He sang with so much feeling

Gamen liyumak aville – Akkagen vaage

Mokak kiyalada danne – Akka gen vaage

Out of the many songs credited to the talented singer Clarence Wijewardena, this is my favourite. It’s such a simple and homely theme: The ‘malli’ away from home gets a letter. He feels it’s from his ‘akka’. He hadn’t gone home for some time. Everyone is anxiously waiting for him to come. May be you have too much work, but try to come soon, she requests. 

Then she updates him on what has been happening in the village – the well grown green paddy fields which are a beauty, and the splendid look of the tanks and wells filled up after the rains. 

Pahala kumbure nil goyam den - harima sarusaarai

Vesi veti vavu ling pireela- harima siriyavai

She adds: Much more to write but I feel shy: ‘Thavath aaranhche godai – kiyannata lejjai

The words are by Clarence. The lilting melody is his. He sings it with feeling. The song is a fine example of his versatility. I listened to him sing this song and many others on YouTube last Tuesday – 13 December – the day of his 20th death anniversary. He should not have departed at the early age of 53 but that was his lifespan in this birth.

Year 1968. The talent of the young man of 21 from Ratnapura was spotted by Sri Sangabo Corea who was attached to Lever Brothers at the time. He promoted the young man with a guitar in his hand to form a group, He did. He named it ‘Moonstones’. He composed a song for Sangabo’s daughter ‘Dilhani’ which became a hit. It was followed by one on the city of gens – ‘Ruvanpuraya ape gama thamai’ and ‘Mango Nanda’. 

Clarence was soon to be helped by two other Coreas – Vernon and Vijaya – both broadcasters. ‘Moonstones’ came to be heard over the State radio – the only broadcasting station at the time with its Commercial Service being popular even overseas. 

With vocalist Annesley Malewana, ‘Moonstones’ soon made their mark as an up and coming group. Fans had initially got a taste of a new form of Sinhala music from the pioneering effort of Neville Fernando and the Los Cabelleros. Clarance improved on their effort and stabilised what came to be called Sinhala pop music. 

With ‘Mango Nanda’ they produced the first album. Many others followed.

He was soon to from a new group ‘Golden Chimes’ and introduce Anil Bharati to the music scene with all-time favourites ‘AdA vei iru dina’, ‘ Bethlehem pure’ and ‘Tikirimalee’. This group was soon to follow with ‘Super Golden Chimes’ with both Annesly Malewana and Anil Bharati as vocalists. This marked the zenith of Clarence’s musical career.

Initially Clarence was keen on composing music. He moved over to singing later. That was when Karunaratne Abeysekera wrote the lyrics of ‘Dileepla podi puthu’ when his son was born. With it he began solo singing. The fans loved his voice. The list is too long to record the songs he sang. 

There were other well-known singers for whom he composed music. Among them was the ever- popular Milton Mallawarachchi. Once Clarence said that for him this best composition was the song ‘Thanivi sitinnai’ sung by Milton.

Clarence got his break in directing music for films with ‘Sikuru Liya’ and in teledramas with ‘Susima’.

‘Marians’, a musical group with a history of over twenty years have paid a well-deserved tribute to this unforgettable musician with ‘Clarence Unplugged with Marians’.