Down musical memory lane … on Alive 90.5 FM Reminiscing the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s music scene in Colombo. – By Aubrey Joachim
“You can take the Sri Lankan out of Sri Lanka, but you cannot take Sri Lanka out of the Sri Lankan”. So said Pam Rajapaksa – host of Lankan Fusion an interesting radio show on Alive 90.5 FM when she and I sat to reminisce the music scene of Ceylon in the bygone years.
Reminiscing the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s conjures in every Sri Lankan of that era the halcyon days when life was a breeze in a country that offered so much. Many Lankans who now live in countries across the globe can only pine over those days and refer to Ceylon as a one-time paradise on earth over a drink or a meal.
While that era is a kaleidoscope of memories, what stands out most is the music and entertainment scene that was perhaps at the peak, and a turning point in the musical timeline of Sri Lanka. Those three decades saw the emergence and rise of musical personalities who not only entertained Ceylonese but reached further afield across South Asia, South East Asia and even the UK, Europe and the US. Some were signed up by international recording labels and reached the music charts of the time. The 60’s & 70’s also saw a plethora of Ceylonese Western genre bands taking stage in the popular night clubs and hotels in Colombo. There were dances every weekend. A number of these bands were contracted to overseas hotels in Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong and even the Middle East and some African cities. This music era was largely influenced by the Burghers, although a number of English speaking Sinhalese and Malays also contributed their talents.
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Radio Ceylon – the second oldest public broadcasting station in the world after the BBC played a major role in promoting Ceylonese artistes as well as the Western music genre of the time and was hugely popular in the sub-continent as well as in other parts of Asia and even Africa. This reach contributed to the prominence of the Ceylon music scene of that era.
While the current Sri Lankan music scene has advanced with popular new age singers and bands producing a mix of traditional music genres combined with western music beats, they are for the most part in Sinhalese and therefore while they are popular with Sri Lankan diaspora in many countries, they will not be truly international. This also relates to the Portuguese influenced baila music which somehow finds a place in every Sri Lankan party or dance anywhere on the planet.
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Listen to the full interview to refresh your memories with the names of famous musicians, night clubs, entertainment personalities and much more as well as listen to some unforgettable music tracks of that era at the following link:
https://omny.fm/shows/lankan-fusion/aubrey-joachims-segment-14-1-2024
The author has been in Australia for 30 years and is actively involved with the Sri Lankan diaspora. He recently made a guest appearance on ‘Lankan Fusion’ hosted by Pam Rajapaksa on Alive 90.5 FM a community radio station in Sydney. “Lankan Fusion’ can he heard live every Sunday evening between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. and on podcast.
