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| Wednesday, 22 September 2004 |
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Artscope | |
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Gration: Born to sing by Anjana Gamage Gration Ananda, a leading film music director and a singer completed 25 years of his musical career last year. To celebrate his silver jubilee in the music field he will present "Ananda Rathriya Super Concert" at the BMICH on September 25 at 6.00 p.m. Gration will introduce three new talented singers Ruphas Hettiarachchi, Mangala Ravindra Ranasinghe and Vernon Gunasekera to the local music scene on the same occasion. Meanwhile, Gration will launch his latest CD and non-stop cassette " Gration Popular Gee" and " Anupama Putha" to mark the silver jubilee. Gration began his music career when he was a child. His mother Mrs. Bernadine Jayawardena gifted him with a mouthorgan on his fourth birthday. Then he joined the All Saints' Church choir at Borella. An old boy of St. Mathew's and St. Joseph's College, Colombo, Gration Ananda recorded his first duet " Etha Duraka Desa Pavela" with Neela Wickremasinghe in 1978. Lyrics for the song was written by Kularathne Ariyawansa. Playback singer Being the lead guitarist who sang with "Fortunes", " Dreamers", "Ernest and the Combo", "Superset" and "Seac" for many years, he got his major break when renowned music director Sarath Dassanayake made him his assistant for one of his films. Later, he joined Stanley Peiris as his assistant.
From 1981 onwards Gration emerged as a playback singer and established himself as the male vocalist for all the leading stars on the screen beginning with popular actor Vijaya Kumaratunga. The first film song was for Sanath Gunathilake in the film " Sasara Chethana" directed by Malani Fonseka. He was the playback singer for Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrema, Ravindra Randeniya, Jeevan Kumaratunga, Lucky Dias, Priyankara Perera, Kamal Addaraarachchi, Ajith Jinadasa and Lal Weerasinghe as well. In fact, he was often hailed as the heir to popular singer H.R. Jothipala's throne. The song " Sihina Ahase Wasanthe" in Yasapalitha Nanayakkara's " Nevatha Api Hamuwemu" became one of the most popular songs among film fans. During his career, he has lent his voice for more than 500 Sinhala films and he has directed the music for 15 films including K.A.W. Perera's " Durga" and "Dhawala Pushpaya" , Jeevan Kumaratunga's " Randenigala Sinhaya", Jayantha Das Perera's " Landuni Oba Dewaganaki" and Ranjan de Silva's " Hitha Honda Gehaniyak". Jothipala In an interview with the " Artscope" he said no one could imitate popular singer H. R. Jothipala's voice. " There were several attempts by many youngsters to imitate 'Jothipala'. But all of them have failed. I have co-assisted for male-duets with Jothipala for many films like " Jaya Apatai", Jaya Sikurui", Newatha Hamuwemu", "Raja Wedakarayo" and " Mamai Raja". Therefore I know that another Jothipala with the same melodious voice will never be born here. The time has come to bring new laws by the authorities to halt the singing of original songs by newcomers to the field. They can sing their own songs but they should not be allowed to sing original songs of well-known artistes. However, there is also a shortage of good playback singers in the film industry. Therefore it has become a difficult task for film directors to find a singer with a powerful screen voice", he said. Gration got the opportunity to provide Sinhala music to " Soorya" an Indo-Lanka co-production. Renowned musician Illeyraja provided music for the Indian version. The film will be released in Sri Lanka next year. Gration won the prestigious Sarasaviya Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1994 for " Raja Daruwo". Gration will sing some of his popular hits at the concert and he will be assisted by fellow artistes such as Latha Walpola, Angeline Goonatilake, Neela Wickramasinghe, Sharmi Fonseka, Nirosha Virajini, Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Uresha Ravihari. The students of Channa Wijewardena will present dance items for the songs. **** Back **** |
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