Old Ceylon | Sooriya Records | Sri Lankan Music

Poetry for Peace, Old Ceylon, my Island of dreams, The Butterfly

January 10, 2017 by admin

Ceylon, Des Kelly, Desmond Kelly, my Island of dreams, Old Ceylon, Poetry for Peace, Sri Lanka, The Butterfly

The predecessor of “song-writing” for me, has been “poetry”. From a very early age, not only did I enjoy reading good poetry, I started writing my own. Proudly, after coming to Australia, my poetry has not only been “accepted” Internationally, it has been “published” in a beautiful hard-back volume, “The Tide of Hours” featuring the best poets & poetry of 2003. As a result, I was “invited” to the U.S.of A. many times but, because of an extremely busy “work schedule” it was impossible for me to make it to America.

The following were a trio of “poems” of mine, submitted. One was “Poetry for Peace”(my advice to the World), & the other” Old Ceylon,my Island of dreams” (later composed as a song, with music added) & to begin with, was “The Butterfly”. Please read and hopefully, enjoy :-

“THE BUTTERFLY”
Like the wings of a butterfly, emerging at last
From it’s golden chrysalis, cocoon of the past
Comes the “getting of wisdom”, as I read a good book
Yes, they’re still available, if one cares to look
And watch, from our Planet, beautiful and vast
The wings of a butterfly, emerging at last

Now, see how this butterfly flutters-by, away
It’s life on Earth short, not much time to “stay”
But fulfils it’s reason for existence on Earth
Still, it’s beauty alone, to the beholder, is worth
More than treasures & wealth, mere money can buy
Is this, God’s creation of one butterfly

He’ll flutter his beautiful wings, till a mate
Flies directly below him, and she seals his fate
They “touch wings” together, & then, bye & bye
A golden chrysalis holds a new butterfly
The “moral” of this story, what man should aim for
Is to strive to continue, make love & not war

D.K.

“MY ADVICE TO THE WORLD”

Words are inadequate, phrases, too small
A World without peace, is a World, not at all
We live and we die, in a life-span too short
To “not love our neighbour”, as we have been taught
Matters not, in which Country, a person is born
Their homeland’s too precious, by strife, to be torn

Cause war means just one thing, insatiable greed
The desire for power, to own more than we need
Thus, millions have died, with more deaths to come
If we fight senseless battles, that can never be won
It’s high time the great flag of PEACE is unfurled
And that’s why I write, my “Advice to the World.

My “Advice to the World’, is an anthem of Peace
Only God is all-powerful, it’s Him we displease
When we glorify war, with it’s suffering & pain
Would you rather not sing a love-song again
With lyrics unending, music, sweet and true
I dedicate “Advice to the World”, and to you.

D.K.

“OLD CEYLON, MY ISLAND OF DREAMS”

Oh, to walk once again
On those sun-kissed white sands
Of that tropical Island shore
To feel the warm clasp
Of friendly brown hands
In welcome, wherever I go
This is my one & dearest wish
Impossible, though it now seems
To revisit the Country
In which I was born
Old Ceylon, my Island of dreams

To wander through Pettah
And it’s milling crowd
I know I’d be happy again
And though I’d be soaked
To the skin, I’d be proud
To stand in her monsoonal rain
To taste once again
Sweet “Kaju-pulung”
And gaze on a “cats-eye” that gleams
To hear Kandyan drums
And those sweet native songs
Of old-Ceylon, my Island of dreams

“CHORUS”(Sung)

These are my memories, sweet precious memories
These are my memories of yore
These are my memories, wonderful memories
I’ll take them with me, when I go

To see the clock-tower
In Colombo Fort
And walk all along
Galle-Face green
To watch all the lasses
Who now seem to sport
The brightest of
Bright colours seen
What I would’nt give
For a walk in the night
Neath a sky full of stars
And moonbeams
To watch a fire-fly try
To spread all it’s light
On old Ceylon, my Island of dreams

To reminisce gently
And, once again meet
All the old friends
I’m longing to see
And hear, once again
The fast rhythmic beat
Of the “Ruhunu Kumari”
As she wends her long way
Thru Lanka’s green Vales
By the rush of meandering streams
It’s a Country, so small
With a beauty, so rare
It’s old Ceylon, my Island of dreams.

