Just recently, we
witnessed a song that captured many hearts on You Tube, after its release. Within a short period, this song went viral and was ‘Trending #2’ on You Tube. The song has a beautiful beat that keeps toes tapping and after the first listen,
everyone notices that it is a fusion of both Western and Eastern cultures and that it is inspired by Classical and Modern genres of Music. I’m sure you too must have heard the song more than once by now, since it has already made it to the top of today’s music charts.
‘Pandama’ (torch), is the title of the song.
In the music video, two yakas are dancing holding lighted ‘Pandams’ in their hands. Among them sings and dances our subject of the week, Dhanith Sri.
Dhanith is an artiste who sings, paints and dances. He is an old boy of Vidyaartha College, Kandy and Kingswood College, Kandy. He is an undergraduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Peradeniya. Youth Observer met young Dhanith to get his thoughts about his music and especially about his groundbreaking mega hit, ‘Pandama’.
When I asked him whether he likes to be called a musician, he thought for a while and then nodded his head telling me that there’s no harm in saying so.”I like to see myself as someone who feels music so profoundly and infinitely,”he said. I asked him who and what made him thrive as a musician. Yet, he had no specific thing or person to mention.
“It took many long years and actually it didn’t happen in the blink of an eye, a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into my success. I didn’t do music when I was a little kid. Of course, I knew that I had the talent to sing. But it was only after A/L s that I started music.
“When I hear the word ‘music’, my imagination pictures an ocean with no waves, somewhere very calm and without problems. It’s something that comes from within, it cannot be forced to come out” said Dhanith.
There’s no particular genre of music he prefers, he listens to all genres from Classical, Hip hop and Pop to Rock and Black Metal. To him, every genre means just music and as he said,” A ‘genre’ is merely a tag created by people.”
Being seriously into music myself, I couldn’t resist turning our conversation into how Dhanith does all the amazing work, how he manages to be the lyricist, the songwriter and the vocalist for his music.
He just smiled and replied “When I do a song, I write it for myself and I put the melody and the music arrangement. I do all three. But I don’t compose music yet. Both lyrics and the melody come together to me. I don’t compose lyrics to a melody or I don’t create melodies to previously written lyrics. When a song is about to be born, I have a certain structure in my mind. Then I go to the composer with the song almost playing in my head. Afterwards I play the guitar for my composer according to whatever I feel. Then he composes music following my music arrangement by giving life to the song that was playing in my head”.
Dhanith believes, that dreams become reality when we work hard on what we really want. “When making a song, I let myself be spontaneous and try not to be confined within a frame I just let it flow. Ideas for songs envelop my mind at the most unexpected times. So, when this happens, I feed the ideas and let them grow slowly within me, I let them bloom beautifully at that moment when they deserve to be seen and heard. I think this is the best thing about being an artiste. The most beautiful things happen when you set your spirit free. Whatever it takes and how much time it consumes, sooner or later things will happen when they should happen”.
Like many of us, Dhanith too has many artistes that he looks up to. “We all learn from someone. This is called ‘being inspired’. Nothing originates within us without a little inspiration”. Growing up as a musician, I have a lot to learn from others. Some of them are, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, John Lennon, W.D. Amaradeva, Premakeerthi De Alwis, Mahagamasekara and Sunil Edirisinghe”.
“I met so many people who wanted to help me. There were some who wanted to drag me down too. Some senior artistes in the field truly wanted to see me going up the ladder. I want to thank those who wanted to see me here.
“I’m grateful to my parents, my brother and friends who stood by me during my A/L’s and so appreciative of the ‘Pandama’ crew, the composers, editors, cast and the video producers - Sanjula Himala, Mohamed Fayad, Kaveen Harshana, Lahiru Perera, Shreenika Liyanage, Iroshan Dhananjaya, Hasitha Jayasanka, Surendra, Sandani and Nuwan.
“Besides them I’d like to thank Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Kavindya Adikari for the fantastic experience working with them. The mashup I did with them was super.
Finally I thank my audience who listened, shared and commented on my songs, they are the reason I’m popular today.
“Our life is like a ship that sways between life (sky) and death (ocean). We’re searching for stars (desires) in the milkyway by following the mirage blindly,” said Dhanith defining the meaning of his song ‘Naukaawa’ with much enthusiasm. Maybe the lyrics of his next song were catching up with him already.