10 Emerging Sri Lankan Musicians You Should Be Listening To [Volume I]

India’s music space has gained momentum over the past ten years in a way that was probably hard to predict at the outset. Our neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan have similarly been evolving fast, with pioneering producers stepping up to take the helm and drive it decisively forward.

Where OML, Krunk and Bhavishyavani Foundation laid down solid foundations with their pop-up gigs, festivals like NH7 and Sunburn picked up, kickstarting the revolution on a much larger scale. A slew of labels, promoters and artist collectives have kept the momentum going strong since, with venues adapting fast and opening up to an array of sub-genres.

‘Cultural catalysts’ like Border Movement have been vital in binding the South Asian music movement together through their initiatives to help movers and shakers from the subcontinent collaborate, experiment and create quality underground music. Just as we’ve tirelessly documented India’s electronic music space, we move our sights to similar revolutions taking place in our surrounding nations, who are hot on our heels with their own adventures.

The shores of Sri Lanka have been thrumming with electronic music over the past six to seven years, with producers like Ranidu, Asvajit, Geve and TypeB leading the way, with genres from dub, hip-hop, glitch to deep tech house and its sinister cousins. While Atman Tribe Festival is probably the most popularly known festival taking place in the island nation, Border Movement’s Pettah Interchange Series and Bang Bang Events have pushed the boundaries; opening up avenues for alternative music in a game-changing way, and bringing both the dancers and listeners out in hordes.

I. SMPRSN

SMPRSN — Gihan Senevirathne to his friends — started off in the late 90’s as a bedroom producer in his hometown of Kandi. His 2013 debut ‘Home’ EP (under the alternate alias Daffy Maestro) spun a layered soundscape lush with synths, basslines and lo fi elements, while as SMPRSN, the artist treads into a dark, frenzied bass and future garage sound.

SMPRSN’s Wild City Mix, performed live, is rich with artists like Nosaj Thing, Machinedrum, FlyLo, Shlohmo and Amon Tobin to name just a few, and we get to witness the producer juggle the aural aesthetics of his monikers effortlessly as the set draws to an end.

Landmarks along the way: 2015 had him play live in Sri Lanka as well as in Mumbai for the Border Movement Sound Lab, where he performed and collaborated with various Indian and German acts including Sandunes, Aqua Dominatrix, SnowShoe and Sasha Perera, Toto Wolf and Oren Gerlitz (the trio being known as Perera Elsewhere).

II. Asvajit

Kicking off his career as the lead guitarist of Colombo based progressive jazz-rock band ‘Powercut Circus’, 2009 saw Asvajit take a turn towards electronic music. Wading fast and deep into a dancefloor-friendly potpourri of funk, tech house, reggae, nu-jazz, minimal dub, with peaking techno bombs to make your head spin, this is a producer who has been on the frontline of Sri Lanka’s evolving electronic dance music sub-culture and has made an indelible impact on it.

Having played with the likes of Dub FX, Jahcoozi, Boris Brejcha, Basement Jaxx, and most recently, Arjun Vagale and AshRoy of The Jalebee Cartel, his work has been released on record labels all over the world and showcased at music festivals and nightlife institutions across Asia as well as Europe. Asvajit is also a graphic designer, an audio/visual artist, and founder and curator of Jambutek Recordings, an independent electronic music imprint and artist collective based in Colombo, that aims to promote local talent.

Landmarks along the way: His forward-thinking approach as a producer has made him step into a natural fit as a pioneer of non-traditional genres and forms of music in the country; his first releases The Hard Boiled EP (2010) and The Fat Albert EP (2011) being Sri Lanka’s first originally-produced EDM albums, and he also went on to become the country’s first producer to release music with an international record label, Lifted Recordings (UK). Bang Bang Events is another feather in his cap, a collective that he co-founded that blends ‘vibrant art’ with non-commercial genres in their events.

