‘Maniyanee’ : Tribute to late Clarence Wijewardane
View(s):Focusing on the collaboration of Three Musical Generations
For the first time in the history, a distinctly unique musical album has been produced in tribute to the late, great Clarence Wijewardane; the undisputed king of Sinhala Pop music. This musical album titled ‘Maniyanee’, created by young talented Rukshan Karunanayake, gives a unique instrumental interpretation of 12 outstanding hits of Clarence.
Multi-talented musician of the new generation, Rukshan Karunanayake who is the leader of the popular music outfit ‘Chimes of The 70’s’ is the brain-child of this musical expression and he has rendered his musical arrangements by allowing the listener to perceive the tones, rhythm and strong driving beat of the 70’s while introducing freshness to the style of music initiated by Clarence. This Instrumental Album has incorporated the combination of three musical generations ranging from the 60’s to present where the members of the four bands led by Clarence Wijewardane; the ‘Moonstones’, ‘Golden Chimes’, ‘Super Golden Chimes’ and ‘Madhara’ have been featured along with “Chimes of The 70’s” to make the history.
This CD comprising hits ‘Maniyanee’, ‘Sihina Lowak’, ‘Gamen Liyumak’, ‘Sudu Manike’, ‘Sandae Walawan,’ etc. Legendary broadcaster Dr. Vijaya Corea contributed his golden voice for this album with his wonderful introduction, while Chanaka Perera played the Bass guitar representing the good old ‘Moonstones’ and ‘Golden Chimes’ era. Conrad Gunaratne (bass guitar), Chandral Fonseka (bass guitar) and Nimal Punchihewa (drums) participated in this album to symbolize the fabulous ‘Super Golden Chimes’ era.
Kenneth de Silva played the bass representing ‘Madhara’, the last band established by Clarence. In addition Premanath Kodituwakku who played tabla/percussion for all of Clarence’s recordings has participated here while the brother of Conrad Gooneratne, Mohan Gooneratne played the bass for 05 tracks in the album.
Young Rukshan performed the Lead for entire album reviving the warm, sweet tone of maestro Dixon Gunaratne and he played rhythm guitar for 10 tracks to keep alive the punch of Clarence’s rhythm. Keyboards wizard of the new generation, Sugath Asanka played keyboards/piano/strings for the entire album while multi-talented Dilshan Wijesekara played rhythm guitar for 2 tracks. Outstanding drummer Chaminda Pushpakumara played drums for 3 tracks. Another significant feature of this album is the proves of 10 year old Udesha Karunanayake who has played drums for 6 tracks and both Chaminda and Udesha have worked out to keep alive the drumming style of legendary Sri Kantha Dassanayake.
Rukshan Karunanayake was the person who initiated to compile a biography of Clarence to be published on the Internet and even the sites like “Wikipedia” have acquired information about Clarence’s music career from his web publications. Even Rukshan has preserved a collection of nearly 1500 songs which are being the original copies of the creations of Clarence which were collected his by father Devinda who is an ardent fan of Clarence. Rukshan has exhibited his musical skills with acceptance during the past years where he started off as a lead guitarist at the age of 11 and then became a lyricist, melody maker, music director and audio engineer.
Rukshan perceive this release as a milestone of his life where he got the opportunity of paying tribute to late and great Clarence Wijewardane who happens to be the hero of his musical career. His ambition in producing such an album was to revive the grand old sound of the yesteryear & he is much grateful to all the exceptional musicians who participated here to make it a success.
At the same time, Rukshan would like to thank Pradeep Maharaja, Sampath Fernando & Nikki Marzook of M Entertainment for the steadfast cooperation they have extended always for his success. Rukshan believes that this Instrumental Album will bring out an amazing musical experience to all the musical lovers & this will be an utmost tribute to the man who revolutionized Sinhala Music Industry; the late, great Clarence Wijewardane.
‘Maniyanee’ Instrumental Album is a proud presentation of M Entertainment and this is the maiden album of ‘Golden Oldies – Instrumental’ series. The exclusive copyrights of all the tracks included in the album are under the possession of M Entertainment. This CD will be available to purchase by mid April from Vibrations and the entire M Entertainment outlets island wide.
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