“CHORUS” (Repeat)

The years of my child-hood
Were second to none
But have all slipped away
Far too fast
A million memories
I remember each one
My only regret? , they are past
The leopard, the elephant
The swift “flying-fish”
The smart fox & his wily schemes
I see them again, as I now close my eyes
Back in Ceylon, my Island of dreams.

Please Note Edited Lyrics & music to above song by:-

Desmond Kelly.

Harold Seneviratne

November 18, 2016 by admin

Clarinet, Fazil Sameer, Harold Seneviratne, Old Ceylon, Sax, St. Peters College

Harold Seneviratne

Harold Seneviratne, was one of the top class veteran musicians of the Sri Lankan music scene for more than half a century. His rendition of vintage dance/jazz music was of a very high quality which held Sri Lankans enthralled for several decades.

The dance band, “Harold Seneviratne Combo”, was much sought after for weddings, dances and other events in the 60’s. Harold was also responsible for the musical backing for a variety of foreign acts, regular radio broadcasts, record releases (then it was 45 rpm). Harold, a pioneer in the western music scene in old Ceylon, took to music at the tender age of thirteen while still at his ‘Alma mater’ St. Peters College He learnt his basics from *Papa’ Menezes and the late showman Donovan Andree, who nurtured his talent and encouraged him tremendously in his musical career.

Harold learnt the violin as a start to his musical career with his two brothers Tissa and Chandra under the guidance of Papa Menezes. He mastered the piano and later switched to the sax, which he was associated with and known for worldwide, till he retired a few years ago.

Initially the band comprised of Harold on and band leader, his younger brother Tissa on drums, Sepala Attygalle on violin and Nimal Mendis on Piano. Later he was joined by Adrian Ferdinands (Piano) and Milroy de Silva (Guitar/Bass).

Others who followed up to sing and play with the band were, “Champagne Blues” with Edgar Heber on Sax, “Cherry Blossom Tree” and “Goodnight Kisses” with the Jay Brothers (Jerry and his brother the late Perrin Jayasekera), “Oh My Lover” with Sandra Edema and “Butterfly in the Rain” with Cliff Foenander.

The 60s were some of the best of times, with the interaction of music, dancing and the firm friendship of a large crowd of `Bambalawatte’ boys and girls – the Pompeus family, Desmond, Carol, Mifanwy and several brothers and sisters, the Rahim family and Miriam and Mark and Oscar Seneviratne and their siblings and others.

His performances at, The Silver Fawn Night Club, The Orchid Room, The GOB and New Delhi, just to mention a few venues, are now legendary. Harold has had the honor of playing before such international personalities as Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington. He also provided the musical backing for his schoolmate Bill Forbes, Cliff Foenander, Malcolm De Kauwe, Tony Brent, The Blue Diamonds, and other top flight international artistes.

Harold passed away a few years back much to the sadness to his family, friends and music lovers in Sri Lanka. He outlived a younger sister, Srimal, and leaves his wife, Barbara, a cousin of the Pompeus family and his son, daughters and grandchildren, his brothers Chandra, Seneka, Tissa, Ranjit, Sri Kantha, and Shanthi, sisters Indra, Mallika and Ranjani, a large extended family.

Thank you for the music, Sir.

AS TIME GOES BY

October 11, 2016 by admin

Ceylon, Des Kelly, Desmond Kelly, Old Ceylon

A beautiful old song from an era that spawned them.

Now, a “true story” with a difference.It was during the 1980’s in Melbourne. I had already been resident in my new Country for more than twenty years, now 48 years old, I had already been working here for 22 years, having started permanant/part-time employment less than a week after arrival. I still remember my very first job here, as a “mail-clerk” in Melbourne Town, rushing to the Spencer-Street railway station each morning to pick up the mail-bags from the “Southern-Cross” rail & “back at the office” sorting out the thousands of letters, cards, etc., (parcels were dispatched from another section), for the Australian Postal Service, then sending them off to each & every corner of this huge Land.

It was my “first job”, it was a great job & I enjoyed it.

This was “the thing” about Melbourne at the time. As far as employment was concerned, Melbourne was the destination of so many of us simply because, unless you were an absolute “no-hoper” there was NO EXCUSE for being unemployed.

