[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":289},["ShallowReactive",2],{"person-en-dharmaratne-brothers":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"artistId":6,"birthYear":7,"body":8,"born":252,"description":253,"died":254,"era":255,"extension":256,"heroImage":257,"imageCredit":258,"imageLicense":259,"imageSource":260,"meta":261,"navigation":262,"notable":263,"path":264,"roles":265,"seo":267,"sources":268,"stem":287,"translated":262,"url":271,"__hash__":288},"peopleEn\u002Fen\u002Fpeople\u002Fdharmaratne-brothers.md","Dharmaratne Brothers",379,1967,{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":244},"minimark",[11,25,28,33,36,39,46,50,75,103,106,116,120,130,150,189,193,196,207,210,241],[12,13,14,15,19,20,24],"p",{},"Every other Sinhala band on the circuit in the late 1960s was buying the same equipment: electric guitars, and a set of congas. The Dharmaratne Brothers turned up with an acoustic guitar and a ",[16,17,18],"strong",{},"රබාන"," ",[21,22,23],"em",{},"rabāna"," — the flat, hand-beaten drum you hear at a village new-year game, not at a pop show.",[12,26,27],{},"It was not a budget decision. \"We did that on purpose because we wanted to have our national identity in our music and appearance,\" Melroy Dharmaratne said years later. \"The other bands played mostly Congo drums and other percussion instruments.\"",[29,30,32],"h2",{"id":31},"four-brothers-from-college-street","Four brothers from College Street",[12,34,35],{},"The family lived down College Street in Kotahena, in Colombo's Catholic north. The father, Clarence Vernon Dharmaratne, died when the children were young, and their mother Stella held the household together — and, by the family's own account, insisted that the boys stay together through music. She started it with two of them, Melroy and Ronald, before Christie and Maxwell made it a quartet.",[12,37,38],{},"Melroy, born in 1947, was the youngest and became the group's engine: he wrote the words and most of the tunes, and he never learned to read musical notation. He went to St Benedict's College, was pushed onto the school stage in grade six by two of the Brothers there after they heard him sing, and was recruited into the choir at St Lucia's church nearby. He grew up listening to Christopher Paul, Vincent de Paul Peiris, Mohideen Baig, Milton Perera, H. R. Jothipala and Sunil Santha on the radio.",[12,40,41,42,45],{},"They sang at school functions, parties and weddings first. Their first proper stage appearance came in 1967, at a variety show called ",[21,43,44],{},"Asiri Kusum"," got up as a fundraiser for St Bridget's Convent — a bill made up entirely of Sinhala harmony vocal groups, which was itself a novelty. Sharing it with them were La Ceylonians, the Moonstones, La Lavinians, Los Flamingos, the Humming Birds, La Bambas, Los Muchachos and Trio Los Serenaders. Almost none of those names mean anything today. Two of them turned out to matter.",[29,47,49],{"id":48},"vessa-wahinawa","Vessa Wahinawa",[12,51,52,53,55,56,59,60,63,64,19,67,70,71,74],{},"The first records were cut for the Philips label in July 1968, after the group was picked up by Patrick Corea of Gowri Corporation, the local Philips agents — although a later interview with Melroy gives the man's name as Patrick Perera, and Melroy himself once dated the first EP to 1967. The four songs on it were Melroy's own: ",[21,54,49],{}," (\"the rain is falling\", also printed as Wessa and Vessa Vahinawa), ",[21,57,58],{},"Punchi Hurathala",", ",[21,61,62],{},"Kandukare"," — ",[16,65,66],{},"කඳුකරේ පෙම් කතන්දරේ",[21,68,69],{},"Kandukare Pem Kathandare",", \"a love story in the hill country\" — and ",[21,72,73],{},"Nondi Kira",". Each is said to have sold over 3,000 copies, which for Sinhala group music in 1968 was a serious number.",[12,76,77,78,19,81,84,85,59,88,91,92,59,95,98,99,102],{},"They