Yohani and her fans: Where to from here?

When Yohani sang the cover song first, according to her, it was not sung in a studio environment. It was a blessing in disguise. There were no computerised gimmicks to alter her voice. She sang it as natural as could be. The freshness, realism, simplicity and innocence did the trick 

Sri Lanka is a tiny island. However, there are more than 100 tinier countries in the world. Some of the smaller countries are rated as ‘developed’ and ‘rich’ in terms of per capita income. Hence, the size doesn’t matter. What matters is how we manage our country socially, economically, politically, and how we behave as humans. That would determine our recognition as a country and as a nation. Unfortunately, if I assess the present status of the country with my limited knowledge, I see dark clouds everywhere. A perfect storm is brewing. 

Through the dark clouds, I suddenly saw a few silver lines. One was woven by Yohani De Silva. And another created by Sumudu Jayatilaka. The shining spark emitted by Umaria Sinhawansa suddenly disappeared hiding behind a band of cloud.

Once, one of my teachers enquired from students on our life expectations. When I was contemplating an answer, he suggested us “happiness” could be one. Then, I knew my answer. To me, the happiness was a short-lived feeling and I wanted more. Hence, I replied, “contentment” not “happiness”. So, contentment became the target on anything I do. It is a long-lasting holistic feeling. 

When I am inquisitive about an artwork, an article, a book, a song, or a cinematic product, I search whether it can deliver me contentment. I believe great singers like Pandith Amaradewa and rising stars like Sumudu and Umaria (to a certain extent) delivered long-lasting contentment to listeners. Yohani is still roaming in the zone of ‘happiness’ to ‘contentment’. She will be there soon.

The focus

I am not a musician or a singer although my friends overestimate my singing skills. However, I developed certain skills to critically look at the quality of literary and artistic works through extensive reading and to some extent literary writings. 

If I rate a certain work as low quality, it is my own view and I am ready to accept that others may have different opinions. However, I do not accept if someone challenges my opinion, solely on the basis that I am not capable of producing a better work than the criticised work. My counter response to such a challenge is that “it is simply not my job”.

Jayavilal Wilegoda was the best film critic Sri Lanka had in the sixties and seventies. He was a lone warrior who pushed our cinematic industry away from the South Indian influence, through in-depth analysis of Sri Lankan movies. He could kill a film director by his pen and had the same power as Sanath Jayasuriya who killed renowned bowlers wielding his willow. However, Jayavilal’s approach was more like Aravinda De Silva. When we needed to sew the wound inflicted by opposition bowlers, we sent Aravinda, the surgical physician and when we needed to cut the opposition into pieces, we sent Sanath, the butcher. That was how we did in 1996.

However, if the film makers asked Jayavilal to make a cinematic masterpiece instead of critically analysing others’ work, he would have shot back saying “it is your job to make it and my job is to critique it”. So, for my defence, on analysing performance of singers without being a musician, I seek spiritual support of Jayavilal. If I need a combative spirit, I will seek support from late veteran critic Chinthana Jayasena who wielded pen like Sanath’s bat.

Sumudu

Sumudu Jayatilaka is a Sri Lankan singer, songwriter, and musician performs in Europe circuits. Her versatile singing skills are being adored by many globally. When I listened to her ‘Tennessee Waltz’ rendition, I was immersed into a different world. Even after she finished the rendition, she left something in my mind. It reverberated and relived for hours, giving so much contentment. This is akin to the feeling I have when I listen to a W.D. Amaradewa song. It is a feeling which cannot be described literally. 

Sumudu operates within the English linguistic environment and excels in her craft. While she might have broken a few glass ceilings to enter the global music industry as an Asian, it might have been a comparatively less stressful endeavour than the path Yohani took, because Sumudu used English language as a vehicle.  This is how I see it.

Umaria

When I heard Umaria’s ‘Bala Walapemi’ song she sang with Pandith Amaradewa, I was delighted with her voice and her unique talent in pronouncing Sinhala words in so crispy manner to extract the exact meaning and express associated emotions. The ability of a singer can be judged by the range and the depth a person can sing and the degree of trained voice. She has an amazing three-dimensional range. She has a well-trained voice, and it must have been a result of hard work. This is a lesson for youth who want to be stars overnight.

However, Umaria is yet to develop her own identity and uniqueness to break away from the bubble created by her ardent local audience and the musical band she is associated with. I wanted to see more from her. However, she took a different path, and she is mired musically. She has been consumed by the ‘groupthink’ and she must move out from the shadow of popular musical band culture to develop her own identity. I am waiting for that day.

Yohani

Yohani, as a singer, has obvious limitations, in terms of the range and the degree of training. That is fine for a young singer. Most importantly, she knows her limitations and works on those continually. As a determined girl, she had a good professional foreign education without being stuck in local rote learning and such exposure taught her ways to analyse a situation critically and logically and take independent decisions. 

