Sri Lankan music duo featured on ‘Global Hit’
February 12th, 2008
Public Radio International (PRI), producer of radio programs for public radio stations across the US featured Bathiya and Santhush, on its ‘Global Hit’ segment of weekly night broadcasting - ‘The World’, on Tuesday, Feb 12th.
Here is the full text of the feature, as presented by Anna Sussman:
Today’s Global Hit comes to us from Sri Lanka. That’s where the musical duo Bathiya and Santhush have provoked controversy. They’ve ruffled feathers by adding back-beats and pop vocals to traditional Sri Lankan music. And it doesn’t help that their music regular tops the charts. Anna Sussman recently caught up with them in the capital Colombo.
SANTHUSH: “We started experimenting with Sri Lankan pop music and trying to create a bridge between the Sri Lankan ethnic sounds and the pop western sounds, so we basically fused both sounds together and came out with a different flavor.”
That new flavor didn’t go over very well at first.
SANTHUSH: “The Sri Lankan music right from the start it was a very conservative industry, up to now, we were the people who kind of shaked the place and say hey man, young people rock. Right at the start they were saying that we were trying to destroy the culture and that we were not adhering to the norms.”
Newspapers ran lengthy critiques of their music. Radio and TV stations aired debates on the deterioration of Sri Lankan heritage. But their sound struck a chord with young people. Bathiya and Santhush became a massive pop sensation despite the controversy.
SANTHUSH: “It was excellent actually, for us it was a good thing, we were confident that we were not doing anything wrong… the only different thing was our music had energy, people danced. So when the youngsters realized, hey man, they have got some energy, a whole lot of youngsters started following us. It was a revolution.”
They say they’re bringing ancient Sri Lankan music to the world stage by popularizing traditional Sri Lankan sounds with contemporary pop loops. And they’re among the few Sri Lankan artists to sign with an international music label.
This song, Denna Denna, is inspired by ancient ceremonial folk songs used to drive demons from the home.
SANTHUSH: “Those sounds are maybe around 1,200 years old 1,600 years old and it has been coming through generations, but for some reason those sounds, the music hasn’t come to the world. Not even to India. It has been lying inside Sri Lanka in like a treasure box, so we thought lets open it out and share it with the world.”
Bathiya and Santhush say thier music builds bridges in Sri Lanka, by overlapping diverse sounds and languages. The duo sing in English, and Singhalese, broadening their audience to both an educated and poor Sri lankan fan base, and they produced a Hindi version of most their recent album for their Indian neighbors and they say they are learning to write songs in Tamil the language of Sri Lanka’s ethnic minority. As civil war continues to escalate on the small island, Bathiya and Santhush say they feel an acute need to address the nation’s bitter ethnic divide, with their music.
[click to listen audio of this report on PRI]
Entry Filed under: transCurrents NewsFeatures
6 Comments Add your own
1. dayan jayatilleka | February 13th, 2008 at 8:08 am
these guys are the real radicals, the real revolutionaries…way to go!
2. Athula | February 13th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I beleive Santhus and bathiya created good blend of musical vaganza Which is blend of all the cultures and nationalaties entire world. I wish them to develop more and more good lyrics which is more comfort to humman EAR.
Regards
Athula Samarakkodi
3. For_the_Lankan_youth | February 13th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Bravo!! Bathiya & Santhush!! Congratulations!! You boyz have done the country proud yet again!!! B&S are the true architects of a music revolution in Sri Lanka. They did it first & they still do it best!! Keep pumping those beats!!
4. ilaya seran senguttuven | February 14th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I saw Santush and the Friends on that Extravaganza organised by the Cricket Board some weeks ago at Waters Edge to pay tribute to our Cricket Heroes from the 60s to now.I have seen music performers of world class in many parts of the world and know something of both Wester and Eastern Music. He was very pleasing to watch and very professional. Bhatiya, when he broke into the musical scene here a few years ago, brought in much innovation to the local music scene and virtually come in from nowhere. Both these young guys are tremendously talented and have brought much happiness to all our people. I hope a day will come soon when the people of the North-East will gain their peace and their normalcy to receive you in our soil with the honour you deserve for your music.
5. Kathy | February 18th, 2008 at 2:05 am
I heard that segment on NPR here in Los Angeles while driving to work. Their music caught my attention. I’m not Indian nor Sri Lankan, but I really dig their beats. I look forward to finding their CD when it gets released here in the States. If you guys are reading this, PLEASE come to Los Angeles and perform for us! Get a gig on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” with Nic Harcourt!
6. Abby | May 14th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I first heard Bathiya & Santhush in Delon’s We Strugglin Video and I’d have to say that they impressed me. They are truly revolutionary because they sing about themes that are important to Sri Lanka, like the ethnic divide. Another great Sri Lankan artist I support is Delon — a tsunami survivor who raps about justice, peace and unity in Sri Lanka. On with the music revolution! It is about time.
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