The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, formerly known as Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in South Asia. Radio Ceylon was one of the most popular radio stations in the Indian sub-continent in the 1950s and 1960s. People from all over India and other countries flooded the station with letters and requests for songs.Radio Ceylon is only 3 years younger to that great broadcasting institution, the BBC. 

 

'Parables in Melody' was presented by Sri Lanka- born journalist, Ivan Corea who is the son of one of Sri Lanka's great broadcasters, Vernon Corea,(who died in New Malden, Surrey in September 2002) a pioneer of Radio Ceylon and subsequently the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Christian musicians shared their personal stories, among them the international pop star Cliff Richard. He was interviewed, exclusively for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation by Ivan Corea, at the Greenbelt Festival in the United Kingdom. The SLBC ran a special programme hosted by top SLBC Presenter Nihal Bhareti with Ivan Corea, on the Sri Lankan airwaves in 1980 with the exclusive interview with Cliff Richard who was very popular in the Indian sub-continent. Cliff also signed several autographed photos, EPs, LPs for his fans in Sri Lanka and they were given away in competitions. Thousands tuned into the programme which also received media coverage in Sri Lanka.

Cliff Richard has scored 14 Number1 singles in the United Kingdom; more than any other artist with the exception of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

Cliff has sold more singles in the UK than any other act with sales exceeding 20.1 million records. Cliff Richard was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to popular music. He remains a hot favourite in Asia. Interestingly, when Cliff Richard was starting out as a pop musician in the 1950s in London, he appeared in 'Oh Boy' a ground breaking British pop music TV show from 1958-1959, produced by the famous Jack Good - appearing alongside him was the Ceylon-born pop star Bill Forbes.

Sir Cliff Richard once said in an interview: "When I became a Christian my confidence grew.My attitude changed because suddenly it was not important to be right all the time, like 'Me Cliff, I'm the number one, I'm the winner'. That became less important. It's important to put all I have into my career. But Jesus changes your attitude towards yourself and towards other people," he said.

'Christian music was going through a very exciting time in the lates 1970s and 1980s and young people were listening to what these artistes had to say,' said Ivan Corea who interviewed Bryn Haworth (one of the world's best slide guitarists), Adrian Snell, Garth Hewitt and others for Sri Lankan newspapers as well as for the Parables in Melody radio programme. British publisher, Peter Meadows, also supported the initiative by publishing news about 'Parables in Melody' in British magazines.

Although Ivan Corea did not interview him - and it was very hard to do so in the 1970s - he met the American singer, Larry Norman, at Greenbelt.Garth Hewitt was also interviewed at the Greenbelt Rock Festival. Sri Lankan Christians were able to listen to the songs of Garth Hewitt from his album: 'Did He Jump Or Was He Pushed?' Nick Beggs the talented bassist of the 1980s supergroup Kajagoogoo, sent his best wishes for the program and to young Christians in Sri Lanka at an Arts Centre Group meeting in London. Kajagoogoo had three top 10 singles. They were immensely successful around the world.

 

The spiritual music of some of these stars were introduced for the first time to Sri Lankan Christian listeners through the 'Parables in Melody' radio programme. Sri Lankans had listened to B.J.Thomas belting out his rock song, 'Brickyard Blues' in 1972 over the airwaves of the SLBC and other radio stations in the region but Sri Lankan Christians had never heard of his deeply spiritual songs. B.J.Thomas has sold over 70 million albums worldwide - he also won five Grammy Awards - his hit songs 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head' and 'Hooked On A Feeling' were played over the SLBC and across the Asia-Pacific.

 

Similarly Ray Stevens worldwide hit 'Turn Your Radio On' was heard for the first time in Sri Lanka on 'Parables in Melody.'.Ray Stevens wrote the international hit - Everything Is Beautiful" in 1970, it became Rays' first #1 pop hit and won him a Grammy Award as Male Vocalist of the Year.

 

Christian music groups from South East Asia had introduced Larry Norman's song 'I wish We'd All Been Ready' in the 1970s to Sri Lankan churches - in 1973 a musical group from Singapore toured the island and sang it at St.Michael's and All Angels Church in Kollupitiya, Colombo and at St.Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia in Sri Lanka. Parables in Melody brought his whole range of amazing songs to the attention of Christians on the island. Larry Norman records (hard to comeby in South Asia in the 1970s) were also given away in competitions.  

 

Sri Lankan Christians also loved the music of the gifted singer Keith Green  - who died in a plane crash in 1982. On November 27th 2001, Keith Green was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame along with seven other gospel music legends. Keith Green made audiences squirm by saying, “If you praise and worship Jesus with your mouth and your life does not praise and worship him, there's something wrong!" Green said, “Loving Him is to be our cause. He can take care of a lot of other causes without us, but He can’t make us love Him with all our heart. That’s the work we must do... Anything else is an imitation.”

 

Parables in Melody also featured musicians such as Andrae Crouch who has recorded fourteen albums of his own. Evie who was born in the USA - her parents were Norwegian - she has recorded over 30 albums in English and Scandinavian languages. Billy Thedford (of Andrae Crouch & His Disciples fame) who sang the beautiful 'Hallelujah Song.' 

 

Jamie Owens Collins was also featured on the radio programme, so was the talented 2nd Chapter of Acts - their 'Easter Song' and 'Which Way the Wind Blows' were popular favourites in South Asia. Matthew Ward, Annie Herring and Nelly Griesen of the group  2nd Chapter of Acts released 16 albums, they retired in 1988. 

 

Another favourite was Noel Paul Stookey of 'Peter, Paul & Mary' fame.During its legendary career, the folk trio won five Grammys, produced five Top 10 albums and 13 Top 40 hits, of which 6 ascended into the Top 10 - as well as six gold and three platinum albums. Parables in Melody featured one of most moving songs titled: 'The Wedding Song' (There is Love) written by Noel Paul Stookey in 1971 and heard for the first time in South Asia. People wrote in to say they cried when they heard the song. It was a moving hymn in support of marriage.

 

Sadly no one could buy their records in Sri Lanka in the late 1970s-1980s although Christian music is now available in selected Christian bookshops.

 

Here are a selection of artistes featured for the first time in South Asia on the Parables in Melody radio programme: