Victorious sunset

Channa Bandara WIJEKOON

The veteran singer and musician Dr Victor Rathnayake will steer his legendary one-man musical concert SA to a golden sunset.

The king of Romance, Victor Ratnayake

The countdown will be adorned with three grand SA concerts at Nelum Pokuna, Youth Centre and Lumbini theatre on July 18, 19 and 20 respectively. Shows will be graced by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Pandit Amaradeva and Prof Sunil Ariyaratne in chronology. The finale at Lumbini on July 20 has a great significance as the journey of SA was debuted from there on 1973 July 20. SA had been staged all over the island including North and East.

Victor Ratnayake said SA had been staged here and abroad over 1450 times with its overwhelming popularity and due to unprecedented demand.

“From the debut show in 1973 to date, we did not change the composition of the concert. I have been singing the songs like Thotupola Ainae and Thani Tharuwe right throughout in SA without interruption. I became a radio artiste in 1964 and SLBC is the archives for all my songs,” he said.

Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne said, Sri Lankan music has a history of around 100 years and SA is a landmark. Victor sings live in SA without miming for CDs played in the background. Thus he had never taken his fans for a ride. Apart from the service rendered by Radio Ceylon (SLBC), musical concerts like SA had done a great service to nurture and take forward the Sri Lankan music.

However the splendor of the singer called Victor Ratnayake partly covered and hindered the works of Victor Ratnayake the musician to a great extent, said Professor Ariyaratne. Victor’s ability and vigor to sing challenging songs breaking the age barrier, is a feat to reckon with. Here, he stands tall among contemporary singers.

His versatility in singing light melodies to semi-classical and ‘Nurthi’ songs were showcased in SA. Victor is an artiste who had attracted and kept his loyal fanfares intact for decades like Engelbert Humperdink in the international sphere. Victor could also be recognized as a ‘Brand Ambassador’ who created a brand and took it forward without any adaptations continuously for more than four decades.

The famous photograph of Victor used for posters

Pandit Amaradeva always had deep sentiments towards Victor’s ability and creativity. Amaradeva had sung songs like ‘Kumariyaka Paa Salamba Saluna’ and ‘Bamara Patikki’ to music composed by Victor. They sang the duets ‘Ayage Akayehi’ and ‘Mihiri Nidahasae’.

Victor had made melodies and composed music for an array of singers including Srimathi Tillekeratne, Abeywardena Balasuriya, Neranjala Sarojini, H R Jothipala, Freddie Silva, Edward Jayakody, Bandula Wijeweera, Sunil Edirisinghe, Milton Perera, Milton Mallawarachchi, Rohana Bogoda, Latha Walpola and Rukmani Devi. Chinthana Jayasena the famous journalist had proposed the concept of one-man recital and name ‘SA’ for the concert.

“I too had an urge to mingle with my fans from time to time and SA was the perfect platform to make my dream a reality,” said Victor.

In the decade of 70, a few classy singers in the country made an attempt to come up with ‘one-man shows’. Who emerged victorious in the process, is history. Victor and the late Premakeerthi de Alwis were thick pals. The dynamic duo made history by making a gamut of evergreen songs. Premakeerthi, Prof Ariyaratne, Bandara K Wijetunga, K D K Dharmawardene, Sena Weerasekera, Gamini Fonseka, contributed as frontline lyricists of SA. A song like ‘Ahimi Unath Numba Landae’ penned by Gamini was a hit in SA. A set of romantic lyrics like ‘Kalpana’ and ‘Guru Paara Digae’ penned by Kularatne Ariyawansa were in perfect harmony with Victor’s youthful and romantic voice. The explorative association of this duo was a landmark in the singer’s career.

Among many artistes associated with SA, Aelien de Zoysa who played the ‘Serpina’ for ‘Podi Kumarihamiye’ was a prominent figure. Jayantha Ratnayake took the reins from Aelien to do a good job. Wijeratne Ranatunga marveled with his Tabla. Victor garlanded him at times on conclusion of a show. Lakshman Wijesekera and Ananda Weerasiri are continuing to contribute as chorus singers from the inception.

Compering of Premakeerthi was at its best. Senior announcer Wasantha Rohana added colour to SA after Prem. The main duet singer of SA was Neranjala Sarojini. Her successor in recent times was the budding songstress Arosha Samaradiwakara.

The original ‘SA’ team with Victor. Pictures by P U D Perera

Rohana Weerasinghe was an artiste who got inspiration from Victor’s music style to become a renowned musician in the country.

Among the ardent fans of Victor were the damsels who were crazy about his romantic voice. They used to come in teams to watch SA with autographs. The ones who did not have autographs had held on to their idol’s long hair to snatch one or two to take home as a memento. Victor had also lost many of his handkerchiefs the same way.

A youthful Victor found it challenging at times to bear up with this overwhelming popularity, which no other artiste in this country had experienced. His beloved wife Chitra stood beside him as a mother to guide him out of this snag. Venturing into film music was yet another feat performed to its best by Victor. Music composed by Victor for films such as ‘Sarungalae’, ‘Hulawaali’, ‘Siribo Aiya’ and ‘Vajira’ are monuments in the history of Sinhala film music.

Victor is the only Sinhala artiste apart from Gamini Fonseka and Vijaya Kumarathunga who had the magic of becoming an idol in the North and South in the country alike. This rare ability had made Victor an ambassador who made an earnest effort to bridge the gap between Sinhala and Tamil speaking population in the country.

In the decade of 70, almost every issue of Silumina weekend newspaper carried a SA advert in the back page. Kularatne Ariyawansa recalled how they used to travel in ‘SA-bus’ with Victor to outstations in their youth. P U D Perera had taken many rare photographs of Victor which had been used for propaganda of SA and in media.

I had the rare opportunity of writing the most number of articles on Victor in Sinhala and English since 1989. The legendary musician cum singer whom I know is still too young to wrap up his singing and recordings.

A precise evaluation of Victor’s ability in melody making, music composing and singing had not been made to date. However, this overdue appraisal could be looked at in a different perspective. The magic in Victor is bestowed to him by Lord Saraswathie. Mere mortals like us could never be able to review or appraise that fascination in him.

Thus we will continue to mesmerize ourselves by his vocal and musical works. His kit is still in abundance of this miraculous stuff.

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