III. Bo Sedkid

Performing and releasing material under his moniker Bo Sedkid, Muvindu Binoy is also an independent filmmaker and artist in Sri Lanka. While he hasn’t released a whole lot of music yet, his productions are heavily influenced by hip hop, RnB and soul, with plenty of experimental elements. His collaborations with Imaad Majeed are a clear example of this, and his past two collaborations with Q have been refreshingly original, leaving us stoked for more.

Landmarks along the way: Lo-fi/downtempo and soul blend seamlessly in Bo Sedkid’s productions, combined with the lovely Francesca Mudannayeke’s RnB-inspired vocals that lend that sexy, late afternoon vibe we love.

IV. Anuradha Jayalathika

A music composer and a producer, Anuradha Jayalathika is not one to shy away from experimentation. Inspired by several famous electronic musicians and classical musicians, his productions are intuitive, each track crafting its own adventures through an electronic soundscape that has a generous dollop of house, with warm pockets of synths and unrelentingly experimental. Each production is unique and intimate, evoking a curiosity in the listener about the range of the artist.

Landmarks along the way: In ‘Liberty Will Never Perish’, released a year ago, Anuradha poignantly interestingly featured spoken word by way of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’ speech, which speaks of a need for more kindness and humanity in the world. Definitely an artist to watch out for.

V. Geve

Hailing from Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, Geve is an electronic dance music DJ/Producer who makes deep, progressive house and techno peppered with sinister growls and elements guaranteed to make you pay attention. He began producing his own music in 2012, and has gained a reputation for whipping dancefloors into a frenzy with his engrossing and often dark sets, with a technical prowess he has honed over the years.

Landmarks along the way: Founding artist of local soundsystem and audiovisual collective Bang Bang, Geve has been instrumental in ensuring their sound quality is top-notch, and constantly innovating. Geve has performed at a range of events including the Music Matters Festival, Atman Tribe Festival Sri Lanka and The Pettah Interchange series initiated by Border Movement. Jambutek Recordings is all set to release his first original EP ‘Pillow Flight’ this summer, which they’ve called “two eccentric and intriguing slices of atmospheric dance music that try hard to resist being pigeonholed by style or genre.”

VI. Sunara

Kicking off her moniker as a DJ in 2011, Sunara dove headfirst into a blend of nu-jazz, funk and glitch-hop with hints of minimal. As she evolved as an artist, these traces grew much bolder and deeper, with her spinning some solid, engaging sets that keep audiences hooked with their melody-inclined aural aesthetic that adds volumes to her minimal techno and micro house.

On the relationship between the DJ and the dancer, she says, “It’s all about experiencing freedom together.”

Landmarks along the way: Besides working extensively with Border Movement to promote electronic music in the subcontinent, Sunara has performed at a range of events including Boris Brejcha live in Sri Lanka, the acclaimed Pettah Interchange Series, Music Matters Festival and most recently, at the Oslo World Music Festival. She is also a visual artist.

VII. TypeB

Buddhima Kurukulasuriya AKA TypeB is perhaps one of the most interesting people on this list. Beginning what he calls ‘this beat-trip’ in the early 2000’s, he’s been a constant proponent of quality electronic music in all its hues and while we’re loathe to use the word, his music truly is eclectic. His DJing roots grew from hip-hop to embrace the joys of house, disco, funk, bass music and jungle, and we agree with the artist when he says we should dispense of the trappings of genres altogether.

Buddhima is a part of ‘Musicality Colombo’, that aims to bring artists together to create fresh sounds from the country through live jam sessions and collaborations. He’s also co-founded the Colombo Design Market, to bring together local talent spanning different fields, as a part of which he handles the performance angle, bringing in soloists, bands, DJs, producers and even comedians to perform.

Landmarks along the way: To name just a few, TypeB has performed across Sri Lanka and Singapore, taking over the console at the Home Club, The Supperclub, The Ministry of Sound, Attica, The Butter Factory, La Maison (Mimolette), BluJaz Cafe, The Border Movement Lounge, Amuseum, Glassé and Silk, as well as festivals such as Pettah Interchange, Singapore Street Festival and Oh.My.Goat.