Her experience gained in a society of a developed country gave her enough ammunition to be liberal, independent and bold. However, all these attributes were not enough for her to break away from the local entertainment arena. She needed “luck” and she earned it.

Lucky break

Before expressing my views on how Yohani became successful, I would like to tell a story. As a kid, I was attracted to Sinhala semi-classical music and Hindi music. During that era, there was no internet. A radio was the sole source of music. Audio cassette players were there, but as a kid it was beyond my reach. 

I extensively read about Indian singers and Hindi songs and even wrote a bound book full of life stories of Indian singers, lyricists, and music directors. Songs and their meanings were documented at a painstakingly slow pace over many years by repeated listening of songs over the radio. It was a hobby that even disrupted my education. I never missed radio programs presented by R. L. Wimaladharma (father of famous actress Yashoda Wimaladharma) explaining meanings of Hindi songs poetically. The following is one of historical incidents I documented. 

Once a young boy who worked as a barber in his brother’s hair cutting salon started cutting hair of a decent looking gentleman. This young lad continually murmured a song while doing the job. This was a nuisance to many customers but not to the gentleman. He closed his eyes and was immersed in a deep thought. The gentleman was the famous music director Naushad Ali (one may remember his musical scores of the movies ‘Mother India’ and ‘Baiju Bawra’) and the boy was none other than young Mohammad Rafi.  That was the beginning of a long association and the musical journey of Mohammad Rafi. You never know where your luck resides. If Rafi had been silent due to the reactions of the others, he would have been a barber for the rest of his life like his father and the brother.

Having luck is one thing but using it wisely is another.

The ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ original song had certain notable qualities such as a simple rhythm and short stanzas. The original was not a hit song. The high calibre lyricists and singers in Sri Lanka might have put it into a dustbin after judging it by its face value because they look at songs through their lenses coloured with classical language and classical music as the preferred colours. The song lyrics or the performance of the original singer did not produce an extraordinary outcome to produce the ‘wow’ factor. 

Being herself

When Yohani sang the cover song first, according to her, it was not sung in a studio environment. It was a blessing in disguise. There were no computerised gimmicks to alter her voice. She sang it as natural as could be. The freshness, realism, simplicity and innocence did the trick. She did not do it purposely. What she did was to be true to herself because she knew her own limitations.

To give due credit, the original singer Satheeshan identified the quality of the cover and suggested to record it same way. She kept same emotions and expressions when she reproduced the cover in a studio with one camera angle. Hence, Yohani converted an average song to an internationally appealing song through her matured, intelligent, authentic and simplified approach. 

If you see multiple versions of this cover song by global singers, they only kept Yohani’s stanza and replaced Satheeshan’s piece with their versions. This proves it was Yohani who created this magic. It taught a lesson to all singers. A song is not just about ragas, lyrics, and music. It is an audio, (sometimes) audio-visual expression to give unique experience to a listener. If this is done right way, the listeners would be hooked and addicted to the experience. 

To recognise this in Yohani’s cover, you only need to look at the faces of people in video clips, at the beginning. Their hands automatically go to the hearts and show genuine affection and love towards her without understanding a single word of the song. What more a singer would ask from admirers?

Being independent

Why did it happen that way? I have my own explanation. The Australian socio-environment helped her to develop certain abilities. In Australian society, there is no one constantly watching you to judge you. You could be thin, big, tall, short, black, or white. You are none of other’s business. However, if you behave badly, your action is judged irrespective of who you are and then people express their views, but that is the end of the judgement. On the next day, they look at you afresh. 

Yohani realised the importance of being herself to chase her own dream. She learned how to be an independent decision maker, irrespective what others want her to be, including her parents. Credit to her parents, they might have had a great courage to allow their highly educated daughter to take a risky musical career. Yohani became a matured strong personality because of her foundational social exposure in Australia. 

I see this trend with children of Sri Lankan families in Australia. No matter how much parents push, at some point of their life, the kids decide to brush off the pressure and start taking their own decisions about their lives. In Sri Lankan standards, this is a mutinous act. Many kids move out from parents’ home when they secure paid jobs. It is very common that children change their university courses after one or two years in their original study courses. Simply because they want to enjoy their education and life concurrently. 

I have seen some children who succeeded in securing highly-competitive medicine courses under parental pressure abandon their studies after one or two years into the course and switch to different study courses. Their philosophy is that if you are true to yourself and pursue your dreams, you cannot go wrong.

Yohani simply did that. In addition, she had some god-given simplistic physical outlooks. Her relative younger looking figure well ahead of her age has given her a competitive edge over the others. She talks and behaves in a humane manner. 

