Nimal Mendis
Encyclopedia
Nimal Mendis is a Sri Lanka
n singer and songwriter. He is one of a handful of Sri Lankan musicians to make it to the BBC television
programme Top of the Pops
in 1968.
Mendis was discovered in the late 1950s by Radio Ceylon
, the oldest radio station in South Asia. The radio station dominated the airwaves in South Asia in the 1950s and 1960s—the station backed his songs from the start, including "Kandyan Express", turning them into hits in South Asia. People from all over the Indian sub-continent wrote in to Radio Ceylon requesting his songs.
Mendis had been involved with music from his childhood, and has lived for many years in London
travelling often to Sri Lanka. He lived in Uxbridge
with his wife Ranjani. Currently he has moved to Sri Lanka and started working on a Sri Lankan film.
Mendis was so moved by the devastation of the 2004 tsunami
that he composed a Tsunami song to aid the victims. British Parliamentarians commended his composition in a motion in the House of Commons
. The British Parliamentarian, Linda Perham
MP sponsored early day motion
638.
His Tsunami song has been recorded in Australia, Canada, the United States, Germany, Sri Lanka, and in the United Kingdom.
"Kandyan Dance", an instrumental, was his second piece in the West. Recorded by Friedel Berlipp and his Orchestra in Germany it went on to be number two on Radio Luxembourg
. It was also released in the United States. Black Pearls & Green Diamonds has eight of Nimal's songs on an LP for Decca by One Two and Three, a folk group in Britain.
Mendis appeared on the popular BBC
television music programme Top of the Pops
with his singing partner Sandra Edema in 1968 as guest artists with his song "Feel like a Clown". They were also featured with the song on Beat Club in Germany that year. Eugene Wright
bass player with the original Dave Brubeck
Quartet arranged and recorded five of Nimal's songs only with him playing bass. He also arranged and produced one other song "Singing Fish" with electric guitar, bass, and piano. They were sung by Sandra Edema.
Mendis has written several memorable songs for Sri Lankan films. Nimal wrote the song "Master Sir
" in Sri Lanka for a film, Kalu Diya Dhahara (A column of black water). "Master Sir" is about colonial Sri Lanka; the words tell a story about the dignity of labour, a story not about wages but about social justice. The song was recorded both in English (by Mendis and Sandra Edema) and Sinhala (by Neville Fernando,with lyrics by Karunaratne Abeysekera) and has remained a hit in Sri Lanka for over thirty years.
His composition "Ganga Addara" ("By the Banks of the River"), written by Augustus Vinayagaratnam, and sung by Vijaya Kumaranatunga) for the film (Directed by Sumitra Peiris) of the same name, is also a very popular song in Sri Lanka. "Ran Tikiri Sina
" was written for the same film, and was also a hit. Indeed, all the songs he wrote for Sinhala films have been popular with the public in Sri Lanka.
"Ran Tikiri Sina" and "Ganga Addara" lyrics were written by Augustus Vinayagaratnam, music provided by Nimal Mendis.
Fans formed a Nimal Mendis Group on Facebook in 2008.
and the UK Autism Foundation.Mendis has backed the call of British musicians for better public services in education, health, specialist speech therapy, and respite care for all people with autism and Asperger syndrome. Mendis released 'Open Every Door,' a song for autism in May 2007 in the UK and dedicated it to the work of the UK Autism Foundation. The song for autism was personally presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair
on April 25, 2007 and to the leading British parliamentarian Lee Scott (UK Politician)
.
Shattered Pearl on women affected by the war in Sri Lanka and the "right to life" was made for Channel 4 television in London. It was a major film by Sri Lankans on British TV at the time. It has been shown in many parts of the world.
Three Women Speak Out was made for "Article 19" in Britain on freedom of opinion and expression, and they edited Z for Zero Concern on homeless children in London for the Children's Society.
Water Water Everywhere, filmed in Bangladesh, is on women and water-management, made for CAFOD.
Blessed Are the Poor compares poverty in Britain and South India and the positive effort people make to change their lives. This documentary was made for the Methodist International.
They have also been researchers for three major British TV productions. Three of their documentaries were at the Monticatini Film Festival in Italy: Shattered Pearl, Seyllan to Paradise, and Stop Killing Start Singing (which was based on three songs). It was the first time that Sinhala songs were featured as a documentary.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n singer and songwriter. He is one of a handful of Sri Lankan musicians to make it to the BBC television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
programme Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
in 1968.
Mendis was discovered in the late 1950s by Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...
