ugayen ugayata" cassette in 1989.

For "Dineka me nadee thira" he used mute guitar technique for the introduction. Some of the guitar techniques Clarence used in his songs are alternate picking, Chicken picking, Carter Family picking, Cross picking, Flat picking, Golpe, Hammer-on, legato, Pick tapping, Pinch harmonic, Pull-off, Slide guitar, Sweep picking and tap harmonic.

Tribute Songs

Wijewardena has composed and directed music for a number of songs for the daughters and sons of his friends and relatives. He composed 'Piyaneni' in memory of the late Reverend Canon Ivan Corea who was the father of Radio Ceylon broadcaster, Vernon Corea. Wijewardena had met Corea in Maha Nuge Gardens in the 1960s during his visits to meet with Vernon Corea. The song became an instant hit in South Asia and to this day it is sung by Annesley Malewana on his world tours.

Wijewardena composed a song for the son of Mr and Mrs. Vijaya Corea and it was titled as "Viran Bilindhu Puthe" After that Wijewardena changed the chorus part of the song and sang that songs as "Kiri Muhuda Kalabala" Also Wijewardena composed a songs for the son of Chanaka and Lankika Perera and it was titled as "Sihina Pathum Wimane" Also the song "Bethlehempure" which was written by Sri Lanka's famed lyricist, Mr Karunaratne Abeysekera, became an instant hit on the island. It was one of many songs capturing the Christmas spirit and the birth of Jesus. Wijewardena also composed 'Naththal Seeya' in the early 1970s.

Wijewardena's first solo is 'Dileepa podi puthu' was written by Radio Ceylon broadcaster, Karunaratne Abeysekera for his own son. Wijewardena appreciated the work of Karu and wrote an instant song Seetha Pawan to express his gratitude on the day of the funeral of Karunaratne Abeysekera.

Film Songs

Wijewardena entered the film music industry at that time. The first film with music directed by Wijewardena was 'Sikuruliya' and the sound track was supplied by the Golden Chimes - the film includes a scene where Wijewardena and the Golden Chimes perform at a party. Also for the music of the songs of Sikuruliya film, Wijewardena used western musical instruments as well as eastern musical instruments. The song 'Wasanthaye Mal Kekulay' which was composed by Wijewardena was the first song that consists of five lines in the chorus part of the song. He directed music for the films in a different and unique style of his own.

Outstanding Skills

Wijewardena showed his outstanding music skills during this time. He composed and directed music a song named as "Maha Balwathune" for the conference of the Non-Aligned Movement held in 1975 in Sri Lanka. He composed and directed music a song for the SAARC Conference as well. At the same time he sang the song "Duwani Sirima" when Hon. Former Prime Minister Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike arrived as the chief guest for the opening ceremony of Ceramic Cooperation. Also Super Golden Chimes supplied music for that opening ceremony. Wijewardane certificated as the most popular composer in Sri Lanka for the years 1974 and 1976 by a pop poll conducted by Pop and Teen Fanfare. The song "Kataragama" which was composed by Wijewardane also certificated as the best song in Sri Lanka for the year 1974 by a pop poll conducted by Pop and Teen Fanfare. Wijewardena composed most number of songs for Kataragama God.

In the early 1970s, Wijewardena invited Radio Ceylon broadcaster, Vernon Corea who had mentored him from the start to write the notes on a Lotus LP sleeve. Vernon Corea wrote: "We have all shared the treat of your lovely Lyrics, your tuneful compositions, your friendly presentation and your spontaneous sense of sharing with your followers, your treasury of talent. Keep going, keep growing, keep glowing". In 1976, when Vernon Corea was invited to present the first Asian radio programme in English on BBC Radio London called 'London Sounds Eastern' he played the music of Wijewardena and Annesley Malewana, introducing them to a whole new audience in London.

Wijewardena started to sing for the Sinhala films under other music directors. Subsequently a cassette tape known as "Any Time Any Where" was released in Colombo. In 1979, Wijewardena left the Super Golden Chimes and started a solo career.

Cricket Fan

When the Sri Lankan cricket team entered the world of test cricket in 1982, Wijewardena produced a Album call "Test Cricket Souvenir". This Album was publish because we got test cricket status and it had 11 songs about Sri Lankan cricket. "Thana nilla dige" of Saman De Silva became a super hit during the season of test matches and every big match in Colombo. Also Nihal Nelson, Vernon Perera, Mariazelle Gunathilake, Freddie Silva, Saman De Silva and Wijewardena vocalized this album.

