Sri Lanka loses a silent musical genius
(By Lantha de Alwis)
Some of you may have heard that Narada Disasekara passed away on 19 May after a brief illness. Narada was one of the most talented singers Sri Lanka has ever produced, but for some reason he did not attract much publicity. He was the winner of the first Sarasaviya Award in 1964 for the Best Background Singer for the song ““Galana Gangaki Jeevithe” with Nanda Malini for the film Ranmuthu Duwa (which incidentally was the first colour film to be produced in Sri Lanka).
He schooled at Kalutara Vidyalaya where he excelled as a cricketer. As the story goes he has once struck a huge sixer that flew over the Galle Road and the Railway to plunge in to Kalu Ganga. On a Television interview he was asked about this but he brushed it aside. According to one of his contemporaries, Narada’s dream was to become an actor and apparently had the good looks to qualify. He joined Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation as a technician (apparently a sound artist) and started his singing career while being employed there. It is said that he is one of the two people who successfully made the transition from a technician to a singer at the CBC, the other one was Gunadasa Kapuge.
It is a mark of his talents that W D Amaradeva picked him twice to sing in films where he directed music; One was Ranmuthu Duwa and the other was Gatavarayo where Narada sang “Aarichchi Borichchi”. His songs had an enduring quality and captured the hearts of the young and not-so-young alike. Many a time I and my gang of friends belted out his songs lustily (off-tune of course) during our younger days. Most importantly his songs had a unique Sri Lankan identity.
For some reason Narada never broke in to the big league though he was not short of talent to do so. Once he was asked during an interview why he did not quite achieve the same status as W D Amaradeva though his voice was almost similar. His reply was that not everyone could become a larger-than-life figure. I think this answer is a good indication of the nature of the man; quiet, humble, and retiring. Perhaps in the musical scene where self-promotion is as important as talent (sometimes more so) Narada was too soft to move up the ladder.
He was married to Tilaka Ranasinghe, who was an announcer at CBC/SLBC (a sister of Douglas Ranasainghe, the actor) and leaves behind one son.
Narada’s death leaves a gap in the Sri Lankan musical scene that would not be easily filled, and the rich tapestry of Sri Lankan arts and culture has lost another one of its golden threads.
For more information please visit http://www.lankaenews.com/Sinhala/news.php?id=13525
You can find a good collection of Narada’s songs (in the original format) on http://www.infolanka.com/miyuru_gee