Filed under: Sri Lanka
♬ Clarence Wijewardena & Super Golden Chimes • Gamen Liyumak
♬ Annesley Malawana & Super Golden Chimes • Udarata Niliya
The music of Sri Lanka is a product of cultural traditions that are the result of three major factors: the religious practices of Buddhism, the lingering influences of Portuguese colonization, and the influence of Indian culture – most notably, Bollywood cinema.
The country’s first pop band was The Moonstones. The group was formed by Clarence Wijewardena and Annesley Malewana in 1966, in the town of Ratnapura. Clarence Wijewardena is also credited with being the person who first introduced the electric guitar into Sinhala music. Although the band was only together for four years, they were very influential. Wijewardena left in 1970 to form the Golden Chimes with singer Anil Bharati, and Malawana continued the group as the Fabulous Moonstones with Mike Gunesekera. In 1972, The Fabulous Moonstones called it quits and Malawana teamed up with Wijewardena once again. They changed the name of the band to The Super Golden Chimes and were quite popular well into the 80s. They reunited in 2003 and 2004.
Catalog number LECL / 007 / LP / 001 on Lotus Entertainment Company Ltd. of Sri Lanka. No release date listed.
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Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
Sri Lanka is the most beautiful country in the world. It would be perfect if we had some honest leaders!
Comment by sheena October 19, 2010 @ 3:56 pmGamen Liyumak (“Letter from the Village”) is about the protagonist, a student at a hostel, receiving a letter from his home village written by his sister. He then narrates the letter asking him to come home and talks about what it is like at home.
Udarata Niliya (“Uptown Actress”) is singing the praises of a lady from Uptown (the mountains i.e. Kandy).
Both are very popular in Sri Lanka still.
Comment by Upendra Samaranayake September 29, 2013 @ 2:09 pm