The one & only “problem” as far as I was concerned was the fact that, even just being the autumn of 1962 at the time, travelling from Dandenong (where we lived), on what was fondly referred to, as the “red-rattlers”, it was bloody cold. I still remember a little flat in Garside Street, Dandenong, about 3 kms from the Dandy railway station, buying a bicycle to “ride” back home each evening after work, just about twilight time (those were the days when a bike was still “safe” locked up at a railway station) and dismounting with my hands clenched in a fist, frozen& unable to open up my fingers for a few minutes. 1962, Autumn/Winter was an unusually cold winter, even for Melbourne. I still remember the water-taps being frozen. Open the bloody things and nothing would come out for a while.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I “left” the mail-job after a while simply because of the inconvenience of travelling back & forth and secured employment as a “quality controller” at a place known as the South Australian Rubber Mills (S.A.R.M.) office in Dandenong. My greatest moment in this particular job was the fact that I had the unheard of, privilege to meet and shake the hand of the greatest batsman in the World, Sir Donald Bradman, who was a Director of the Rubber Mills, the head office of which was in South Australia, also the “home” of the legend, himself.

He came down to Dandenong for a “meeting” & this is where I got the chance to meet & speak with him. Being the “icon” he was, I expected hime to be aloof and stand-offish, but he was exactly the opposite. This only went to prove that, in my book anyway, “Top-Australians” tend to be the greatest ones like the “Don”, down-to-earth, humble people who knew how to make “new Australians” like myself welcome in his great Country. The couple of years I spent at S.A.R.M., was made fully worthwhile for me by that one meeting.

To me, he was the greatest Australian Cricketer, & to the entire World, he will ALWAYS be the greatest batsman, EVER. I will never forget you, Sir Donald Bradman, May you always rest in peace on the beautiful green cricket fields of Heaven.

It would be remiss of me not to mention a few other great Australians I have had the pleasure of meeting.

They included Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton, Bobby Limb, Reg. Lindsay, Johnny O’Keefe,(whose nephew, Andrew, would have to be the BEST thing that has ever happened to Channel 7 in Melbourne), & a veritable host of other T.V. “stars”, both male & female. These people, (entertainers, all of them) were top-class & I was privileged to know them and “work” with them.

Don Lane was an American who worked extensively in Melbourne television, was one “star” I was not fortunate to meet and another, unfortunately, was the “Man in the hat” the late, great, Slim Dusty.

It would be quite noticable to my readers that all the above folk were in “Show-biz” & yes, although I was told personally by Sir Roden Cutler V.C. who was the Ambassador fir Australia in Ceylon that I would definitely NOT reach the status of entertainment that I enjoyed back home in Lanka, so why did I wish to migrate? , I replied “I’ll give it my best shot, Sir”, and I am proud to say that I did just that in my new home.

So, although I always had to have a “regular job” in order to “feed my family”, “Show-Business” was ALWAYS a part-time money-earner for me. While I was on “top of the entertainment tree” in Ceylon, Sir Roden Cutler could have been quite right in his advice to me, but, proudly being an ex-Royal Ceylon Navy man, challenges have to be met in life and overcome. I was also a naturally stubborn character and the worse the challenge, the better I felt, having “a go” at it.

To get down to the “nitty-gritty”, I was the only “bread-winner” in my family in Australia. This was my own choice. With my “day-job”, later, to become shift-work, part-time & show-biz jobs, TV & “recording jobs”, organizing & running the BIGGEST Hotel talent-quest called “Search for a Star” for the Federal Hotel group, 7 nights a week, part-time “Security-jobs”, later still owning & running my D.K.Security Company, managing several other “entertainers” & bands and getting work for them, THERE HAD TO BE someone at home to look after our own family and this job was designated to my wife of 48 years, Cynthia, who did a very good job of bringing up our four children, Michael, Douglas, Michelle & Warren, a TEAM of four of the very best and four of whom I am extremely proud.

As time goes by, @ 80+ I have finally semi-retired as far as general employment is concerned anyway. I cannot go out anymore to “entertain” as I have done for 75 long years. I miss the company of hundreds of fans and friends but that’s o.k. I want them to remember me, as they saw me “on stage”, I have no regrets, simply many many memories, so, finally, I find myself writing for, what I hope will become a TOP household word in the electronic media. I have been so very lucky to have so many “firsts” in my life, I am now proud to “write” for all the Lankan Aussies everywhere as the “Star of eLanka” & I sincerely thank my good friend Neil Jayasekera for this chance. “As time goes by”,

Musically yours,
Desmond (Kelly From Colombo)

Source: http://elanka.com.au/desmond-kelly/

old-ceylon

Poetry for Peace, Old Ceylon, my Island of dreams, The Butterfly

Harold Seneviratne

AS TIME GOES BY

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