Two faces of Shiromie
Sri Lankan child star Shiromie Fernando was just five years old when her uncle, a leading musician in the heady days of early pop music, wrote her hit Konda Namagena, a humorous and an affectionate look at a beloved grandmother.
Shiromie comes from a musical family and her early foray into show business happened due to the encouragement and guidance of her uncles. The famous pop and calypso band comprising of her mother’s four siblings was named Dharmarathne Brothers. The quartet was at the forefront of Sinhala pop music revolution of the 60s with a vast repertoire of evergreen numbers.
“My youngest uncle Milroy was the first to spot my talent for singing when I was just five years old and wrote the lyrics for Konda Namagena,” she told Sunimal Balasooriya of Sawana Radio during an interview in his popular Sakman Maluwa programme. Toronto-based Sawana Web Radio was launched by Vasantha Lankatilleke, a former producer of the SLBC (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation).
Shiromie said her uncle also helped her develop her talent, but ‘it was not until I was ten that the song became popular’.
“My uncle took me to a couple of record companies with the idea of producing a disc but the producers were reluctant to take a chance as I was just an unknown five-year-old girl,” Shiromie said.
Another uncle, Ronald, undaunted by her early failures, trained Shiromie in dancing, paving the way for her to be a child film actress before launching her singing career. “My uncle and I took part in a dance competition at a festival held at St. Benedict College. He came first at the young adult competition while I grabbed the top honours in the child category,” Shiromie said, adding that she got the chance to appear in a film after her success at the contest.
R. Rajabali, a renowned film producer who was looking for actors for his new venture, was in the audience. Impressed by Shiromie’s talents he offered her a role in his film Sudu Duwa. “I acted along with film stalwarts like Stanley Perera, Vijitha Mallika and Lillian Edirisinghe. It was a new experience for me, and I got a few more acting opportunities in films like Mahadena Muththa and Pancha, but my biggest break came after I appeared on Handamama children’s programme on SLBC.”
She was ten when she sang Konda Nama Gena on the radio, becoming an overnight sensation. The rest is history, a history that no other child star in the country has been unable to repeat as yet.
Handa Mama was a popular children’s programme presented by two legendary SLBC personalities. Lambert Pemmawadu and Sumana Jayatilleke. “I am thankful to those two presenters for inviting me to sing on their programme, helping me launch my career at such a young age. I was happy to meet them when I went to Sri Lanka last time. It was an emotional moment to meet them for the second time after so many years.”
Konda Nama Gena attracted the attention of Gerard Wickremesooriya, who owned the popular Sooriya record label, and he offered a contract for Shiromie to produce her first record, an EP of four songs.
The catchy song was Number One on the Top Ten for several weeks, creating history. She is the only singer to top the charts at such a young age.
Many chart-toppers followed and Shiromie became a sought-after singer, frequently appearing on radio and stage shows. “I was busy touring the island for musical shows, chaperoned by my granny and uncle. They made sure that I never missed school because of my showbiz career. I sang on stage only on Friday and the weekends. As my mother was working, I mostly grew up with my grandmother and uncles.”
Shiromie was travelling to stage shows in a tour bus carrying top-notch singers of the era like Rukmani Devi, H.R. Jothipala, Mohideen Baig and Milton Mallawarachchi who treated her as their own daughter. She says she even had the opportunity to sing in Jaffna, which she considers a unique achievement.
Shiromie says fame did not affect her studies, and she grew up as a normal kid away from the glitzy spotlight. She studied at Good Shepherd Convent in Kotahena, a Colombo suburb where she spent her childhood.
That was also the time she met her future partner, Sunil Welikala. Before becoming her husband, he was one of her biggest fans. “He was a family friend, and I knew him since I was about 13 years old, and he was also instrumental in launching my fan club. Our association later turned into love, and I married him when I was 19 years old.”
Speaking about singers in Sri Lanka, Shiromie said she still adores Nanda Malinie. “I met her at the SLBC several times when I was a child, and she advised me to study music. I could not do so as I had other engagements. Still, I regret my inability to pursue music studies as Nanda Akka advised me. My life would have been different if I listened to her.”
Shiromie said her favourite singer was Milton Mallawarachchi. “I appeared in many musical shows with him, and he is the only singer who could render a melody on stage exactly like a studio recording.”
Responding to Sunimal’s question of why she decided to come to Canada leaving behind a flourishing music career, she said the decision was taken by her husband who worked as a tea planter. “He was serving in many areas, particularly during the late 80s. He had a lot of problems with managing his estates mainly due to worsening political violence and decided to leave the county as we had no other options left.”
She said her husband passed away in 2004 in Canada after 24 years of happy married life. Talking about her own health challenges, she said she is a two-time cancer survivor. She almost lost her voice due to thyroid cancer but miraculously regained her voice after a short time. A mother of a son and a daughter, Shiromie’s most valuable contribution to Sri Lankan music is her ability to inspire a generation of singers.
One of Shiromie’s die-hard fans was singer Chandralekha Perera from her school days. “In an interview, she gave to Sarasaviya weekly, she said she wrote to me as a kid and received my picture in the post. One day she had started crying in school as someone had stolen my picture. I was sad about the incident. I am very happy as she has become one of the most talented singers in Sri Lanka. In fact, now, I am a big fan of her.”
Though Shiromie is thousands of miles away from her native land, she is a part of Sri Lanka’s music history. Her beloved song about her grandmother is still immensely popular on the island, which many kids grow up singing. She has a lot of other hits like Handahami (which shows her talent for classical music), Ruvata Ruvak, Akase Ras Vihida, Karunka Gediyak (a song about a grandpa), Pembara Amma, Man Dukin Thamai Inne (an orphan), Sudu Akki and Rana Monara which are frequently being heard on airwaves and available online. Her songs’ unique feature is that every one of them has a little story capable of appealing to children.
Sri Lankan music has changed over the years. But the songs the bright-eyed lanky girl sang in her innocent voice radiating with childish lilt will always remain evergreen. – newstrails.com