New Career

Wijewardena joined Sing Lanka Ltd. and acted as the General Manager. Sing Lanka recording studio was the first recording studio in Sri Lanka with multi tracks and Wijewardena was the pioneer to introduce this recording studio. During that time he directed music for a number of artists in Sri Lanka. He also produced a cassette tape named "Clarence with the Rising Stars".

Directing music for tele dramas

Wijewardena directed music for the tele dramas Susima and Nidikumba Mal. He was the composer and the music director for all the six songs of Susima tele drama. During this time he got a special chance. That he was able to compose and direct music for Pandit Amaradewa. That song was Sasara Gewa Yana Diwi Gamane which contained in tele drama Nidikumba Mal. Also he composed and music directed a song which says about child abuse and other prohibited things happen in present society. That song was "Daesawan Dase" which contained in the Sihiwatana II Cassette Tape. When the royal tusker of the Temple of Tooth Relic died, Wijewardena composed and music directed a song about the royal tusker and it was named as "Kandu Sikarin Wata Senkadagala Pura". It was vocalized by the Ananda Perera who was the leader of the Siha Shakthi music band.

Melodies for jingles

Wijewardena became famous for his melodious and catchy jingles aired over the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. These jingles were Elasto, Bata, Astra Margarine, Bristol Cigarettes, Arpico, Dot Toffee, Singer, Edna Chocolate, Thultex, Ice-Cream Soda, Development Lottery, Dasuna Cartoon Paper, Atlas pens, Orex pens, Building Materials Co-operation (in Sinhala and English), Keels and Health Joy Soap etc. The song "Sigiri Ru Ladun Paradai" which he composed for the beauty queen contest became an instant hit.

Discovering new Sri Lankan music talent

He formed the Sri Lankan band "Madhara" in 1985 with Rookantha Gunatilake (keyboards), Mariazelle Gunatilake (keyboards/female vocals), Raju Bandara (lead guitar), Keneth De Silva (bass guitar), Prabath Bandara (lead guitar), Ajantha Dhampa Gamage (drums) and rest of the other members of the group. During the 1980s, he composed and directed music for number of songs and performed with well known music directors in Sri Lanka.

All of Wijewardena's compositions have been recorded at some of the island's best recording studios and under the best producing labels in Sri Lanka. Some of the early 1960s recordings were at Augie Ranaweera's studio in Bambalapitiya.

Later career

Wijewardena organised three musical shows with his lifelong friend Annesley Malewana and Indrani Perera at BMICH in Colombo.

Wijewardena proved to be quite a hit in London when broadcaster Vernon Corea broadcast his music on BBC Radio London 206 on his popular radio programme, London Sounds Eastern. Wijewardena and Annesley frequently toured the United Kingdom in the 1980s playing to huge audiences in London.

In the course of his career, Wijewardena wrote several songs that became classics in his own time - among these; Gamen Liyumak (Translated: A Letter From the Village), Hiruge Lowedi (Translated: In the World of the Sun), Kanda Suriduni ("O Lord God of the Mountain"), Piyadeni ("Father"), and Malata Bambaraku Se (Translated: Like a Bee To a Flower)

Sri Lanka's 'King of Pop'

Wijewardena died on December 13, 1996, at the age of 53, leaving a great void in the Sri Lankan music scene. Many of his songs are considered classics, and continue to enjoy ample airtime on Sri Lankan television and radio broadcasts and on some overseas radio stations. He will always be remembered as a pioneering musician from Sri Lanka and one of the island's 'greats' in terms of popular music. He was undoubtedly Sri Lanka's 'King of Pop.'

Courtesy : www. wikipedia.org

Back to Business

2006-05-15T16:01:00.003+05:30

Hi Friends,

First of all thank you so much for all of you who had checked on to my site. I was busy with studies for the last few months. I did not get a chance to check my site. Just today i logged on, and i was amazed abt some of the nice comments i have received over the last few months.

There was a comment by one of the school pals of Rukshan Perera too. Actually Rukshan Perera is one of the most talented guitarists i saw in the recent past. To my knowledge he is back in Sri Lanka from last year. Unfortunately i am not quite sure abt his contact details.

Back to business...

Hussain Jiffri is one of the best bass guitarists Sri Lanka has ever produced. By chance i came across the blog of this lovely musician. Actually he is now domiciled in US and is the distributor of the Bossa guitars in that country. There are some nice facts abt him in his site www.bossa-usa.com. Check it out.

