It would not be an exaggeration if someone calls him the perfect example of hard work paying off. He composes music, produces and directs videos, sings, makes commercials, creates concepts for his productions, the list goes on. He says, the day he decided to become a singer, his life changed. He is Sachith Peiris who started his career as an assistant audio engineer and later became a multi talented person in the field of music. His latest video production is ‘Never Stop Moving’ featuring American pop and classical vocalist Casey Breves. In a recent interview with The Sunday Observer, Sachith revealed his latest music creations and also of his future plans.
Being an ardent fan of Bathiya and Santhush, Sachith said, his dream was to sing along with them, one day. “In 2006, Bathiya asked me to join Sarigama production as an assistant audio engineer. I had no idea whatsoever as to what the softwares are all about. I worked with them for five years and while working I learnt everything I had to learn from YouTube. It was not easy,” he said.
After his first song “Namal Mitak”, Sachith had changed his path to commercials. He said, his first commercial was a huge success and it bagged more than 12 awards including three international awards. He has done more than 3,000 commercials up to date.
“I decided that, one day, I want to become a singer. I practised day and night. My only focus was to be a singer; therefore, I put in every effort to make that a reality. I learnt everything, starting from voice training.”
Sachith reiterated the fact that practice made him better day by day since he could not actually sing when he started his career. “I practised a lot, learnt how to arrange tracks all by myself. I did a lot of experiments with beats and rhythms. Then, I composed my first song. I was eating, breathing and sleeping music and music only.”
Revealing the idea behind his new video creation, “Never stop moving”, Sachith said, he wanted to show the world the beauty of Sri Lanka. “Being a traveller I have been to so many breathtaking locations and I wanted to share them with the world. When we shot the video we actually went around the island trying to capture as much as we can within a short period of time. Take Sri Lanka to the world, was my only aim.”
Although Sachith leads quite a busy life he finds time for his hobbies. He loves to explore new places in the island. His hobbies include travelling, photography, go karting and racing.
“I know the real meaning of happiness, relaxing and I take my relaxations pretty seriously. It keeps everything balanced.”
Sachith believes good quality music will always be appreciated by people and one should not necessarily depend on a music video to make it popular. Expressing his displeasure over people who focus on making a music video instead of making good music, Sachith said, “I do not believe in trends at all. I believe in my talent and what I can do with it to create something new and exceptional. Focus more on the quality of your production/creation than on the music video. A video is only a plus point and that is it.”
Taking Bathiya and Santhush as an example, whom he considers as idols, Sachith said, back then when they started it was just TV and print media. “People love them for their music and the quality of it. And still they are loved purely for the quality of their music. B&S have proved throughout that good music will always be valued and appreciated.”
He strongly disagrees with the ‘star’ concept and thinks it is something created by people to show that they are above others. “There are no stars here. People like different people. That is not enough to consider yourself as a star. There can be people who are popular. Do something for society, for people using that if you are one of them without bragging about you or without focusing on personal glory,” he added.
“I make music I like. I do not make music thinking this is for this category. That is not the way I operate. The problem with songs nowadays is that people try to do the same thing over and over. There is no diversity. Do something different, good and new. Be creative and innovative. Do experiments with different music styles and most importantly love what you do.”
Having worked with artistes such as Enrique, A.R Rahman, he has done around 30 international productions and will continue to produce more.
Sachith revealed that he has not done an original song of his for over four years since he got busy with music composing and video productions. “I am planning to release a new song, end of July. I have plans to do some original tracks and release my album this year. Also, two shows will be held in Colombo before the year ends,” he said.
In the future, Sachith will start a charity for children suffering from cancer. Having done a song for them already, he will put all the money he earns from that video to the charity. “The other project which I am planning to do is one to clean the environment. Anyone who is interested can join me.”