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Times
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The
tuneful tale of Kokiladevi
These
thoughts cross my mind as I wade through to track down the first
female singer in the history of Sinhala music. She greets me with
a warm smile with welcoming eyes - the typical grandma's fond smile.
At 91, Kalashoori
Kokiladevi Weeratunga's eyes tell you that there is a whole heap
of interesting emotional tracks to flashback. She is such
an articulate and talkative personality blessed with an unbelievably
sound memory that her tuneful tale cannot be trapped fully into
one full page. So here's Kokiladevi
Weeratunga speaking on Kokiladevi Weeratunga, because no other person
other than Kokiladevi Weeratunga herself can do justice to a multi-dimensional
subject like Kokiladevi Weeratunga. " I was
born on June 14, 1912 as the only child in the family. Having lost
my father at a very young age my mother who was a gifted musician
wanted me to learn music from my early childhood." "I studied
at Our Lady of Victories Convent in Moratuwa and there was nothing
concrete about my dreams for the future. My mother put me under
top music teachers like Chokkalingam Master and Veena Shanmugam
when I was just a child. I was not permitted to go out on my own
largely due to my conservative Buddhist family back ground. As a
child I loved policemen after meeting the Police Chief Dowbigan
- a Britisher - at a function and I still respect policemen even
now. Dr. E. V. Ratnam wanted me to become a doctor but I feel there
was more music in me than anything else for which my mother deserves
full credit" "The turning
point in my career came in 1925 when I met Maris Pathiarachchi master
through my uncle. I sang a duet with him on January 23, 1929 creating
history and emerging as the first Sinhalese female singer to sing
at the Colombo Radio (later Radio Ceylon and SLBC now). It was housed
in a room at the CTO building" "Mulu
Lokema Pirunu SituDevi Vishaka was my first song which was aired
live on Colombo Radio. From then on I sang several Sinhala, Tamil
and Hindi songs. I had to learn Hindi and Telungu before singing
those songs. Though I was not paid anything at the beginning, I
was later getting Rs. 45 a month with which I had to meet my travelling
expenses and pay the orchestra. With all that I still had about
6 or 7 rupees left." "I was
gradually gaining fame and popularity across the country. I still
respect and regard Radio Ceylon (SLBC) as my ancestral home or 'Mahagedara'.
Even today I worship the SLBC before entering it." "My gramaphone
era songs included Bari Shree Katha, Mathpen Welandama Duruwei Hemadama
and a couple of Tamil songs. In 1939 I sang Sripathi Sriharee, Vishnu
Devindu and other songs for the HMV label. Mawpiya Adi and Krishna
Jina that I sang in 1940 became very popular then and even now." "The highpoint
of my career came when I was selected as the first Supergrade female
singer of the Radio Ceylon while Pandit Amaradewa was the first
male supergrade singer. Later I taught music at Vishaka Vidyalaya,
Colombo, Anula Vidyalaya Nugegoda and Sujatha Vidyalaya, Matara." "On the
family front, I married George Weeratunga, who was a lawyer and
a staunch fan of mine. He also composed songs. I have six children
of whom most can sing and play instruments. My eldest daughter Tilaka
is an A grade singer and so are my other daughters Madangani and
Sarojini. My son Ramesh Buddhapriya Weeratunga is also a keen musician
now residing in Germany. I have 27 grand children, 24 great grand
children and 2 great great grand children. There are doctors, lawyers
and engineers among my grand children while all are great music
lovers or dancers. " " Our
family is a well-knitted one and we live in harmony respecting each
other in a religious background. My eldest daughter, Tilaka who
is in Australia calls me regularly and says that she likes to hug
me and sleep on my lap. Don't be surprised, she's 75 and a grand
mother herself. Among my sons-in-law are popular lyricist Ajantha
Ranasinghe, Francis Peiris and Noel Jayasundara. " Our
family is deeply rooted in religion and I strongly believe that
all the good things we enjoy in life today have come through God's
blessings. I have no sorrows in my life which has come a full circle.
I fell badly ill last year and I thought it was my last but my doctors
didn't let me die. I am grateful to Cardiologist Dr. Ruwan Ekanayake,
his team of doctors and nurses. " "My ultimate
dream in life now is to produce a cassette with 14 of my old songs
to help those who have lost their limbs in the brutal war. I only
hope that God will grant me good health to see my dream come true.
I feel sorry for those who have sacrificed their future for the
sake of our country." With almost
75 years in the music scene, today Kokiladevi 'Amma' is resigned
to a quite and contended retired life with her daughter Madangani
and family. But she accepts occasional offers coming from her 'Mahagedara'
whenever her health permits. A mother is always a mother irrespective of age. In the same way, Kalashoori Kokiladevi Weeratunga will always be respected and loved in the Sinhala music industry and the entire country as the virtuous and talented artiste who paved the way for other female singers to follow suit. Queen:
The king of rock It all started
in 1970, when the guitarist Brian May (born on 19 July 1947 in Hampton,
London) and drummer Roger Taylor (born on 26 July 1949 as Roger
Meddows, Taylor in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England) put together the
band called Smile in college and released one obscure single, "Earth".
When Smile vocalist/bassist Tim Staffell quit to join an ex-member
of The Bee Gees in a band called Humpy Bong his flatmate Freddie
Mercury (born as Faroukh Bulsara on 5 September 1946 in Zanzibar)
took over. Mercury, then in a band called Wreckage, also previously
had connnections with Taylor; both shared a fashion clothing stall
in Kensington Market (England). Three bass players came in and went
out until they found one John Deacon (born on 19 August 1951 in
Oadby, Leicester, England) after an exhaustive six months of auditions.
The foursome
then changed their name into Queen after considering Freddie's ideas
and started perfecting their skills rather than playing gigs in
the usual club circuit. After a year and a half, they came out cleaned
with perfect sounds and in 1972, they recorded a demo using the
free studio time given to them by a friend. Taking the engineers
Roy Thomas Baker and John Anthony into fold, they recorded the above
said demo and this won them a deal with EMI. This deal with
EMI changed their individual paths and directed to a course in the
world of music. Infact, Brian May was studying for his PhD in astronomy
(He chose Queen over an offer to work at the observatory Jodrell
Bank), Roger Taylor studied biology, Deacon had just graduated with
a first-class honours degree in electronics and Mercury was at art
college, studying graphics and design at the time of their signing
to EMI. Their self
titled debut album came out in summer of 1973 and the critics described
it as an album with a blend of two styles which are popular at the
time; the loud-guitar based heavy rock of Led Zepplin and the melodic,
theatrical Glam of David Bowie. Their first single, "Keep Yourself
Alive" missed the charts but they were voted as the "Band
Of The Year" by the readers of the UK music paper Melody Maker.
Their headling shows in UK and US supporting Mott The Hoople were
cited as the factor worked for that accolade. During this tour,
they recorded some BBC I radio sessions and these were released
belatedly (i.e., in 1989) under the moniker. Queen's second
album - titled Queen II which was released in 1974 was hailed as
a splendid and unconventional state-of-the-art recording. Compared
to their first album, Queen II is a far bigger success. It stayed
in the UK albums chart for 29 weeks and reached the Top 5. This
album spawned their first ever UK hit single "Seven Seas Of
Rhye" (peaked at 10 position). In the same
year, they released their third album Sheer Heart Attack and this
fared even better. It peaked at number 2 spot in the UK album chart
and collected a total of 42 chart weeks. It featured two unforgettable
fantastic hits "Killer Queen" and "Now I'm Here".
Sheer Heart Attack is also their first real us hit. It just missed
the US Top ten but fared very well. However, the
Bank had it that, despite their sheer heart attack reaching number
2 in UK and having a high time in the USA, Queen were splitting
up. This prompted Ron and Russel Mael (the Sparks) to offer Brian
May the golden opportunity of a free transfer to the Sparks (that
was in 1975). But Brian May refused the offer and stayed with the
Queen. The air is
thick with the roumer of splitting may be because of the recent
dissolution of their management and the expiry of their recording
contracts. Then the new manager John Reid (who handled Elton John
for many years) stepped in and urged the Queen back to the studio.
This new team up convinced Queen that they can fulfil their potential
at last. Mercury said that he wanted to "experiment" and
"go to extremes" while May commented that the next album
would be their Sgt. Pepper. John Reid agreed with them. With Queen
sharing production with Roy Thomas, Baker, using studios named Sarm,
Scorpio, Roundhouse, Olympic, Lansdowne (all in London) and Rockfield
in Wales, they recorded the album A Night At The Opera between August
and November 1975. This album, the fourth by the Queen, raced to
the number one position in the UK charts. However, this feat was
overshadowed by one track, an epic, a fantastic, sensational, brilliant
track, "Bohemian Rhapsody". When "Bohemian
Rhapsody" saw the light of the day as single, the whole world
(literally) stopped breathing for a minute (they were stunned).
A masterpiece on its own class, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was
an over the top 6 minute saga (at a time when radio played 3 minute
singles) contained May's intricate Metal guitar, Mercury's operatic
vocals, lush harmonies which were layered and some extraordinary
lyrics ("Bismillah, no! we will not let you go...." etc).
This single
spent nine weeks at the top of the UK singles chart giving them
their first number one hit single and won them the Ivor Novello
award for best song of the year and later tied with Procol Harum's
"A Whiter Shade Of Pale" at the BRIT awards for best single
of the past 25 years. When "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released
in 1991 after Freddie Mercury's death, it again, skyrocketed into
the pole of the UK singles chart in December 1991 and stayed there
for another 5 weeks, thus giving it the rare honour being the only
single ever in the history to stay at number one position in the
UK in four calendar years (i.e., in December 1975, January 1976,
December 1991 and January 1992). If these are
are not enough, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the only single
in the history that appeared in the UK's year end best selling Top
20 singles chart in four calendar years (i.e., No. 2 in 1975, No.
6 in 1976, No. 13 in 1991 and No. 7 in 1992). To be continued on next week's TV Times........ |
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