Amazing Grace Concert 2006!!!

2006-01-29T21:41:00.000+06:00

Mr Ishan Bahar of the Jets fame sent me some great pics of the Amazing Grace 2006 Concert which was held last Sunday. Check them out!!!

Golden Chimes – Now & Then

2006-01-16T12:49:00.000+06:00

On the 10th of December the pop music fans of the country got yet another chance to relive their memories of the 70’s. The Long running band the Golden Chimes, now termed as the Lankika and the Golden Chimes celebrated their 35 years in the industry with a mega concert named ‘Golden Chimes – Now & Then 2005’ along with thir all original members on stage to grace the occasion.

Golden Chimes started their journey in 1970 with the leadership of Clarence. Original outfit comprised of Clarence (Ryhtem/vocals), Channka (bass/vocals), Dixon Goonarathne (lead), Wijith Peiris (drums), Lankika Perera and Anil Bharthi

Later the likes of Rukshan Perera, Lakpriya De Silva, Layasing De Silva, Ravindra Fernando, and Terry Maskin joined the group.

The group created many evergreen hits such as Kimada Nave, Mage Palpathe, Sihinsinahawai, Kiri Muhuda etc…

Even though the man behind the success, their legend and the dear band leader Clarence is no longer with us getting the chance to relive the memories of the past was quite an experience. All the very best for the Golden Chimes and may it continue to perform in the years to come. And thanks for DR Entertainment for bringing down Dixson and giving us yet another opportunity to see a mastery performance of the maestro.

Some great Offers

2006-01-16T12:39:00.000+06:00

Whilst writing about the history of Pop and it’s related developments over the years, I thought it would be beneficial to anyone if I have updated you about some of the current happenings related to the music industry of Sri Lanka. There are some good offers and true entertainment which is to take place in the near future. Better you take the maximum use of those rare opportunities.

Firstly most of surly would have watched the live performance of Clarance in Hollywood which was telecasted in Derana. The concert recorded almost 15 years back was a rare opportunity to see Clarence performing on stage live. The recording which includes not only the songs but also his on stage dialogues with the audiences was seen as a rare occasion where he reveals his inner most thoughts & sentiments to the audience. For anyone who wants to have this a copy of this CD as a memorabilia you can call Clarence’s wife who is Shela Wijewardana on 0112833392 and reserve a copy.

Then there is some news about the Sunil Malewana who was famed for his punchy style of guitar playing and powerful voice whilst he was in Moonstones and Super Golden Chimes. Of course he is the brother of Annesley. Sunil has released a CD including the song ‘Ai Dedena’ which became a hit in the recent times in many of the music charts of the country. It has a mix of 12 Sinhala & English songs. This was released under the Torana Label. Try it out…

Then there are 2 concerts which I wants to highlight on. One is the Marians Unplugged concert which would be on the 14th at BMICH. Marians being a very popular band in the music scene is to experiment this for the first time in their 15 year stint in music. Truly it would be a quite a nice experience since the band has some of the likes such as Nalin Perera and Rosa who can be rated as having quite a talent when it comes to modern music.

Then there is yet another concert on the 22nd of January at BMICH. This time it is the ‘Amazing Grace’. The band which stormed the English pop music lovers in the 70’s would be back on stage is back after 30 years. The outfit comprises of the likes such as Tony De Silva, Donald Peiris, Benjamin Ranabau, Reza Dean and the legendary keyboardist Harsha Makalanda. The music lovers who gathered to the Little Hut those days to hear the lovely pop music sounds of the Amazing Grace would get this one rare opportunity to witness them on stage again. So don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Then again there is another concert of Keerthi Pascuwel on the 29th of January again at BMICH. To my knowledge the new CD of his named 'Kadula 2' would also be released on the same day. Apart from having the show he intends in using the funds of the show to uplift the standards of 100 elderly couples who are having financial deficulties. Surely theis would be another great chance to listen to some soothing tunes whilst contributing to a worthy course.

Alien Accent

2006-01-15T21:47:00.000+06:00

If we talk about the originality of music created by the Western Music based music bands of us we can name a very few. But there is an unknown fact for most of us. That is there's a silent revolution taking place in the music industry and a band which we can inspire is in the making. It’s 'Alien Accent'. The first CD launched by them which was produced almost entirely in Los Angeles and named as 'Rites of Passage’ was quite a hit in the local music arena.

