bongo drums. Bailatronic: introduced by Ranidu Lankage, by mixing baila and electronic music together. Popular Baila artists include: M. S. Fernando, Anton Jones, Paul Fernando, Desmond de Silva, Nihal Nelson, Maxwell Mendis, Sunil Perera (The Gypsies), Saman De Silva, Dhanapala Udawaththa, Rajiv Sebastian, Claude de Zoysa, Mariazelle Goonetilleke, Nithi Kanagaratnam, A. E. Manoharan, and Dalreen among others. Baila has also influenced the music of many popular artists such as: Annesley Malewana, Clarence Wijewardene, C.T. Fernando, Anil Bharathi, Christopher Paul, Priya Peiris La Bambas, Super Golden Chimes, Los Flamingos, Sunflowers (band), The Gypsies, and even Pandit W. D. Amaradeva. Moratuwa has produced a large number of these artists and is often referred to as the unofficial home of Baila. Gerald Wickremesooriya and his Sooriya records played a significant role to promote this genre of music. Radio broadcaster Vernon Corea promoted Baila music in the English-speaking world via the English-language programmes aired on Radio Ceylon and BBC Radio London during the late 1960s and 1970s. The Roshan Fernando foundation is a charity committed to the welfare of baila and other musicians. In December 2006 a nonstop dance CD with the greatest Baila hits titled Sri Lankan Open House Party was released in Sri Lanka. The music was directed by renowned composer Suresh Maliyadde while the music on the CD was provided by Niresh Perera (The Gypsies) on drums, Mahinda Bandara Fortunes) on guitar, Tilak Dias on bass, Tissasiri Perera on keyboard, and Visharadha Monaj Pieris on percussion. Singers who were empowering these all time evergreens are Kanishka Wijetunga, Ganesha Wijetunga, Mariazelle Goonetilleke, and Suresh Maliyadde. There are Baila songs in Tamil, which were popularized by Nithi Kanagaratnam, Stany Sivananthan, Tobel Ragal, Kanapathipillai, Emanuel, S Ramachandran, Ceylon Manohar (A.E.Manoharan), M.P.Paramesh, Amuthan Annamalai, et al. The Sinhala Baila song Pissu Vikare (Dagena Polkatu Male) by H. R. Jothipala, Milton Perera, M. S. Fernando is a cover version of the Tamil song Dingiri Dingale (Meenachi) from the 1958 Tamil film Anbu Engey. And it was covered again in Sinhala as a folk song named Digisi/Digiri Digare (Kussiye Badu). See also Music of Goa (Konkani songs similar to Baila) References Notes Footnotes External links Sri Lanka Music Directory 20th-century music genres 21st-century music genres Sri Lankan music African diaspora in Sri Lanka