Yashan’s latest song ‘Sansara Gane’ out on ‘Music Xpress’ tomorrow

Yashan is a well-known singer, rap artist, presenter and producer who made it to the mainstream music industry in 2008 with his debut smash hit single ‘Sandawathuren 2’ with Ashanthi, which was followed by his debut solo album ‘Sandawathuren 2’ produced by Bathiya and Santhush under M Entertainment and Universal Music Records, making him the youngest artist from Sri Lanka to do so.

‘Siththamak Wage,’ ‘Me Aththamaido’ with Miss Chey, ‘Ra Thun Yama,’ ‘Mal Sihinaye,’ ‘Ra Tharakawo’ and ‘Labagaththe Amaruwen’ are some of Yashan’s biggest hits to date and ‘Siththamak Wage’ is his most popular song which was featured on all leading media in Sri Lanka and it was aired on BBC Radio One plus it won a Special Merit Award at the 35th Signis Salutations Night 2011 as well. 

The song ‘Pem Hansaya’ with Miss Chey off Yashan’s second album ‘Siththamak Wage’ was featured on BBC World Service and that’s also a notable milestone from Yashan’s successful musical journey as one of the best trendsetters in Sri Lanka.

By hosting two radio shows for four years on YFM, and two TV shows for Sirasa TV and Channel One MTV, Yashan has managed to build up a huge fan base as a presenter as well. He has been hosting his own TV show on Siyatha TV for almost two years at a stretch. 

He is popular as a producer too and has introduced many new artistes to the music industry not just by making a song but making an image with a brand name for them in the competitive music industry in Sri Lanka, playing a big role in helping and promoting new talent.

His latest song ‘Sansara Gane’ (‘Mal Sihinaye 2’) is a sweet love song which will entertain listeners at any given time of the day. It’s the second duet sung by Yashan and Shanudrie. The lyrics were written by a young guy in his early twenties, Sandun Perera, and the music was directed by the very young but extremely talented Shenuka H. Peiris. 

The music video was directed by Dimantha Balasooriya, in his debut creation at Yashan Productions. It was filmed for two days in two locations; on the first day the storyline scenes were covered in Kandana and the main singing shots were done in Negombo. 

Commenting on what it is like to work with Shanudrie, Yashan said: “She is one of the coolest girls that I have ever met. She is young, talented and vibrant and it’s easy to work with her. She has a long way to go I think and she has already proved what she is capable of. When she proposed to do the first song with me, she was around 14 and we did ‘Mal Sihinaye’ together and it was a great success.”

The feedback for ‘Mal Sihinaye’ has been great, he revealed, with the song getting heavy airplay on most of the leading TV channels and getting requested by fans on request shows. Most of their fans love it and it has almost 400,000 views on YouTube as well. 

The decision to go ahead with part 2 was done for his fans, says Yashan. “We did it for our fans. Since the feedback for the first version was more than we ever expected, we thought ‘let’s do something similar but a brand new track with a new sound to make our fans happy and satisfied’.”

The song will be released tomorrow, Sunday 14 June, on his own TV show with Bathiya and Santhush. It’s called ‘Music Xpress’ and is shown live every Wednesday and Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Siyatha TV. 

Yashan also did his first-ever TV commercial recently. “I’m extremely happy to work with McDonalds and I’m proud to get an invitation and get signed up with one of the best global brands. Doing my first TV commercial doubled my happiness. The feedback for it was cool. People liked it because it’s a creative and also a funny commercial,” he said.

Yashan Productions is his own production company, via which he handles events, weddings, shows, songs and produces artistes. “I have a very young and also a well experienced team in the mix working with me and I’m absolutely enjoying working with them. You can contact us by dropping an email to [email protected] and stay in touch with me at www.facebook.com/darealyashan.”

Outlining the team behind ‘Sansara Gane’, he said: “It was Dimantha’s idea to do this. He is the Director of this visual. Lakshan Harshana did a wonderful job as the cameraman on the first day of the shoot. The camera work for the second day was done by Ushan Sasika. Editing and colour grading was also done by Lakshan; the immense effort he and Dimantha put in for this project added extra colour and value to the video.

“The still photographs were taken by Gamini Chamara and Kasun Gimantha of Digital Eye Studios and Hasantha Maduranga at Pixelart.lk. I don’t want to forget my sponsors Niel Marine, Microsoft, Lymol and Reebok and special thanks to Mohamed Rifkhan, Chairman of iDealz Lanka.”