The one’s who formed this outfit Suresh, DK,Husni and Ricky Bahar held back to back shows at Bishop’s with the launch of the CD and took the music industry by storm with their mastery performances.

The group had its makings way back in 2000, and according to them the buzz word which bound them together was the originality.

When it came to the making of their first album itself there were many big names in the industry willing to help them. Those included the likes such as Thilan Wijesingha, legendary drummer Aruna Siriwardhana, renowned bassist Hussain Jiffry all who were deeply devoted to fostering Sri Lankan talent especially in original music.Ricky Bahar who is the son of Ishan Bahar of the Jetliners fame was the lead singer for ten tracks in this album. The other two tracks were done by Thilan Wijesinghe.

Recently they launched a Christmas CD with M Entertainment in the festive season. And for bands of this nature who depend on their talents the sky would be seen as the limit. This shows that if anyone counts on the originality there are many people to help them. All the best for the Alien Accent and I wish that there would be many groups in the making like Alien Accent to take the music industry forward from where it is now.

Creation of the Pop Music

2006-01-15T21:17:00.000+06:00

Even though I am focusing on the pop music of

Sri Lanka

, I thought of penning some facts about the history of pop due to some interesting findings of mine during the last few days on this topic.

Generally we think that pop music is one type of music the real term Pop stand for the shorten form of the popular music, which is the music which is made and sold to a large audience. This popular music can be subdivided in to many different types of music such as jazz, country music, rhythm-and-blues music (R&B), rock music, and rap (or hip-hop).

America can be identified as the country which is largely responsible for the development of the popular music. The initial developments of the so called pop runs to the periods of 1920’s & 30’s where the rhythm-and-blues and country-and-western music was created. Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, the Carter family, Jimmie Rodgers, and other influential Southern musicians were the founders of this music.

Jazz music

Then from the 1930’s onwards the popularity of the Jazz music came to a peak with the influence mainly from the African Americans. Louis Armstrong can be identified as one of the founders of instrumental jazz music, popularly known as Satchmo, he was very popular for his gravelly, natural voice, and his use of highly original phrasings, intentionally singing either slightly ahead of or behind the beat.

Rock and roll (or rock 'n' roll)

During the periods of the 1950’s the introduction of the electric guitar bought a paradigm shift in the music industry. This paved the way to the popular music style called the Rock and roll (or rock 'n' roll) which became immensely popular among the teenagers of those days. The first Rock and Roll song which gained wide popularity was Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” (1955). Apart from him the prolific figures of this style of music are Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy.

The so-called British Invasion to the music industry began in 1964 with the arrival of the Beatles in New York City. British pop bands were the one’s who raised the influences of the styles such as blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll re-modernising the traditional American music. The style of Beatles was a combination of Chuck Berry's guitar-based rock and roll with the craftwork of Tin Pan Alley composers.

All in all the period of late 1960s contributed many aspects to the diversification of the music industry. There were many segments of music to be seen in the market such as; rock music mainly based on Beatles, guitar heroes such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, Southern rock, Hard rock, Jazz rock, Folk rock, Soul music, the successor to rhythm-and-blues music, Country-and-western music. Specially the great artists who contributed for the development of the Country music were the one’s such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Dolly Parton.

In the 1970s the music industry took on a different turn with the introduction of the styles such as - disco, glam rock, punk rock, new wave, reggae, and funk.

The 1980s rap music became the ultimate choice for the music lovers. This is a style pioneered by young African Americans in New York City. Rap basically combined long-standing black verbal traditions such as toasting (speaking over music) with the creative recycling of pre-recorded material, later known as sampling.

From then till today many types of Pop are among the heart s of the music lovers of the world.

Desmond Reunion …What happened?

2006-01-01T05:02:00.000+06:00

Anyone in

Sri Lanka

would know who Desmond is. Renowned to be as the greatest showbiz entertainer in

Sri Lanka

, he was on stage on an off in the recent past even though he is domiciled in

. To my knowledge he held a concert with the Gypsies after some time which was a success and then appeared in some of the shows such as, “A Salute to a Legend” – which was a musical tribute to Mr Vijeya Korea as well as the, 15^th year anniversary concert of the Rajiv and the Clan.