Talent and cosmetics

One would argue that for an artist, what matters is talent not looks. I tend to agree with that opinion theoretically, as I adore actors like Joe Abeywickrama and Morgan Freeman for their acting skills. There are some great actors who were conscious about their own looks.

The classic example is arguably the greatest actor of Sri Lankan cinema, Gamini Fonseka. I had a close friend who knew a few interesting facts about movie icons. One such was Gamini’s consciousness about his height and his teeth. Many of his co-stars were taller than him. Hence, cinematographers were careful to select right camera angles to minimise him depicting as a shorter person when others were around within the frame. Especially during song clips, this trick was applied applying upward camera angle shots. Apparently Gamini was very careful not to move his top lip when talking, to avoid seeing the slight gap between the top two middle teeth. That purposeful attempt gave him a stern and sharp look adding another positive dimension to his personality. 

When my friend told me on this, I refused to believe this as he was my clone of Marlon Brando. I watched almost all his movies, new and old. One day I saw what my friend said. There was a fight scene in Titus Thotawattha’s ‘Chandiya’ movie in which Gamini was fighting with H.D. Kulathunga (Kalu Mahaththaya). In one of the frames of the fight, Gamini’s angry intense face showed the gap of top teeth clearly. Even the great film editor Titus missed it. This was the only millisecond long evidence I have. I mentioned this only to highlight how even minute things play in great actors’ minds when they chose to become role models. I have no intention to undermine his great personality, extraordinary acting skills, and great humanistic qualities by telling this.

Once Gamini was asked to hit another actor physically in a fighting scene and he refused to do so by saying it was the cameramen’s job to show it as a real hit. When the director insisted, he asked the film director to take the other actor’s place and said he would do it happily. The director retreated. This was how humane this great man was.

Gamini did an extraordinary job to promote harmony between Tamil and Sinhalese in the film industry. Hence, I only mentioned the above story on his concerns on his looks to provide evidence that in some instances good looks matter, irrespective how trivial ‘beauty’ is in inclusive, equitable society.

Breaking shackles

Yohani has a multi-linguistic approach. She respects all languages and all ethnicities. This is an admirable quality. That reminds me again Gamini Fonseka. He openly said Sri Lankan cinema survived due to the Tamil business community which invested in the popular movie industry. 

Yohani’s approach was universal and global beyond ethnic, cultural, and geographical boundaries. She is a people’s artist. This reminds me of great Hindi singer Mukesh Chand Mathur. When Mukesh sang a new song, he went to his village and sang it in front of villagers. If they liked it, he proceeded with recording. Mukesh was a people’s singer. H.R. Jothipala was our people’s singer. Jothipala is still living in the hearts of public irrespective of poor ratings given by professorial critics when he was alive. 

Yohani is not afraid of singing her Sinhala songs in front of global audience although she had the capability and option of singing English songs and a few Hindi songs during her recent overseas visit. Indians would have excused her mispronunciation of Hindi words rather than listening to Sinhala songs. This shows her genuineness. The way she performed at media interviews shows her honesty and her determination. This is not to say there are no risks in her approach.

In my view, she needs to understand why she became a star overnight. It was simply through the culmination of trust among global public being genuine and showing real loving emotions breaking racial and geographical barriers through a simple song. Compassion and love can make wonders. She has become Sri Lanka’s first wonder woman. However, fame and money can ruin a person. She should not allow money to ruin her innocent, simplicity and must understand that own limitations cannot be hidden by fame. 

She must understand this is a small step in the global arena. This is of course not a sprint but a marathon for her. People near and dear to her must mentor her to take informed decisions. The global entertainment industry is full of sharks. She must swim carefully with eyes wide open.

Where to from here?

Before concluding this opinion piece, I would like to advice Yohani’s young fans and followers. Sri Lanka or the rest of the world does not need another Yohani from you. Support her. Encourage her, but do not try to be a clone. Be someone else. Learn how and why Yohani did what she did the way she did.

When we were born to this world, we were just humans. Every adjective assigned to describe us was imposed upon us by others without our consent. Sri Lankan, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, etc. are just chains wrapped around us to label us by others. So unchain yourselves and be yourselves. Treat all equally with respect irrespective of their culture, ethnicity, or religion. Love all unconditionally. Be humane to all living things and the environment. Break racial and geographical barriers. Think globally and act locally. Try to be someone unique. If all can do this, this world would be a beautiful, decent place to live our ephemeral lives.

(Eng. Janaka Seneviratne is a Professional Engineer working in the Australian NSW Local Government Sector. His interest in music and literature, in addition to his chosen professional discipline, prompted him expressing his views on the performance of Sri Lankan artists.  His intention is to inspire youth be innovative and unique. He is contactable via [email protected].)