Lionel Ranwala

Who was Lionel Ranwala?

Lionel Ranwala is a musician and a singer in Sri Lanka.

Ranwala's main interest was Sinhala folk music of Sri Lankan. He successfully brought Sinhala folk tunes and melodies to popular Sri Lankan music, preserving their originality.He studied music at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, India and has a sour knowledge of the field.

Ranwala, who created a revolution in the local folk music scene along with his mentor W.D. Makuloluwa, started his teaching career at Arawwala MMV in 1959.He taught music at several leading schools including Ananda College, and Royal College, Colombo during a 38-year career. He popularised local music in schools and formed the first 'Hevisi' band in a school - at Pannipitiya Dharmapala Vidyalaya in 1964. Ranwala was also a versatile actor and dramatist. One of his most memorable roles was in the first Sinhala opera 'Depano' directed by Makuloluwa. He also wrote and directed several children's dramas. He acted in several teledramas.His last teledrama was "Rangamadala Samugani" which was telecasted in Swarnawahini.

He travelled all over the island collecting folk songs for posterity.