I think only at the Rajiv and the Clan anniversary concert he announced that there would be a Reunion of the Desmond and the Clan, a much sort after show band in the 70’s. From that day onwards personally I know a lot of music lovers including me were looking forward to this concert (specially the younger generation). For me as a person in the 20’s haven’t had the privilege of seeing most of these bands performing on stage live had to earnestly believe what the advertisers were saying – that Desmond and the Clan to be the best show band in the 70’s.

Its true and I fully agree by far Desmond De Silva is a master when it comes to entertaining a crowd. His combined talents in terms of handling the language, creativity, gimmicks +++ is not something which any musician in Sri Lanka to my knowledge posses. His original baila’s such as “Yanna Rata Wate”,”Yamag Bando”,”De Silvala”+++ and his skill of signing almost any English number from an Engelbert classic to a Eagles number would rate him as a rare talent produce by Sri Lanka.

But the Desmond of the Clan Reunion as I have heard was a flop – the worst part of the tour for the band was having to cancel the Waters Edge Dinner Dance due to the lack of ticket sales. But as I understood as someone who attended the show at BMICH, the concert itself failed to generate the glamour the audience was seeking except the grand performance of Desmond and the fabulous entertainment provided by Kerthi who was another rare talent singing an array of songs from Michel Jackson’s to Tina Turner’s (even imitating Tina Turner by getting into a mini skirt) whilst handling almost both the leads and the rhythm guitar simultaneously in most of the occasions. But except that there was no attraction whatsoever. Having to use some of the members of Rajiv and the Clan (the Drummer and the Extra keyboardist) to fill the gaps did not pay off well to my view. If the original drummer – Harris Jurangpathy was there it would have made a difference surely but according to the organizers he could not make it due to the ill health. Even then if they had a chance to bring down Nimal Perera of the Super Golden Chimes and Gypsies fame who was there drummer for some time would have given them more choices both in terms of drumming and vocals. To my knowledge he is doing really well in Europe with his band named ‘Frankfurt’(currently he created history as the first Sri Lankan to hit the number one spot of the Swiss 20 charts in with his new remix version of the “Play that Funky Music”).

Anyway even though the concert was not a grand success (the BMICH one was somewhat ok when compared to the disaster happened for the Waters Edge concert) I did get a chance to witness yet another concert of the yesteryear and a live performance of one of the all time greats the industry produced which was a great thing.

Super Golden Chimes Reunion

2005-12-24T05:07:00.000+06:00

Even though I was a keen fan Clarence I had a very little idea of the bands of the past till I saw this program on Rupavahini three years back on the New Years Eve, a live recording of the Super Golden Chimes (SGC) Reunion Concert after 25 Years. It was really a novel experience because hardly we see a concert of that nature on TV without pre programmed music and with the minimum use of the special sound effects. Later I bought the VCD released on that and I was fascinated on the talents of them. Even though I am not promoting that VCD or the group I can guarantee anyone of any age can watch and enjoy the 3 hour performance to the maximum.

After some time I was overwhelmed to hear that there is another Reunion Concert of SGC due to the great demand from the fans who missed the first concert. And I got this opportunity to attend this concert, Final Reunion in Sri Lanka which was a great experience.

This final concert was sponsored by Suntel and all the artists; many of those who are domiciled out of the country were bought down to the country with the sponsorship of Sri Lankan Air.

To bring some facts about the band it was formed in the year of 1970 with five members. Clarence the leader & main inspiration to the group who played the rhythm guitar, Annesley who did the main vocals, Dixon Gunerathne unarguably the best lead guitarist of that time, Condrad Gunerathne who played the Bass, Keyboards and Lead and Srikantha Dasanayaka popularly known as the “SriK” who was rated as the best pop drummer of the seventies. The band played original compositions not copies. And created hit after hit till it became a household name in Sri Lanka. Thereafter when the band expanded many other artists joined whilst some others left. Others who contributed to this band has the likes of Rukshan Perera, Nimal Punchihewa, Chandral Fonseka of the Kings fame, Nimal Perera, Cumar Peiris of Gypsies fame, Paul Perera, Sunil Malewana.
At this concert all these musicians were bought down except there dear leader Clarence who was no more with us. And the concert took off with a medley of popular songs to lovely music arrangements. Even though they were performing together after 27 years the combinations and the arrangements were classic. For me getting a chance to witness the guitar playing of Dixon and the drumming of Srikantha was a great privilege. Even though I have seen many guitarists play the lead to the popular compositions of Clarence there was something special in this performance which I could not explain. One thing I understood was the these songs are naturally evergreen hits due to the lyrics and rhythm; but take any of those songs there is a very nice lead guitar part running in the background in each of these songs which could not be found in many of the songs now. And I was privileged to see the guitarist who played the originals of many of the songs playing them again in this concert. On the other hand Srikantha’s drumming for me was much more outstanding than any other artist I have seen in the recent past. His arms were moving around the drum set as a machine with him covering both the Octopad and the drums himself. Whole through out the 3 hours the concert ran on a emotional setting where the golden voice of Clarence was heard singing a nice song of his to the backing of the band. There were 2 very nice experiences for me. One was a composition called the Accapella arranged by Rukshan Perera. This was a medley of songs sang without the backing of any instrument where all the music is created by the voices & sounds generated by the mouth. At the end of the medley 2 of Clarences songs were sung together at the same time which was a very difficult task with much ease by the members of the band showing their quality and the expertise to the audience. Secondly one of the greatest fans of Clarence namely Mr. Joseph Wisidagama domiciled in USA, who had created a song as a tribute to his hero was on stage specially to grace the occasion by singing the song he composed. He wore a costume similar to what Clarence wore those days, had a similar hairstyle and had a guitar similar to Clarence and strummed it exactly as Clarence visualising as if Clarence was on stage.

