Sandra Edema Archives

Ranee & Raj – Feel Like A Clown (1968) Source: Left and to the Back Sri Lankan pop stars are still a relatively rare deal in the UK, and these two were the first to have any mainstream media exposure here. Nimal Mendis and Sandra Edema both had a solid background in their native country, with Sandra having managed a Sri Lankan hit single at the humble age of twelve (“Oh My Lover“) and Mendis authoring the soundtracks to a number of Sri Lankan films. Mendis’s first big break in England was placing the song “Kiss Kiss Kiss” with the singer Mary Marshall in 1958. Notable for being imaginatively engineered by Joe Meek with heavy use of echo and a decidedly forward-thinking sound, the track, unfortunately, failed to sell, but opened other doors for Mendis in the UK, including songwriting for the British folk group “One Two and Three” ...

Nimal Mendis singer and songwriter – by Patrick Ranasinghe Nimal Mendis singer and songwriter Moon over Asia Harold Seneviratne Combo Nimal Mendis (1934–2015) was a Sri Lankan singer and songwriter, and was one of a handful of Sri Lankan musicians to appear on the BBC television programme Top of the Pops (1968). Mendis was a longstanding member of the Performing Rights Society and the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society of Great Britain. Mendis was discovered in the late 1950s by Radio Ceylon, which dominated the airwaves in South Asia in the era. The station backed Mendis’ songs from the outset, including “Kandyan Express”, turning them into hits in South Asia: so much so that listeners from all over the Indian sub-continent wrote in to Radio Ceylon requesting his songs.[1] ...