| When young Noel Brian Ranasinghe and his band got into coloured sarongs, straw-hats and with bare feet sang a strange kind of baila, it was not unusual for people to call them all sorts of names like ‘Malu Karayas’ or ‘Rasthiyadu Karayas’.
That was in the 1960s when society was decent and crime was not an issue. “People were surprised. Never seen anything like this before,” laughed a trendsetter and veteran in the music scene, Noel, who celebrates his golden jubilee in music this year.
Not many people other than old-timers in the music scene would recall that it was Noel, who created the Sinhala Calypso brand at a time when western, oriental and baila were the order of the day. “I wanted to do something different, something creative. I wanted to come up with something original. Sinhala music at the time was a copy of Hindi, Tamil and English,” recalled Noel, now 68.
Sohan Weerasinghe, another music industry veteran, says Noel’s music is original, creative and a legacy followed by hundreds of musicians who now serenade from table-to-table at hotels and restaurants wearing trademark sarongs and straw-hats. “He created calypso music with a local flavour.”
Noel this month released his first CD of original instrumentals to coincide with half a century of entertaining Sri Lankans and foreigners with a unique brand that is set to stay for another 50 years.
The solo album of 18 instrumentals has Noel playing guitar, banjo, steel guitar and keyboard with all the mixing done at a local studio and produced locally. The music, all original, is a blend of kaffringha (Portuguese music which led to the creation of the baila here), Latin American and country and meant for easy listening. “Nowadays people don’t have time to listen to music at home. So I thought of this album for those driving to work to listen while driving,” he said.
Noel is the leader of the La Ceylonians, one of the few bands to survive as a unit for decades, and known widely for landmark compositions like ‘Tharuna jeevitha apa vinodaya yen (about young people having fun based on British singer Cliff Richard’s popular ‘Young Ones’)’ and ‘Hoiya hoiya (tribute to the fishermen)’ among hundreds of other songs that are sung by many bands. “I must have composed more than 300 songs in my lifetime,” the veteran musician says.
All his songs are about people, their lifestyles, issues and concerns. Sunil Perera, whose band ‘the Gypsies’ is working on a new album ahead of their 40th year in music in 2010, is quick to compliment the La Ceylonians leader. “His songs were popular and still are. We are also singing these songs and my favourite is ‘Tharuna jeevitha apa vinodaya yen’,” he said, adding “he’s a great musician”.
Noel has lived for many years at 1st Cross Street,Pagoda, Nugegoda (his present home) which was once known, he recalls, as ‘Lansiayahena Para’ because many Burghers lived there.
While still at school in 1958, Noel and his buddy Anton Ratnayake, now domiciled in the UK, formed the band The Flames. “I had a lot of rhythm in me and often drummed on the bonnet of a car the sounds of the temple drums as we were then living opposite the Kotte Raja Mahavihara,” he said, going down memory lane. He was also a good sportsman, winning many a marathon race as a schoolboy of 15 years.[ (He continued sports at Collettes where he worked for 28 years, captaining the Collettes team in athletics and cricket (second XI).] With the gramophone very close to his ears, young Noel listened to the songs of Gene Autry, Everly Brothers and other greats at that time. Country music played a big role in influencing his music and the subsequent flow of words for his songs was inspired by traditional country songs that spoke of the people, the farms, their concerns and loves, etc.
From The Flames, Noel formed the Blue Bells playing a lot of country music. Then together with cousin Tony Fernandez they started a quartet – four voices and a guitar. Tony then left to Europe and this gave Noel an opportunity to try something new.
Shifting to Sinhala music only, the La Ba Ceylonians was formed with six members. Journalist and poet Harrison Peiris suggested that the word ‘Ba’ be removed and thereafter the name La Ceylonians has remained for decades. Noel says the band lost several pairs of shoes as there were only stage shows at that time and the La Ceylonians when they got off the stage barefoot, after playing a session, often found their shoes and even shirts missing!
The band was the first outfit to serenade guests from table to table at the Mount Lavinia Hotel in 1969, on a suggestion of the British General Manager of the hotel. “They didn’t know how to advertise us and we said why not call us ‘Sri Lankan calypso’,” he said. That caught on like wildfire and many other bands were formed.
Noel was influenced by kaffringha music and the band, Trio Los Paraguas from Portugal. That band used the harp and two guitars. The La Ceylonians used simple box guitars (without amplification which is still evident today in all calypso bands), congo drums and Guiro (a instrument made by cutting a bamboo strip of Slon pipe to give a screeching sound).
Sri Lankan calypso became the music of the tourist hotels. The La Ceylonians was the first choice in overseas events organized by the Ceylon Tourist Board, travelling to the US, India, Germany, the Netherlands Austria, Switzerland, Taiwan and Japan.
“Music is in my blood. When I get an idea, I build on it. Sometimes at night I wake up with an idea and scribble the words on a piece of paper,” he said, adding, that he mostly composed in English and had the lyrics translated by friends.
The La Ceylonians veteran is well known for fighting for copyright of Sri Lankan compositions for many years and is a member of the British Performing Rights Society for the past 32 years, having even received royalties from this organisation.
Noel and his wife have two daughters, one of whom is married and living in Australia. He hopes his grandsons - Nelum and Nelushi (7 and 13 years) would carry forward his music. “I tell them that in life you must do things different instead of the stereotype,” Noel says, bemoaning the fact that today’s musicians don’t do anything creative and rely more on technology than talent and hard work. “Without electricity, they would be lost,” he says. |
E-mail