moved next to Sooriya, Gerald Wickremesooriya's new label, and also recorded for Decca and Saraswathi. The Sooriya hits were ",[16,79,80],{},"වාසිටි කොල්ලෝ",[21,82,83],{},"Varsity Kollo"," (\"the varsity boys\"), ",[21,86,87],{},"Suhada Pathum",[21,89,90],{},"Sahodarayo Hathardena"," (\"four brothers\" — a title that was also a description), ",[21,93,94],{},"Kellani Me Ahapalla",[21,96,97],{},"Priyangika"," and ",[21,100,101],{},"Awwa Payala"," (\"the sun has come out\").",[12,104,105],{},"The songs were about weather and landscape rather than heartbreak. \"We based our songs on topics relating to environment,\" Melroy said. \"We wrote songs about rain, the sun and mountains for the most part.\" That, plus the rabāna, is why they sit slightly apart from everything else in the Sooriya catalogue.",[12,107,108,109,98,112,115],{},"Their airtime came through the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon rather than the rationed Sinhala service — the sponsored shows ",[21,110,111],{},"Zellers",[21,113,114],{},"Elasto",", introduced by Vijaya Corea, whom the brothers credit with getting their music onto the air at all. They also name Nevil Jayaweera and Levy Wijemanne of the Commercial Service, and the showmen Malcolm Andree and Jayatissa Hettiarachchi, who booked them into Colombo and the Kandy Lake Club.",[29,117,119],{"id":118},"the-carol-and-the-niece","The carol, and the niece",[12,121,122,123,19,126,129],{},"Two of the group's records outlived the band. The first is ",[16,124,125],{},"කලකට පෙර ඒ බෙත්ලෙහෙම්",[21,127,128],{},"Kalakata Pera Ae Bethleheme"," — their Sinhala version of the Caribbean carol \"Mary's Boy Child\", which is now sung in Sri Lankan churches every Christmas and which Melroy described in 2008 as one of the most recorded songs in the history of Sri Lankan music. The Gypsies recorded it with the family's permission.",[12,131,132,133,19,136,139,140,59,143,98,146,149],{},"The second is not theirs at all. Their niece Shiromie Fernando — \"Baby Shiromi\" — was eleven when she recorded ",[16,134,135],{},"කොන්ද නමාගෙන",[21,137,138],{},"Konda Namagena"," in 1971, with Melroy writing and the brothers arranging. It made her a child star, and ",[21,141,142],{},"Pembara Amma",[21,144,145],{},"Sakala Bujan",[21,147,148],{},"Handahami"," followed. She later moved to Canada; her songs are now sung by Nelum Dharmaratne, Maxwell's daughter.",[12,151,152,153,59,156,59,159,59,162,59,165,168,169,172,173,176,177,180,181,184,185,188],{},"Melroy's melodies also went to other singers, most happily to his own idol. For H. R. Jothipala he composed ",[21,154,155],{},"Oba Nidanna",[21,157,158],{},"Mal Ethano",[21,160,161],{},"Gangawai Mahamuhudai",[21,163,164],{},"Malin Peeregiya",[21,166,167],{},"Durakathanayakin"," and the Japan-set ",[21,170,171],{},"Ayubowan Ayubowan","; for Milton Mallawarachchi ",[21,174,175],{},"Me Mei Gaha Yata","; for Felix Anton ",[21,178,179],{},"Sulang Rella","; for Milton Perera ",[21,182,183],{},"Punchi Punchi Tharaka","; for Paul Fernando ",[21,186,187],{},"Egoda Gode",".",[29,190,192],{"id":191},"drifting-apart-and-coming-back","Drifting apart, and coming back",[12,194,195],{},"Christie took a job in the Middle East in 1978 and the group stopped performing. Maxwell, Ronald and Melroy decided to return to the stage in 1986; a year later Ronald was killed in a bus accident.",[12,197,198,199,202,203,206],{},"The three surviving brothers came back properly in 1998, when Annesley Malewana began his ",[21,200,201],{},"Stars of the 70s"," concerts and invited them. \"Annesley Malawana must be applauded for commencing with courage the ",[21,204,205],{},"Stars of 70s"," shows in today's different music scene,\" Christie said in 2001. They have been working since, and in December 2008 marked forty years in music with a concert at the Elphinstone Theatre in