At last when the last medley of songs was played the whole audience joined them singing their hearts out. And there would have been a tear everyone’s eyes when the final curtain drew and the last notes faded away.

I am so happy that I was a part of the audience and witnessed this band that played 3 hours of their original compositions. And I am so thankful for Torana for releasing the VCD and the DVD of both the concerts which would be a treasure for any music lover. For any one who is interested on SGC I would recommend buying those CD’s because that would be full of your monies worth.

P.S : Even though we would not ever see this band together, some of the greats such as Dixon and Rukshan was seen on stage once in a while at least which is so nice. And I heard that there is going to be a concert to celebrate the 40^th year Anniversary of Annesley’s music career where both the Moonstones members and the Super Golden Chimes members would be on stage. If it’s going to materialise this would be one heck of an experience to anyone. So keep your eyes open for this occasion.

Service of Cleanrce to the Pop music of Sri Lanka

2005-12-23T09:56:00.000+06:00

Anyone who is interested in music would know who Clarance is? And majority would know & remember of the tunes and the melodies he made with his guitar. Lot of people would know about his music career. But I guess a very few of you would know about the great gentlemen which lived inside Clarence who was more than just a musician.

Just to give you all some unknown facts about great composer, arranger of music, music director, singer and the band leader, Clarence was born in Matale to a doctor and then moved to Ratnapura in order to pursue a career in music. There he fell in love with the Landlord’s daughter. Most of his earlier song writings sush as Mango Nanda, Kalu Mame, Gon Wassa, Manike Nisa, etc etc… were based on the true experiences which he encountered during those days. Then when he met his long time friend and the team mate Annesly Malewana, those two with two others made the band called the Moonstones. In this Clarence only played the Rhythm Guitar whilst Annesley did the lead singers role. This was a time where the guitar music was purely dependent on the box guitar in the Sinhala music scene. And Clarence made this change to the Sinhala music industry by bringing in the electric guitars instead of the box guitars and creating a new style of music called the Sinhala Pop out of the song writings which he had penned. To my knowledge and as I have heard the journey for Clarence or to his band was not a merry ride. The music he created was severely criticised be the so called Pundits and most of the songs were banded. But with the help of Dr Vijeya Corea Clarence was able to air them in the English service and these hits had become ultimate successes. And the name Moonstones has become a household name in the Sri Lankan music industry.

Then Clarence departing from the Moonstones created the Golden Chimes. And the band had the likes of Lankika, Shanaka, Maestro Dixon Gunerathna; the person behind the lovely lead guitar tunes of Clarence’s & Milton Mallawarachi’s compositions, Rukshan Perera and Anil Bharthi. During this period also he produced songs such as Kimada Nawe, Mage Palpathey which topped the pop charts during the 60’s.

When the time passed by, one day the trio who made a revolution in the music industry; Clarence, Annesley and Dixon met at a function and Dixon had asked Annesley and Clarence to rejoin and start a new band. This conversation became the cornerstone of the greatest sinhala pop band ever made in Sri Lanka up to date – The Super Golden Chimes (SGC). I would not go to that much of details about this band since I am hoping to bring to you one heck of an experience I had with the Reunion the SGC.

