My music is not a business for me | Sunday Observer

My music is not a business for me

3 September, 2017

She is undoubtedly one of the most famous YouTube cover artists in the country. She plays the guitar, Ukulele, Piano, trumpet and the French horn and she sings and raps. Her favourite music genre is ‘trip hop’ and favourite band is Avenged Sevenfold. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and currently studying in Australia for her Masters Degree in Professional Accounting.

Extremely popular among the young generation, Yohani de Silva is a young and talented singer who has a very promising career ahead. The Sunday Observer spoke to Yohani of her passion for music, upcoming projects and how she ended up being a well known YouTuber for her unique style of singing.

Revealing how she became a YouTuber, Yohani says it was never planned. However she has been performing at concerts, competitions, and corporate functions whenever she got the chance.

“My circle of friends knew I could sing. Incidentally, I met the co-founder of Theewra, Dilanjan Seneviratne through a mutual friend. We happened to work at the same building back then. He proposed to do a cover video and brought the other co-founder Nuwan Wijesinghe on board to do the video. That’s how the first cover song, “satellite” was made. I also must thank Thirajiv Devasurendra and Avishka Laknath for collaborating with me on the first project.”

Selection of songs


Yohani de Silva    

So far she has been doing music covers for songs of others and mentioned that there is no particular criterion when selecting a song but she would not do it if she does not like the song.

“All these songs are my personal favourites. I do not take into account how well the previous video did when deciding the next. If I like the song then that is the only thing I will be concerned about and nothing else. Because I have to like it to create my own version of that particular song,” says Yohani.

So far she has done covers for Sinhala and English songs. When asked which has more response she explained that each has its own crowd and that she does not do videos for the best response from the crowd anyway. She sings what she likes and shares it with others.

Recalling a few funny moments during live singing, “Well, there’s a lot. Funniest are when I perform live and sing wrong lyrics. I sometimes prepare my equipment to record the song but I forget what I was going to record,” she laughs.

Yohani got quite popular among the young crowd for her amazing talent to rap. She says she likes to sing and she likes rapping too and that the preference may change depending on her mood.

Music

Yohani says it was her mother who first identified that she had a liking towards music,

“She took me to the classes. Even though my dad was not around, as he was in the war front, it was his backing that made everything possible for me to pursuit my music and I am forever grateful for them for everything.”

Her first video was Satellite / Stealing Time - Above & Beyond Acoustic Cover and her most viewed one was the Rap video. Yohani has done a total of 17 videos and her favourite is the Sature/ KatuAkule and Unmadawu mash up.

“I believe all the videos I have done so far were successful and I am really happy about it. I get a lot of comments and messages. I try my best to respond to them all. But sometimes it’s hard to manage. I value all the comments and criticism. I am only humbled by all the messages and criticism. End of the day, I’m grateful to everyone around me who makes it possible for me to do what I love doing. The decision to be a YouTuber is one of the best decisions I have made.”

Followers

According to her she has a fan base close to 30,000. She however reiterated the fact that she does not monitor those and that she is only interested in doing videos because she loves singing and social media is just a platform to share those with others.

“I definitely do not use it to increase my popularity or the followers. I reply to most comments when I get a chance. But I don’t monitor the analytics of it. My music is not a business for me. It is what I love to do.”

Yohani expressing her gratitude to all the people who helped her so far says, “First of all my Mom and Dad for being the best ever, my sister for being my bestie. And my team, Theewra for their continues support, especially Dilanjan ,Nuwan, Banura and Jevon. And everyone who’s helped me with music, Thrajiv, Sidath, Sanduni, Thulasi and Avishka. I would specially like to thank all my fans for supporting me throughout and I really hope you all enjoy what I do.”

In future she will be doing a few originals. Currently she is working on an original song with a slow melody. However till the original songs are done she will continue to share cover songs in her YouTube channel. 

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