VIII. Imaad Majeed

Singer-songwriter, poet and rapper is a raging activist at heart, and has no qualms about i. His work often centres around socio-political issues, and his flair for stylised language and inclination to experiment with different forms of art has led to the creation of a varied body of work. From groovy collaborations with artists such as TypeB and Bo Sedkid, to singer-songwriter tunes to hip hop, Imaad Majeed is not afraid to diversify, nor does he hesitate to dive into socio-cultural issues ranging from caste to religion to gender.

Imaad organises and curates ‘Kacha Kacha’, an underground gig featuring poets, rappers and singer-songwriters performing in Sinhala, English and Tamil, and is a regular of the Poetry P’lau collective, as well as the former publisher of the Annasi & Kadalagotu series of chapbooks. An artist with a lucid ideology and the willingness to experiment, Imaad is definitely an artist to watch out for.

Landmarks along the way: His defiant spoken word/rap performance of Thambivamsa received some ire locally for being perceived as ‘anti-Muslim’, but went on to be screened at the 46th North East Modern Language Association (neMLA) convention in 2015, during the panel discussion “The Migrating Word”, co-chaired by Arun Nedra Rodrigo, as an example of ‘diasporic writing’. He has also performed as a vocal artist alongside the Chamber Music Society of Colombo, under the artistic direction of Lakshman Joseph De Seram, for their rendition of Terry Riley’s In C at Colomboscope 2014.

IX. Thricona

Thricona, translating into ‘triangle’ in Sinhalese, is a full-blown trance DJ, embracing all the blissful build-ups like he’s coming home. Tight production, lots of energy and an inherent understanding of creating ‘spaces’ even within a track, Thricona’s popularity has caught on hard and fast and his tunes are bound to have trance-lovers crawling the walls.

Landmarks along the way: His ‘United Tribes’ track is perhaps one of his best produced one, and draws you in with the electric atmosphere it creates.

X. Dinelka Liyanage

Dinelka Liyanage is a Colombo-based experimental music artist who mimics and creates shadows of cosmic experiences, with minimal sounds as his mainstay. The strife of Sri Lanka’s civil war has had an extraordinary impact on his life growing up, and it is something that colours his being. As told to Border Movement, his earliest influences “came from his mother, a traditional dancer. However, it was his philosophical quest of discovering his own individuality that led him to exploring his artistic expression with sincerity and grit. He was 16 when he first started fiddling with beats and kick patterns. His deft control of rhythm and tonal complexities gradually enabled him to fundamentally breakdown the framework of his own musicality.”

Landmarks Along The Way: He was part of a residency program orchestrated by Border Movement, Ableton, Musicboard Berlin, Wild City, and the Goethe-Institut in Berlin, and spent two months there truly developing his music. He performed alongside artistes like Andi Teichmann at Krake Festival, participated in a laptop orchestra session with members of Micromod Music (and POOLcast), and got to play ‘live’ with Akel.

Special Mention:

The Melomanic Sessions

For those interested in exploring Sri Lanka’s up-and-coming underground music scene, the Melomanic Sessions functions as a sort of bi-monthly communal gathering for musicians, based out of Colombo. They focus on the form of acoustic music and its nuances. As they describe best on their SoundCloud, “Our purpose is to provide budding artists a platform and equally loving community to perform in front of. It’s not just a concert, it does not aim at separating the performer and the listener.” Their events can be found on facebook, and people interested can sign up as members and be in the know for the next round of artists, and where the session will be held.

You can get a glimpse into the kind of sounds they curate over here.

Special thanks to Shafni Awam for helping us put some of this research together. We have a second volume coming out soon but till then, if you have more suggestions of who deserves to be featured on this growing compilation, please email us at editorial@homegrown.co.in with the subject line ‘Sri Lanka Musicians’.