, the oldest radio station in South Asia. The radio station dominated the airwaves in South Asia in the 1950s and 1960s—the station backed his songs from the start, including "Kandyan Express", turning them into hits in South Asia. People from all over the Indian sub-continent wrote in to Radio Ceylon requesting his songs.
Mendis had been involved with music from his childhood, and has lived for many years in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
travelling often to Sri Lanka. He lived in Uxbridge
Uxbridge
Uxbridge is a large town located in north west London, England and is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. It forms part of the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is located west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres...
with his wife Ranjani. Currently he has moved to Sri Lanka and started working on a Sri Lankan film.
Mendis was so moved by the devastation of the 2004 tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
that he composed a Tsunami song to aid the victims. British Parliamentarians commended his composition in a motion in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. The British Parliamentarian, Linda Perham
Linda Perham
Linda Perham is a Labour politician in the United Kingdom.-Career:Perham was a London Borough of Redbridge councillor and Mayor of the Borough prior to the 1997 election. She was Member of Parliament for Ilford North from 1997, defeating Vivian Bendall, until she lost her seat at the 2005 election...
MP sponsored early day motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
638.
His Tsunami song has been recorded in Australia, Canada, the United States, Germany, Sri Lanka, and in the United Kingdom.
Early years: 1950s–1960s
Nimal has 22 songs published in Britain and has written music for films in Sri Lanka. "Kiss Kiss Kiss" was Nimal's first song that was recorded in Britain and sung by Mary Marshall on the Columbia label. "Kandyan Express", "Cherry Blossom Tree", "Oh My Lover", "Butterfly in the Rain", "Champagne Blues", and "Goodnight Kisses "' were number-one hits in Sri Lanka in the late fifties."Kandyan Dance", an instrumental, was his second piece in the West. Recorded by Friedel Berlipp and his Orchestra in Germany it went on to be number two on Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
. It was also released in the United States. Black Pearls & Green Diamonds has eight of Nimal's songs on an LP for Decca by One Two and Three, a folk group in Britain.
Mendis appeared on the popular BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television music programme Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
with his singing partner Sandra Edema in 1968 as guest artists with his song "Feel like a Clown". They were also featured with the song on Beat Club in Germany that year. Eugene Wright
Eugene Wright
"The Senator" Eugene Wright is an American jazz bassist, best known for his work as a member of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, in particular on the group's most famous album Time Out , with pianist Brubeck, drummer Joe Morello and saxophonist Paul Desmond.Wright, nicknamed "The Senator", had played...
bass player with the original Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
Quartet arranged and recorded five of Nimal's songs only with him playing bass. He also arranged and produced one other song "Singing Fish" with electric guitar, bass, and piano. They were sung by Sandra Edema.
1970s
In the seventies he recorded a number of songs in London. Many of these songs were of a spiritual nature. He made a twenty-minute audio documentary on the Way of the Cross called The Passion Report. Another audio documentary called Ferryman was about the tea estate worker and the farmer in Sri Lanka. It traces their history from the British colonial period. He also wrote Bread of Life for the Eucharistic Congress in Sri Lanka.Mendis has written several memorable songs for Sri Lankan films. Nimal wrote the song "Master Sir
Master Sir
"Master Sir" is a classic Sinhala song written by the Sri Lankan singer/songwriter, Nimal Mendis, and sang most famously by Neville Fernando of Los Caballeros. Nimal Mendis was born in Ceylon. The song was composed by Nimal Mendis and released in Sri Lanka...
" in Sri Lanka for a film, Kalu Diya Dhahara (A column of black water). "Master Sir" is about colonial Sri Lanka; the words tell a story about the dignity of labour, a story not about wages but about social justice. The song was recorded both in English (by Mendis and Sandra Edema) and Sinhala (by Neville Fernando,with lyrics by Karunaratne Abeysekera) and has remained a hit in Sri Lanka for over thirty years.
His composition "Ganga Addara" ("By the Banks of the River"), written by Augustus Vinayagaratnam, and sung by Vijaya Kumaranatunga) for the film (Directed by Sumitra Peiris) of the same name, is also a very popular song in Sri Lanka. "Ran Tikiri Sina
Ran Tikiri Sina
Ran Tikiri Sina is a song written by Nimal Mendis. It was originally performed by Nirasha Perera and Victor Silva for the Sri Lankan film Ganga Addara.- Background and composition :...
" was written for the same film, and was also a hit. Indeed, all the songs he wrote for Sinhala films have been popular with the public in Sri Lanka.
