It was exactly 55 years ago, the well known outfit ‘La Bambas’ from Moratuwa, decided to begin their colourful musical journey. Their first noteworthy public performance was at the ‘Coconut Grove’, the popular Night Club at the Galle Face Hotel on 25th May 1966. ‘La Bambas’, the pioneer vocal harmony singing group to emerge from [...]

Magazine

‘La Bambas’ celebrates solid 55 years

View(s):

It was exactly 55 years ago, the well known outfit ‘La Bambas’ from Moratuwa, decided to begin their colourful musical journey. Their first noteworthy public performance was at the ‘Coconut Grove’, the popular Night Club at the Galle Face Hotel on 25th May 1966.

‘La Bambas’, the pioneer vocal harmony singing group to emerge from the music crazy town of Moratuwa during the golden era of Sinhala group songs in 1966, celebrates its 55th Anniversary last week with the remaining members due to the pandemic situation.

The band ‘La Bambas’ were active in the local music arena until the demise of its leader Brian Fernando in  2013, when the other members- namely  Priya Peiris, Lasla Fernando, Rolinson Ferdinando, Erinto Perera and  Malsiri Wijesuriya decided to lie low, but without quitting music altogether.

‘La Bambas’ pursued their brand of soft and lilting  music exclusively   with unplugged instruments, comprising classical (gut stringed) box  guitars, percussion sound sand conga drums, supplemented with  two, three and four part harmony singing. As a very  popular  70s group songs outfit (also referred to as ‘kandayam  gee’), they belonged to the exclusive type of quality local harmony singing outfits which  bravely continued with the traditional unplugged  trend without giving  way to the easier way out with  fashionable  electronic sounds – mostly  depicting western beat groups.

The 1966 original line up of ‘La Bambas’ comprised of Brian, Rolinson, Lasla, Erinton, Priya and Sunll Perera. But since the migration of Sunil as early as in 1968, another close friend and neighbour Malsiri Wijesuriya joined the group. This combination endured the virtual life span of the band as one un-separable unit.

Performing with unsophisticated gut stringed acoustic guitars and percussion instruments and singing in delightful 3 and 4 part harmony, they emerged as a trump card with their own creations such as ‘Cock-a-doodle-do’, ‘Nuwara Menikela’ , ‘Enna yanna nelum wile’, ‘Lake Nadee’, ‘Piyakaru Mala’, ‘Kurulan Piyambaala’ and  many  more .

A remarkable highlight in their career was the 15 year stint they performed three days weekly during the 1980/90 era at the Hotel Lanka Oberoi – the largest and most prestigious five star hotel at that time.

‘It is with great pride that ‘La Bambas proclaim that everything they musically ventured was totally home spun and Moratuwa oriented. All composing , melody making , musical and vocal arrangements were planned  out by ourselves and never depended on any outside  sources’  Priya reminisced with a sense of achievement .

La Bambas  belonged  to  a rare  breed of performers, who boldly  appeared  on  stage with unplugged  instruments – an unfamiliar  sight  to many nowadays  audiences .

Their repertoire is astounding and unique in comparison to other groups. They are fully conversent with a wide range of evergreen English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish favourite, American cowboy, plantation and Dixieland hits and music from all around the world to any kind of audiences.

LARGEST SPANISH COLLECTION ON CD

‘LA Bambas’ produced a one of a kind CD in collaboration with ‘Soorya ‘ records in 2016, to mark their golden jubilee. This comprised the largest compilation of Latin American favorites (the real source for the inspiration and evolution of ‘Kandaayam gee’) ever recorded by anyone in Sri  Lanka plus Caribbean  calypso and English originals composed to promote Sri  Lanka as a tourist destination and Ceylon tea  as the best  beverage in the world.

Apart from performing music, ‘La Bambas’, at the request of the  Sri Lanka  Army had conducted over 15 music workshops for a large number of army musicians in various towns of the Wanni District during  the past decade. Also, they were listed as the first such group to voluntarily perform for the injured soldiers in the army hospital during the War.

Share This Post

WhatsappDeliciousDiggGoogleStumbleuponRedditTechnoratiYahooBloggerMyspaceRSS

Advertising Rates

Please contact the advertising office on 011 - 2479521 for the advertising rates.