CLARENCE WIJEWARDENA – by Des Kelly   Quarter of a century has already elapsed since we lost him. Clarence Wijewardena was, in my opinion, at the very apex of the tree of Musical Composers that Sri Lanka has ever produced, and there have been, and still are, many others. It was in 1963, just a year after I migrated to Melbourne, that I first heard his song Dilhani, just fell in love with the tune and rendition by Indrani Perera, and decided on the spot, to write an English Version to this beautiful tune which I named My Lovely Island Home. Of course, I could not record this English Version of my song without written permission from Clarence. I cannot remember where he was living at the time, but I did write him a lerter which he promptly replied, giving me his permission and thereby I went ahead and recorded ...

Read More →