Then in the year 1978 the group disbanded and then Clarence pursued on a solo career making many more hits which touched the hearts of many music lovers in Sri Lanka and abroad. Later in the year of 1994 Clarence passed away.

The sad part of the story is that there are many artists of this nature who have done immense service to the music industry of Sri Lanka, but since they were not having the qualifications such as the so called Pundits they were greatly ill-treated by the authorities. Even though we fondly sing most of the songs of Clarence in any of the functions till today the government or any other institute of that nature have not awarded him any award in recognition for the valuable contribution he made to the music industry of Sri Lanka. But in contrast the great artist Sir Paul McCartney of the fathers of the English pop – The Beatles which was the instrumental band for most of the pop bands of Sri Lanka was honoured by the Queen by awarding him with the Knighthood. So to my opinion this lack of recognition by the authrities only have led many artists of the calibre of Clarence to leave their dearest Mother Lanka and live in foreign soil for a few dollars more whilst leaving their guitars in a corner of their rooms.

Jets who made history

2005-12-22T04:42:00.000+06:00

For anyone who’s golden era was during the 60’s & 70’s would have great memories of the dance band Jetliners. But for me, who had only heard about them got a golden opportunity to witness a live performance of them which was awesome by any means.

I first got to know about this band due to two reasons. One due to my mother being a great Jets fan and secondly due to Ishan Bahar their main vocalist is being the choir leader of our church. Due to this I was very much interested on going for the show from the first day it advertised on the newspapers. Meantime I searched about their history and found out a lot of great details about the formation and the great days they had during the highest of their success which I would be penning in the next few paragraphs.

On the day of the show when we went there it was a full house at BMICH. To our amazement it was a full pack house of the middle age gentlemen & women and there were hardly anyone lower than 25 years of age. For being a part of the show we two (myself & my friend) plus the other few youngsters got a special mention from the Jets as well as from the audience. The small chat we had during the breaks whilst the show was proceeding with the gentlemen seated next to us becomes very valuable to pen these few lines.

He himself was a great fan of the Jets thosedays; and according to him Jetliners by far could be seen as the best dance band in the early 60’s. The story of the creation of the band goes as follows (according to Maestro Vijeya Corea who acted as the emcee on that day plus the facts I gathered in the souvenir released at the concert). Felix (Fernando); a Benedictine was a guitar maniac. He with one of his friends called Lucian (Perera) formed a small group and started to strum some rhythms where Lucian handled the Lead and Felix doing the Rhythm (mind you only using the box guitar). Then at a function they see one guy playing the guitar with much skill and call him into the group. He was Anton (Gunawijeya). Then the big question arose!!! There were 2 rhythm guitarists and one lead. So to provide them with bass Felix disposed the last two strings of his box guitar and converted it into a bass guitar and became the bassist. Then they had found this pint-size lad who used to sit outside the house in Dehiwala where the three guitarists normally practised and hammer to any piece of wood making a good beat to any of the songs they rehearsed. This attracted the three guitarists and they gave him the nod to become a part of the band wagon. He was Hairs Jurangpathy or the Little Dynamite of the Jets as he was then called by the fans. This four piece outfit initially formed the Band - The Jetliners. Initially these three guitarists and the drummer played the hits of the legendary band “Shadows” such as the Apache, Dance On, Foot Taper etc....

Then came the glorious days of the Jets. When the businessman Mr Tony Fernando identified their talent and installed them at the Galle Face Hotel Coconut Grove they made a new made era of music. This became their ultimate home for more than 10 years (350+ Sundown Dances consecutively). Every Sunday from 7-10 was one heck of a party at this venue and they created the Jets culture. The crowd that gathered became regular visitors and at last the ‘Grovers’ became one family quite known to each other partying and dancing the night out on the tightly packed dance floor.

Then the need of a vocalist emerged and the man who got the nod to join the band wagon was Ishan Bahar who was quite a sensation among the crowd who usually belted out the best of the Cliff Richard & Elvis Presley. Then Minon Ratnam the keyboardist and the versatile singer (Kadalle ativu Kirilli fame) of her own right joined the group filling the gap of a much needed keyboardist.

As this went along Lucian & Ishan left as usually happens in bands and then Indra Raj replaced Lucian whilst Sohan Peiris replaced Ishan. And the story had gone on till they dispersed in 69.

