Music to my ears Sohan Pieris by Patrick Ranasinghe Sohan Pieris   Last waltz  Sohan Pieris & The Spitfires The Way It Used To Be  Sohan Pieris & The Spitfires Portrait of my love   Music to my ears Sohan Pieris earliest influence was classical music which was the music of choice at home where my loving parents encouraged me, he soon realized that he was able to play anything on the piano by ear. he was actually born in Bombay in the late forties, my dad being Ceylon’s pioneer commercial airline pilot  might also mention that there is a link between my birthplace and that of another singer the inimitable Englebert Humperdinck who was also born in India. We moved to Sri Lanka when he was seven years old and knew no Sinhala as he spoke only Hindi he learned Sinhalese at school at St Joseph Colombo ‘The Jetliners’ who were quite a sensation in Colombo ...

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The Jetliners At The Coconut Grove With Mignonne & Ishan Full Green Album – by Pat Ranasinghe THE JETLINERS (My Story) – By Felix Fernando Having completed my Primary schooling at St. Sebastian’s School in Hultsdorf, Colombo 12, I continued my Secondary schooling at St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Colombo 13. Quite a few of my classmates were interested in music, and we would talk music during our breaks. When I reached my Senior Level, a certain Christian Brother once came up with the idea of playing music, on the loudspeakers, during our lunch breaks and we loved this idea. Songs were requested and played for 20c. per song. This became quite popular among the students. Hence the idea came up of having a Talent Show, and it would feature anyone who could sing or play an instrument. I decided to gather a two of my friends and perform on this show. We ...

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A tribute to my friend Lucien Perera – by Desmond Kelly My tribute to Lucien Perera. Desmond Kelly.          A tribute to my dear friend Lucien Perera (1944–2021) Original Lead Guitarist of ‘The Jetliners’ by Felix Fernando   The Jetliners circa 1963; left to right: Lucien Perera, Ishan Bahar, Harris Jurangpathy, Anton Gunewijeya, Felix Fernando December 1961, and it was the ‘end of year’ concert at St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena. Students with any kind of talent were invited to get on stage and perform. I decided to form a trio to sing two harmonized songs. Stepping off the stage after our performance I was met by this guy with a home-made guitar (we called it a log-guitar in those days), who introduced himself as Colvin Perera. He requested me to back him on a couple of instrumental numbers – ‘Guitar Boogie’ and ‘Quartermaster’s Store’ – which I ...

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