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Sooriya Records |
The Company
Wickremesooriya & Company found in 1959 by Gerald Wickremesooriya, originally selling Children’s books & imported vinyl records. The company established ‘Sooriya’ label in 1968, the pioneer in producing popular music in Sri Lanka.
Sooriya has on its label musicians and genres ranging from Sri Lankan Western Pop (e.g. The Spitfires, Dalreen, Noeline), Sinhala Pop (e.g. Sunil Shantha, Clarence Wijewardena. Moonstones, La Bambas, Los Flamencos, H. R. Jothipala), Tamil Pop (e.g. A.E. Manoharan), Baila (e.g. M.S. Fernando, Paul Fernando, Desmond De Silva, Maxwell Mendis), Traditional Folk Music (e.g. Jana Gee, Vannam etc. with research carried out by W.B. Makuluoluwa and C. de S. Kullatillake), Traditional Drum Rhythms (e.g. Pani Bharatha, Police Hewisi Band, Drummers from the Ruhuna), Theatre Music (e.g. Nurthi), Sinhala Light Classical (e.g. Amaradeva, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake), Religious Chanting (e.g. Pirith) and The National Anthem (various versions from the Navy Band, the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka) to name a few.
In the process, the label created many a first in the country; the first to launch a child star on disc, the first to commercialize pop music in the Tamil language, the first to fuse music played at traditional Tamil Hindu temples with lyric in another local language (Sinhala) fused with western pop music, the first to blend traditional drum rhythms with a western orchestra, the first to re-create and record music from the old stage which had its origins in North Indian drama, the first to launch an LP with Sinhala songs, the first to launch a double album, the first to host a live concert on a floating stage, the first to record and publish a series of Buddhist Chants, the first to sign contracts with artistes along with royalty agreements, the first to become a member of the international Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and pioneer the setting up of the then popular Sri Lanka Performing Rights Society (SLPRS).
Two years shy of celebrating the golden jubilee of the first Sooriya production, the label is being relaunched through a series of activities; launch of Sooriya website, Sooriya Music Village: a multifaceted area providing spaces for recordings, practices, performance, F&B, living etc., a documentary series taking the culture of Sri Lanka and the evolution of music in Sri Lanka to the world.
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