Piyal goes down memory lane
Anton Perera is my father and on what would have been his 100th birthday today, I have been reflecting on his life and legacy.
He was an adoring husband, a loving father of 9 children (4 girls and 5 boys), a pioneering entrepreneur and a truly unforgettable personality.
Many of you may not know this, but ‘The Gypsies’ band was actually created by my Thaththa, Anton
Perera in 1969. As the cofounder of Uswatte confectionary works and an already very successful businessman, he initially had very high academic and professional aspirations for my brothers.
He had a solid, pre-designed plan in place to ensure their success. This involved my late brother Sunil becoming a Doctor, Nihal an accountant,
Lal an engineer and Nimal a mechanic (I was too young to be considered at this point!).
However, despite his best efforts to persuade them, he soon realised that there was no breaking them away from the ‘music pissuwa’ that had gotten hold of them.
Being the businessman that he was, he realised that he needed a change of strategy if he was to ensure they fulfilled their potentials. He decided that if he couldn’t sway them from their true passion, then he was going to make sure that they were an outstanding success in this field.
And so, he started working on his ambition to make them the most successful musical band in Sri Lanka .... He wasn’t a man who did anything in half measures. Once he put his mind to something there was no stopping him. At the age of 16 he took me out of school, just before my O levels, to join the band (despite not having sung a note in my life!), much to my mother’s concern. This was how much he believed in our success.
When it came to our school work, he usually employed a revolving door of tuition masters that would be in and out of our family house, making sure all his children had the best possible educational foundations.
When it came to our musical careers, he was no different...
He quickly got to work hiring top voice training coaches such as Marianne David (nee Roberts) and Lylie Godridge to teach us how to sing, Winston Jayawardene to teach Sunil the guitar, and Cas Ziad, who taught Nihal the drums.
He also asked Joy Ferdinando (who was the conductor of the Sri Lankan symphony orchestra at the time) to take on the role of overall musical director for the band, coaching and training us to perfection.
My father also identified that a successful band needed an eloquent leader and so he asked the famous Vijaya Corea to coach and train Sunil into the unbelievably charismatic speaker that he eventually became.
There was no other option for my father than absolute excellence. If we wanted to do this, we would have to be the best. It was all or nothing, and he was going to make sure we took it seriously.
We had a daily routine consisting of a strict and regimented practice schedule where we were expected to ‘log in’ and ‘log out’, all overseen by our strict father manager, who paid us a nominal wage for what was now our ‘job’.
He even built us our very own ‘Gypsies Recording Studio’ within our family home, so there was no excuse to be late to practice.
When it came to deciding on a name for the band, he extensively researched many encyclopaedias (yes, we didn’t have internet then). His reading told him that gypsies were groups of freespirited, nomadic people who travelled from place to place. He saw his sons as a band of brothers that would travel from place to place, singing their songs and earning their way, and so he settled on ‘The Gypsies’.
His determination to make us a success saw no bounds. Despite being a very prominent businessman in Sri Lanka he had no qualms travelling from record store to record store determinedly trying to sell our very first original single ‘Amma Amma’.
He was willing to do anything to make sure we made it. Being an entrepreneur at heart, he made it his mission to tirelessly promote and market the band, grooming us for success.
As a large family of 9, ‘The Gypsies’ soon became a whole family affair with my sisters helping with the administrative side, answering fan mail etc, and Ranjani Akka acting as the band’s secretary.
Having his own in-house musical band also suited his personality very well. One of his favourite pastimes was spending evenings drinking and socialising with his friends at home. These evenings were The Gypsies’ very first ‘gigs’ for which he paid us ‘overtime’.
We later found out that he also sometimes purchased several unbought tickets to our very early concerts and gave them to factory workers, in order to ensure there were no empty seats, and so that we did not feel disheartened. He did all of this (and so much more) to give us the confidence and encouragement we needed to excel, and there is no doubt in my mind that he was the origin and key to all of our successes.
It is hard to reflect on such a larger than life personality in just a few paragraphs, but anyone who knew him would agree that he really was a true visionary.
He saw more in us than we ever saw in ourselves, and dreamt more for us than we would have ever dreamt for ourselves.
His great entrepreneurial legacy will of course continue in ‘Uswatte’ and ‘The Gypsies’.
However, much more importantly, he will live on forever in our hearts because of the invaluable lessons he taught us, the immeasurable belief he had in us, and the unconditional love he always showed us.
This year marks 55 years of The Gypsies.
I hope we have made you proud Thaththa
From your loving son,
Piyal