[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":313},["ShallowReactive",2],{"person-en-j-a-milton-perera":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"artistId":6,"birthYear":7,"body":8,"born":280,"description":281,"died":282,"era":283,"extension":284,"heroImage":285,"imageCredit":286,"imageLicense":287,"imageSource":288,"meta":289,"navigation":290,"notable":291,"path":292,"roles":293,"seo":297,"sources":298,"stem":311,"translated":290,"url":301,"__hash__":312},"peopleEn\u002Fen\u002Fpeople\u002Fj-a-milton-perera.md","J. A. Milton Perera",464,1938,{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":271},"minimark",[11,15,18,23,31,47,68,72,111,114,166,172,182,217,235,239,250,254,264],[12,13,14],"p",{},"Green Street, Kotahena, in the 1940s. A man called J. A. Edwin Perera owns a row of small houses along the road and rents most of them out; he lives in one of them with his son. Everybody knows him as Tabla Podi Appuhamy, because he is a very good tabla player, and the boy has been sitting beside the drums almost since he could sit. The boy will be known to the country as J. A. Milton Perera, and thirty years later there will hardly be a Sinhala film in which somebody does not sing in his voice.",[12,16,17],{},"He was born in Colombo on 5 May 1938, and the tabla came first. At fourteen, when Raj Kapoor and Nargis and a party of Indian film people visited Ceylon — Sri Lankan accounts date the visit to 1954 — he was good enough to be put behind the drums to accompany their singing and dancing. He played dholak at festivals. The percussionist's training never left the singing: his phrasing sits inside a rhythm cycle in a way that few of his contemporaries' did.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"radio-and-a-disputed-beginning","Radio, and a disputed beginning",[12,24,25,26,30],{},"How he got on the air is agreed on; when is not. H. R. Jothipala, already established, introduced him to Sripali Wayman of Radio Ceylon's ",[27,28,29],"em",{},"Velenda Sevaya",", the commercial service. English-language sources say his first broadcast song was \"Alehi Bendi Jeewitha\", written by Aloy Gunawardena to a melody by Mohamed Sally, and that his father died five days before it went out — but the same account dates it to 1940, when Milton was two years old, which cannot be right.",[12,32,33,34,37,38,42,43,46],{},"His son Priyankara, interviewed by ",[27,35,36],{},"Sarasaviya"," in 2015, gives a different first: ",[39,40,41],"strong",{},"එන්නද රන් මැණිකේ"," ",[27,44,45],{},"Ennada Ran Manike",", a duet with Pushparani Ariyaratne, written by Chitrananda Abeysekera to music by P. L. A. Somapala, which he says was first broadcast in 1957. The two accounts may describe different things — a first solo and a first duet — but neither can be reconciled with the other's dating, and this article states both rather than choosing.",[12,48,49,50,42,53,56,57,60,61,42,64,67],{},"What is certain is that by the late 1950s his name was on radio, with ",[39,51,52],{},"පොඩි කාලේ අපි දෙන්නා",[27,54,55],{},"Podi Kale Api Denna"," (\"when we were little, the two of us\"), ",[27,58,59],{},"Oba Wewa Wewa Pahana Mage"," and ",[39,62,63],{},"කල්‍යාණියෙ",[27,65,66],{},"Kalyaniye"," among the songs that put it there.",[19,69,71],{"id":70},"the-voice-behind-the-actors","The voice behind the actors",[12,73,74,75,78,79,82,83,82,86,82,89,82,92,82,95,82,98,82,101,82,104,82,107,110],{},"Playback singing was where he became unavoidable. His first film was ",[27,76,77],{},"Kurulu Bedda"," in 1961, and from there the list runs for two decades and something over eighty films: ",[27,80,81],{},"Dheewarayo",", ",[27,84,85],{},"Chandiya",[27,87,88],{},"Yatagiya Dawasa",[27,90,91],{},"Allapu Gedara",[27,93,94],{},"Sarawita",[27,96,97],{},"Daru Duka",[27,99,100],{},"Bicycle Hora",[27,102,103],{},"Ataweni Pudumaya",[27,105,106],{},"Sikuruliya",[27,108,109],{},"Deiyange Theenduwa",". He sang for Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrama, Tony Ranasinghe, Vijaya Kumaratunga, D. R. Nanayakkara and others — which in the Sinhala cinema of the period meant that his voice, not theirs, was what audiences carried out of the hall.",[12,112,113],{},"In 1966 he took the Best Singer award at the Sarasavi Awards and was named Most Popular Singer of the Year at the Golden Sankha Awards.",[12,115,116,117,42,120,82,123,42,126,60,129,42,132,135,136,42,139,142,143,42,146,60,149,42,152,155,156,42,159,162,163,165],{},"The songs themselves were made by the best people working. Karunaratne Abeysekera wrote ",[39,118,119],{},"සොභා අලංකාරේ මුහුණේ",[27,121,122],{},"Sobha Alankare Muhune",[39,124,125],{},"මහ ගණ වනන්තරේ",[27,127,128],{},"Maha Gana Wananthare",[39,130,131],{},"මේ පිපාසිත ලෝ තළේ",[27,133,134],{},"Me Pipasitha Lo Thale"," for him, all to music by R. Muttusamy, and ",[39,137,138],{},"නිදහස් කාහල නාදය",[27,140,141],{},"Nidahas Kahala Nadaya"," to a tune by M. K. Rocksamy. Mahagama Sekera and Amaradeva gave him ",[39,144,145],{},"ලක්ෂ ගණන් වස්තු ලැබී",[27,147,148],{},"Laksha Ganan Wasthu Labi",[39,150,151],{},"සිරිසාර බුලත් විට",[27,153,154],{},"Sirisara Bulath Wita",". Clarence Wijewardena wrote him ",[39,157,158],{},"කොමළ ලියා බොළඳ ලියා",[27,160,161],{},"Komala Liya Bolanda Liya",", from ",[27,164,106],{},", to words by Dharmasiri Gamage. Dozens more sit in the catalogue with no writer or composer recorded at all, which is the ordinary condition of film song from this period.",[19,167,169],{"id":168},"shoka-gee",[27,170,171],{},"Shoka gee",[12,173,174,175,178,179,181],{},"He is remembered above everything for ",[27,176,177],{},"shoka gee"," — songs of grief, of heartbreak, of the lover who has been left. ",[27,180,36],{}," put it well in 2015: his sorrowing voice was like shade for the loneliness of defeated lovers, healing the tears of separation by producing a calm sadness in the heart rather than a wound.",[12,183,184,185,42,188,191,192,42,195,82,198,42,201,82,204,42,207,60,210,42,213,216],{},"The songs people mean are ",[39,186,187],{},"ඔබේ ප්‍රේම නගරේ",[27,189,190],{},"Obe Prema Nagare"," (\"in the city of your love, in the mansion of love you built, I came looking for lodging — why did you go and leave me\"), ",[39,193,194],{},"කඳුළු අතරට සිනා රැළි",[27,196,197],{},"Kandulu Atharata Sina Rali",[39,199,200],{},"පෙර ආත්මයක එක රාත්‍රියක",[27,202,203],{},"Pera Athmayaka Eka Rathriyaka",[39,205,206],{},"සුරැකීමට හෝ නැතිවී",[27,208,209],{},"Surakeemata Ho Nathiwee",[39,211,212],{},"අගාධ සාගරයේ",[27,214,215],{},"Agadha Sagaraye",". It is a specific emotional register, and he owned it so completely that later singers working the same ground are still measured against him.",[12,218,219,220,42,223,226,227,230,231,234],{},"He was not confined to it. He sang comic and topical songs — ",[39,221,222],{},"හිස් ටින් එකක් වාගෙයි අපේ මේ ජීවිතේ",[27,224,225],{},"His Tin Ekak Wagei Ape Me Jeewithe",", \"this life of ours is like an empty tin\" — and he sang baila, most famously ",[27,228,229],{},"Pissu Vikare (Dagena Polkatu Male)"," alongside Jothipala and M. S. Fernando, itself a Sinhala remake of the Tamil \"Dingiri Dingale\" from the 1958 film ",[27,232,233],{},"Anbu Engey",".",[19,236,238],{"id":237},"jothipala","Jothipala",[12,240,241,242,245,246,249],{},"The two men were close friends and the two biggest male voices of