But after so many years being able to see this lovely bunch of talent was a blessing. There were few who held the 2 records the Jetliners produced waited eagerly to get the autographs done from there hero’s whilst everyone enjoyed every bit of the show. The demand was such that the show scheduled to be finish at 10 went up till around 12 due to the continuous requests from the fans asking for more and more…

Even though there are many concerts going in the TV channels and the concerts happening in almost everywhere the entertainment I received listening to these greats were amazing. Each song they sang touched the hearts of any music lover and it was a very nice experience to be a part of the lovely concert.

As the final curtain drew I was thinking to myself how talented those old folks were even at this age and how lucky we would have been if we were to live in that era with a great amount of good bands. I finishes this story with one note for thought – do any current band in Sri Lanka has a fan base of this nature or the potential to market itself for a period of 6 months for a sell out crowd. I don’t think so…

The melodies of the box guitar

2005-12-22T04:40:00.000+06:00

For anyone who had strummed a guitar would know how soothing it is to the mind and how addictive it is to the soul. I really got this guitar craziness not more than 2 year’s back. But when I really got into playing and started attending some basic classes of guitar playing I felt like the guitar becoming a real soul mate. To spend some time off from the tiring schedules everyday and to strum the guitar and murmur a song (for me mostly a song by either Clerence Wijewardana or Milton Mallawarachi) that would would give a lot of satisfaction and relief.

When it comes to using the guitar and the techniques of using it, it has now become a field of much interest. To my knowledge guitar is a gift to the world by Spain. And the countries which used this instrument for the best use in the early stages can be identified as the Latin American’s and the Hawaiian’s. Later in US the guitar became the equipment which revolutionised the music of that era with the introduction of the electric guitar. In addition to that there are many variations of playing the guitar such as the finger style, Spanish & the Hawaiian style. But simply in any band now there are three guitarists; namely the Bassist, the Rhythm guitarist, and the Lead guitarist who generates different melody parts which combines together in making the song.

In the early stages of the Sri Lankan pop to my knowledge all bands just used to do the instrumental hits basically using the box guitars, the Congo and Bongo drums and the other accessories. And then during the early 60’s only revolutionary dance band the Jetliners or the “Jets” made way to the pop culture in Sri Lanka. With Jets the hits of C.T Fernando were made popular to the classic drum beats and electric guitar tunes which became evergreen hits of the Sri Lanka’s music industry. From this point onwards the music of the 70’s as it is popularly known came into limelight with the emergence of a galaxy of stars in the music industry.

From Nevil Fernando to Clarence

2005-12-15T16:54:00.001+06:00

If we take a journey down the memory lane and look back at the soothing tunes & lovely melodies which we grew up with (more than us the songs which our parents grew up with), there would be so many lovely songs which we would remember and we would fondly recall many great names in the music industry with much gratitude.

Some great names like Sunil Shantha, C T Fernando, and Mastro Amaradeva etc etc... would come to our minds. But as a lover of the box guitar and guitar related creations my greatest interest is more towards great musicians and artists of the caliber of The godfather of Sri Lankan Pop - Nevil Fernando of the "Les Caberelos" fame to the late great Clarence Wijewardana who revolutionized the music industry of Sri Lanka with the introduction of the electric guitar to the Sinhala pop music replacing the traditional box guitar which was in use till then.

This is mainly due to the interest which I am having towards the Pop and the related types of music than the Classical Oriental Music. So many other musicians such as Noel Ranasinge of the La Celenions fame, Milroy Darmarathne of the Darmarathne Brothers fame, Joe B Perera of the Mee Masso fame, Annesly Malewana of the Moonstones fame, Indrani Perera of Three sisters fame, Milton Malawarchi and so many other artists would come to our minds during the periods of the 60’s to date. Furthermore I have eager interest towards the great bands specialized in Western and the Sinhala Music Industry in the Golden Era of the 70’s such as the Jetlines, Gabo and the Breakaways, Gypsies, Moonstones, Super Golden Chimes etc… and many more greats of their respective instrument playing such as Haris Jurampathy of the Jetliners & Desomnd & the Clan fame, Srikantha Dasanayake of the Super Golden Chimes fame +++ who excelled in hard hitting Drum playing, Mastro Dixon Gunerathne of the Super Golden Chimes fame, who produced great lead guitar sounds to many of the great songs in that era, + many more in other specialized areas and their related stories. I enjoys spending my time gathering and listening to those original masterpieces of these artists and would be sharing my thinking about the developments, up’s & down‘s of that era and related stories in my blog.