Maradana, Super Chimes backing them, Vijaya Corea compering, and a new CD of their original recordings released on the night.",[12,208,209],{},"Accounts of how many original songs they made vary a little — \"more than thirty\" in 2001, \"over 35\" in 2008 — which is a small enough catalogue that most of it is still recognised. The dates wobble too: Wikipedia and the brothers' own 1967 stage debut sit against a 2008 profile that has \"a band came in the early 1960s\", and against Melroy's memory of the first EP appearing in 1967 rather than 1968.",[12,211,212,213,216,217,220,221,224,225,228,229,232,233,236,237,240],{},"Melroy, meanwhile, has had four or five careers running in parallel. He joined the ",[21,214,215],{},"Sawasa"," newspaper of the Dawasa group as a journalist in 1971, drew a cartoon strip called ",[21,218,219],{},"Sapinna",", and was the first to publish Sinhala-language reviews of English films in the local press. He published his first novel, ",[21,222,223],{},"Malawunge Kathawak",", in 1971, and it was filmed as ",[21,226,227],{},"Kavuluwa","; more novels followed in the 2000s and 2010s. He wrote and staged drama — including ",[21,230,231],{},"Nava Magaka Yanno",", which took best actor, best production and best make-up at the 1977 all-island contest — and composed and directed the music for two films, ",[21,234,235],{},"Pathini"," (1978) and ",[21,238,239],{},"Weswalagath Tharuni"," (1986), neither of which was ever released because of production disputes.",[12,242,243],{},"For a band whose case was that a hand drum and one acoustic guitar were enough, that is a lot of afterlife.",{"title":245,"searchDepth":246,"depth":246,"links":247},"",2,[248,249,250,251],{"id":31,"depth":246,"text":32},{"id":48,"depth":246,"text":49},{"id":118,"depth":246,"text":119},{"id":191,"depth":246,"text":192},"1967","Four brothers from College Street, Kotahena, billed as the first all-family Sinhala pop group — and the only band of the guitar era that deliberately played a rabāna instead of congas.",null,"1960s-2000s","md","\u002Fimages\u002Fpeople\u002Fdharmaratne-brothers.webp","FrontPage.lk","Unverified — fallback source","https:\u002F\u002Ffrontpage.lk\u002Fcharming-in-calypso\u002F",{},true,false,"\u002Fen\u002Fpeople\u002Fdharmaratne-brothers",[266],"Band",{"title":5,"description":253},[269,272,275,278,281,284],{"title":270,"url":271},"Dharmaratne Brothers — Wikipedia","https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FDharmaratne_Brothers",{"title":273,"url":274},"Mahes Perera, 'Back with their halcyon hits' — Sunday Observer, 12 August 2001 (Internet Archive)","https:\u002F\u002Fweb.archive.org\u002Fweb\u002F20050506131143\u002Fhttp:\u002F\u002Fwww.sundayobserver.lk\u002F2001\u002F08\u002F12\u002Fent01.html",{"title":276,"url":277},"Anjana Gamage, 'Dharmaratne Bros. to bring back lilting melodies of the past' — Daily News, 25 August 2005 (Internet Archive)","https:\u002F\u002Fweb.archive.org\u002Fweb\u002F20070930022203\u002Fhttp:\u002F\u002Fwww.dailynews.lk\u002F2005\u002F08\u002F25\u002Ffea07.htm",{"title":279,"url":280},"Chamikara Weerasinghe, 'Dharmaratna Brothers celebrate 40 years in music' — Daily News, 20 December 2008 (Internet Archive)","https:\u002F\u002Fweb.archive.org\u002Fweb\u002F20081225132439\u002Fhttp:\u002F\u002Fwww.dailynews.lk\u002F2008\u002F12\u002F20\u002Ffea06.asp",{"title":282,"url":283},"Sunil Thenabadu, 'Melroy — five decades of effervescent voyage' — The Sunday Times, 12 July 2020","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sundaytimes.lk\u002F200712\u002Fmagazine\u002Fmelroy-five-decades-of-effervescent-voyage-408737.html",{"title":285,"url":286},"Sooriya Records — Wikipedia","https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSooriya_Records","en\u002Fpeople\u002Fdharmaratne-brothers","TqGOfED2kyyj8Hwj8C97EbLouKJCaAHoJpipFiaynRo",1787999331638]