the same decade, which is a difficult arrangement. With Karunaratne Abeysekera and Gunaratne Abeysekera they made a ",[27,243,244],{},"vada gee"," or debate-song known in the trade as ",[27,247,248],{},"Ananga Wadaya",", in which two singers argue in verse. Sinhala newspapers have since run features claiming that the recording caused a genuine falling-out between Jothi and Milton. Those pieces are the only source for the quarrel, they are decades after the fact, and they should be read as trade legend until something contemporaneous surfaces. The friendship, at least, is well attested: Milton, Jothipala, Aloy Gunawardena and Karunaratne Abeysekera moved as a group.",[19,251,253],{"id":252},"not-the-other-milton","Not the other Milton",[12,255,256,257,259,260,263],{},"There are two Sinhala singers called Milton, and they are constantly confused. ",[39,258,5],{}," (1938–1991) is the film playback singer described here. ",[39,261,262],{},"Milton Mallawarachchi"," (1944–1998), who also has a profile on this site, was a radio and record singer of the following decade with a lighter, more romantic delivery, and the two never shared a career except in listeners' memories. Even Sri Lankan writers pair their names in the same sentence often enough that the two catalogues blur; they should not be merged.",[12,265,266,267,270],{},"Milton Perera died in Colombo on 24 October 1991, at fifty-three. His eldest son Priyankara and his son Chalaka Chamupathi have gone on performing his repertoire, and in 2015 Priyankara released ",[27,268,269],{},"Paduru",", a collection of sixteen of his father's songs including several that had never been widely broadcast. Asked then whether young listeners still cared, he said they did — that what they actually liked, as against what they were told was popular, were his father's songs, and Jothipala's, and Milton Mallawarachchi's. That answer has held up.",{"title":272,"searchDepth":273,"depth":273,"links":274},"",2,[275,276,277,278,279],{"id":21,"depth":273,"text":22},{"id":70,"depth":273,"text":71},{"id":168,"depth":273,"text":171},{"id":237,"depth":273,"text":238},{"id":252,"depth":273,"text":253},"5 May 1938","The leading male playback voice of Sinhala cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, and the acknowledged master of shoka gee — the songs of heartbreak that a whole generation played when it had nothing else to say.","24 October 1991","1950s-1980s","md","\u002Fimages\u002Fpeople\u002Fj-a-milton-perera.webp","Sinduloke","Unverified — fallback source","https:\u002F\u002Fsinduloke.wordpress.com\u002F%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%A7%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B6%B4%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%9A%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%8F\u002F",{},true,false,"\u002Fen\u002Fpeople\u002Fj-a-milton-perera",[294,295,296],"Singer","Composer","Musician",{"title":5,"description":281},[299,302,305,308],{"title":300,"url":301},"J. A. Milton Perera — Wikipedia","https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FJ._A._Milton_Perera",{"title":303,"url":304},"තාත්තාගේ ගී අදටත් ජනප්‍රියයි — Sarasaviya, 16 April 2015","http:\u002F\u002Farchives.sarasaviya.lk\u002F2015\u002F04\u002F16\u002F?fn=sa15041642",{"title":306,"url":307},"H. R. Jothipala — Wikipedia","https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FH._R._Jothipala",{"title":309,"url":310},"Karunaratne Abeysekera — Wikipedia","https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKarunaratne_Abeysekera","en\u002Fpeople\u002Fj-a-milton-perera","0EOpirrCCvOIk0RwaGvNq4wYFrygL3tQWGl8sxlnAJg",1787999332032]