1980s
In the eighties, Mendis went into the production of documentary films with Ranjani his wife and Paulmarie their son. Paulmarie, deft with computers and editing visuals, assisted them. He was only seven years old when he accompanied his parents filming in the war zones of the North and East of Sri Lanka. Mendis also did a stage show It's What I Am with Sri Lankan musicians; the highlight was the song "July '83", a song on the riots of that year. He also made two audio cassettes, one for Air Lanka A Taste of Paradise and the other for the Ceylon Tourist Board Pilgrim Places of Sri Lanka."Ran Tikiri Sina" and "Ganga Addara" lyrics were written by Augustus Vinayagaratnam, music provided by Nimal Mendis.
1990s
In the nineties they formed their own enterprise, Mediaeye. In the new millennium they have brought out an audio documentary War is my Country tracing the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka up to 1994. This CD contains archive material over a period of seventeen years with narration, interviews with political and other personalities, songs, and poems. Three of the political personalities have since been assassinated.Current work
Currently they have relocated to the United Kingdom. Together with son Paulmarie they are compiling the songs, audio documentaries, and film material on CD and DVD. New songs too are being written, such as "Tsunami Sri Lanka", "Earth Mother Crying" (on the environment), "The Dawn of Compassion", and the "Hail Mary" in song. They have also formed Mediaeye Music, the publishing arm of Mediaeye Productions founded in 1990.Fans formed a Nimal Mendis Group on Facebook in 2008.
Charity work
Mendis has thrown his weight behind the important Autism Awareness Campaign UKAutism Awareness Campaign UK
The Autism Awareness Campaign – United Kingdom was launched in 2000 by Ivan and Charika Corea in response to the autism diagnosis of their son, Charin.-Objectives:...
and the UK Autism Foundation.Mendis has backed the call of British musicians for better public services in education, health, specialist speech therapy, and respite care for all people with autism and Asperger syndrome. Mendis released 'Open Every Door,' a song for autism in May 2007 in the UK and dedicated it to the work of the UK Autism Foundation. The song for autism was personally presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
on April 25, 2007 and to the leading British parliamentarian Lee Scott (UK Politician)
Lee Scott (UK politician)
Lee Scott is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ilford North, and an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:Scott was born in the East End of London to a British Jewish family,...
.
Television documentaries
Dawn of Terror, their first documentary, was filmed on the ethnic conflict, and could be called an anti-war film. It was made for the Centre for Society and Religion in Sri Lanka. The film, although made on VHS, was taken for distribution by Concord Video and film in the UKShattered Pearl on women affected by the war in Sri Lanka and the "right to life" was made for Channel 4 television in London. It was a major film by Sri Lankans on British TV at the time. It has been shown in many parts of the world.
Three Women Speak Out was made for "Article 19" in Britain on freedom of opinion and expression, and they edited Z for Zero Concern on homeless children in London for the Children's Society.
Water Water Everywhere, filmed in Bangladesh, is on women and water-management, made for CAFOD.
Blessed Are the Poor compares poverty in Britain and South India and the positive effort people make to change their lives. This documentary was made for the Methodist International.
They have also been researchers for three major British TV productions. Three of their documentaries were at the Monticatini Film Festival in Italy: Shattered Pearl, Seyllan to Paradise, and Stop Killing Start Singing (which was based on three songs). It was the first time that Sinhala songs were featured as a documentary.
Quotations about Nimal Mendis
- "A crusader for creative and original song writing, using the Sri Lankan folk idiom, Nimal Mendis was successful in influencing many a young lyricist and music composer in acknowledging the wealth in Sri Lankan folk music and adapting it with western overtones, to bring about a new identity in music..." (Mahes Perera, writing in the Sunday Observer Sri Lanka).Source: Sunday Observer Colombo Sri Lanka
See also
- List of Nimal Mendis songs
- List of Sri Lankan musicians
- Sri Lanka Broadcasting CorporationSri Lanka Broadcasting CorporationThe Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on January 5, 1967 when Radio Ceylon became a public corporation. Dudley Senanayake who was the Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1967 ceremonially opened the newly established Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation along with Minister Ranasinghe...
- Vernon CoreaVernon CoreaVernon Corea was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation...
External links
- British Politicians Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Menzies Campbell given Song for Autism - Source: World Music Central
- Nimal Mendis Autism Song for Autism Speaks UK
- Tony Blair, Lee Scott Presented With A Nimal Mendis Song For Autism
- Nimal Mendis releases a Song for Autism in London
- Daily News Sri Lanka: Nimal Mendis composes tsunami song by Ivan Corea
- Sunday Island Sri Lanka - Two tsunami songs mentioned in the British parliament with kudos to Nimal Mendis by Nan
- The Guardian UK: Nimal Mendis composes Tsunami Song
- Early Day Motion 638 in the House of Commons, Palace of Westminster