The Popular Sinhala Cinema : Rukmani Devi; Mohideen Baig ; Gamini Fonseka – by Laleen Jayamanne Source : island Rukmani Devi, the first star of the Sinhala cinema and incomparable singer with a unique voice, originally known as Daisy Rasamma Daniel, was a Tamil Christian. It was well known that she couldn’t read or write Sinhala and that her dialogue and lyrics were written in English. Al-Haj Mohideen Baig, who sang some of the most cherished, perennial popular Sinhala film songs (including Budhu Gee), wrote down the Sinhala lyrics in his mother tongue, Urdu. The multilingual Mohideen Baig came to Lanka in 1932 for his brother’s funeral and stayed on. With the guidance of Mohammed Gauss at Columbia records, he began singing on radio soon after. In India he had sung Ghazals in Urdu in his village Salem and also Hindi and Tamil songs. Once film production began in Lanka, he ...

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Musician RA Chandrasena: his legacy and inspiration to all musicians – by Sunil Thenabadu There is no lasting spot for exploits and fame or you may quote Mark Anthony’s phrase. ”The good that one does is often interred”. The veritable truth of this statement is often witnessed in contemporary lives. Lofty and amazing feats of human endeavor very often failed to be lauded and commemorated by the state. Memories linger only in the minds of the fellow citizen. Human memories being frail they very often fade away Queerly, however, the two state television broadcasters have decided to air two-hour commemorative programs titled appropriately as Nomiyena Sihinaya and Peo Legend to honour past legends. A legend who deserves a permanent place in these commemorative endeavours is Ranasinghe Arachchige Chandrasena Perera, musician 1940 – 1980. For many years to come, RAC will be spoken of as the father of the contemporary Sinhala ...

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Rukmani Devi aka Daisy Rasammah Daniels: A Stellar Career-by Michael Roberts   Source:Thuppahis Wikipedia on Daisy Rasammah Daniels or Rukmani Devi … at … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukmani_Devi Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923–28 October 1978: Sinhala: රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as “The Nightingale of Sri Lanka“.[1] She made it to the silver screen via the stage and had acted in close to 100 films at the time of her death. Having an equal passion for singing as well as a melodious voice, she was Sri Lanka’s foremost female singer in the gramophone era.[2] After her death, she was awarded the Sarasaviya ‘Rana Thisara’- Life Time Achievement Award at the 1979 Sarasaviya Awards Festival.[3] Personal life: Rukmani Devi, was born as Daisy Rasammah Daniels to a Tamil Colombo Chetty Christian family on 15 January 1923 at Ramboda in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. Second, in a family of five, her father, John Daniel ...

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SUSIL PREMARATNE PRODIGIOUS ARTIST, VOCALIST,COMPOSER ,TEACHER PLAYBACK SINGER AT APEX OF GLORY – by Sunil Thenabadu   Susil Premaratne prodigious artist vocalist., composer of music,teacher ,film playback singer with variety of talents was born as Malgawage Susil Premaratne in ‘’Andagoda, Ambalangoda. Susil Premaratne was a great performer skilled with varieties of talents rarely found in the field of Arts. The vacuum left by the demise of an artiste of his caliber in 2010 February can never be replaced.    This veteran artist not only entertained the public by his deep melodious voice singing in his own unique style but also enthralled the people with his fascinating paintings of natural beauty and comic stories (Chithra Katha).”Ru rese andina lese”, “Somnasa ho santhapaya hamuwe” and many of his songs recorded in 40s, 50s, 60s & 70s are still spellbound household favorites in Sri Lanka. Susil Premaratne had acquired painting instincts through hereditary affiliations from father with ...

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Singing alongside Victor – by GEORGE BRAINE I spent Christmas 2017 with Victor Ratnayake and a few friends at Nuwara Eliya, and, on our return to Colombo, he drove me to my home near Lunuwila. I sat in the front seat, and his wife sat in the back. As we were passing Rukmani Devi’s statute at Tudella, Victor began to reminisce about the Rukmani he knew and respected. He has a phenomenal memory, and he brings in numerous anecdotes, usually funny, to his stories. But, on Rukmani, his memories were tender and tinged with sadness. Then, I related my own story. While schooling in Negombo in the early 1960s, I was boarded at a house on Temple Road, only a few hundred meters from “Jaya-Ruk”, the home of Rukmani and Eddie Jayamanne. They were at the height of their popularity.  The boarding house owner was the sister of Bertram Fernando, ...

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RUKMANI DEVI – by Des Kelly She was undoutedly one of the most beautiful, PLUS beautifully talented women, that Sri Lanka ever produced. She was an actress of repute, a singer, better known as the first Nightingale of Ceylon, and, as a dancer, well, I had the ultimate pleasure of waltzing around the dance floor with her, many moons ago, at a private “house-warming” party in Wattala, and believe me folks, she was a superb dancer, as well, giving me a few minutes of my life that I’ll never forget. ...

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Versatile heartthrob amiable gifted actress Jeevarani in the decades of sixties and seventies reminisced by Sunil Thenabadu Jeevarani Kurukulasuriya  after her marriage to Dr Lanka Wijesena, Jeevarani Wijesena  a gorgeous ,versatile actress particularly in the decades of the sixties and seventies in stage, theatre and television medias. . Undoubtedly Jeevarani along with Vijitha Mallika and Sandhya Kumari was one of the most popular actresses in early Sinhala cinema. She portrayed her first pivotal character in Sri Lanka’s first Sinhala color film “Ranmuthu Duwa”.] Jeevarani was born on 2nd December 1941 in  Aluthgama-Kalutara as the eldest of the family. Her father was Kurukulasuriyage Venus Anthony Fernando.As still a toddler, just three years old, Jeevarani had displayed innate talent, used to dance, sing lullabies, poems and do various mimics in front of parents and relatives. She finalized her education at the Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena.Her younger siblings Shirani,Janaki and Manik all reputed ...

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“THE MOON RISES” – By Des Kelly   Many years have now slipped past since one of Sri Lanka’s most beautiful Women and one of their most famous male Vocalists of the era, recorded a most beautiful love song entitled “Sandak-nage’, as my English title indicates.             Rukmani Devi, also known as the Nightingale of Ceylon, as beautiful as any Beauty Queen our little Island produced, plus a famous Actress, to boot, recorded this song with Neville Fernando, a Vocalist/Guitarist who not only enjoyed the company of Rukmani, but also thoroughly enjoyed singing with her. They recorded more songs together but both have now sadly passed on so here’s my sincere “Rest in Peace” wish for this fabulous duo. ...

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“THE NIGHTINGALE SINGS” by Des Kelly     Photo courtesy of National Film Corporation What a beautiful title, especially for this songbird of Ceylon, Rukmani Devi, born Daisy Rasammah Daniels, a proud combination of Tamil(Rasammah), Daniels(Burgher), & the Colombo-Chetty Christian tradition, on the 15th of January, 1923, in the Central Province Village of Ramboda, Nuwara Eliya.       She was the second child in a family of six, loved music and singing from a very early age, spending most of her time standing by the family gramaphone and singing along with the songs that emanated from it. The very first song that she sang, in the presence of (Master) Rupasinghe, her music teacher, I suppose, was titled “Siri Buddha-gaya Vihare”, a classical Sinhala-song, when she was just 13 years old. He, the master, had a keen eye for talent, and before her professional singing career was launched, it was decided ...

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