Yashan launches ‘Raa Tharakawo’

Sri Lankan artiste Yashan released his latest music video ‘Raa Tharakawo’ last week, a remake of a song by Sri Lankan pop king Clarence Wijewardene. The original version of the song featured on the soundtrack of the famous Sinhala tele-drama ‘Suseema.’ Yashan provided some quick insights into his newest music video and candidly spoke on the feedback received so far. Following are excerpts from the interview:

 

Q: Can you give us some details about ‘Raa Tharakawo’?

A: The new music arrangements for the song were done by Udara Fernando. Actually, we didn’t try to make any changes to the vocals, lyrics and the arrangements of the song as we wanted to keep the original feel of the song.

The only thing we changed a bit was the music. We tried out a new style called ‘dance pop’, dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developed from post-disco and synthpop, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs but is also suitable for contemporary radio waves.

Dance-pop music is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which is generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions.

Q: What are the characteristics of dance pop music?

A: Dance-pop generally contains several notable characteristics – up tempo, upbeat music intended for clubs, catchy songs with an easy, pop-based structure with a strong emphasis on beats and grooves, prominent hooks, simple lyrics and polished productions.

Q: Did you do a remake because that’s the current trend?

A: No, not at all. I was never famous for doing remakes. This was a respectful invitation I received from my sound engineer, Udara Fernando, and my record label M Entertainment. They thought that the style of this song would suit me and I have to give them full credit for believing in my talent.

Since I found out that they had obtained the necessary rights as well, I didn’t see any wrong in trying this out. It was really amazing how the recordings of this song went because it took only two takes I think, and it took only about only 30 minutes to record the entire song.

Q: What’s the story behind ‘Raa Tharakawo’ music video?

A: It’s not a video with a deep meaning behind it unlike the original version. We wanted to do an energetic live performance video and I’m very happy with the outcome. I didn’t want to experiment too much as I didn’t want to destroy the image of the original song.

The music video for ‘Raa Tharakawo’ was directed by Kanishka Vidanaarachchi and Priyangaa Dissanayake of Studio Feather.

Q: How has the feedback been so far?

A: Great! So far, so good! I accept all comments, both good and bad, in a positive way. Even on a broken clock, you get the time right twice a day. That’s how I look at it. So everyone is welcome to make any comment about it and that will always help me to keep growing.

Q: Is there anything you would like to tell your fans?

A: Wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year with love. I hope you all have a great time this December. Check my official website, www.yashanonline.com, and my official Facebook fan page, www.facebook.com/darealyashan for news, pictures, and audio and video downloads.