Lankan makes waves at John Lennon songwriting contest
View(s):Sri Lankan-born musician/composer Dimitri Zaik snagged a top spot amongst the final prize winners under the ‘World Music’ category for Session II at the annual John Lennon Songwriting Contest 2014.
The John Lennon songwriting contest is an international songwriting contest, which began in 1997, having been set up in memory of John Lennon by his wife Yoko Ono. Amateur and professional songwriters from all over the world can submit entries in one of the 12 categories. It’s open all year round and features two seasons.
Dimitri Zaik. Pic by Natasa Leoni
This year’s judges included George Clinton, Prince Royce, Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jim Steinman, Sean Paul, Jessica Jarrell, Bob Weir, Matthew Koma, Art Alexakis of Everclear, Mike Sapone, Nick Hexum of 311, Jimmy Cliff, Switchfoot, The Lone Bellow, Gaby Moreno, Angela Hunte, Ray Dalton, Taylor Momsen, Sheila E., Bryan-Michael Cox, Jesse Harris, Natasha Bedingfield, Trevor Gale, Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas, The Bacon Brothers, Reeve Carney, Bootsy Collins and The Veronicas.
Dimitri’s feat is even more impressive as he came in second to the Grand Prize winner in the World Category which is by far the most diverse genre of the competition, with the most number of contestants. The track titled ‘Antigen Society’ off his debut album ‘Magellanic Clouds’ which was composed, recorded and produced solely by him, was the only instrumental track to have made it through to the finals.
‘Magellanic Clouds’ is part one of Dimitri’s series ‘A Dandelion Clock’ which is a multi-sensory story that is told across a spectrum of music, writing, graphic novels and video clips. The full ‘Magellanic Clouds’ soundtrack is available for download via iTunes, Google Play or Amazon and the rest of the story is currently being produced in Melbourne, Australia as an on going series. Learn more about the books and stories at : www.adandelionclock.com
Dimitri has been involved in music composition and production for over a decade now, relentlessly chasing his dreams. His is the real underdog story. There were no shortcuts. No abundance of money to fund his endeavours and not a soul on the crew of his productions to date.
His efforts were first recognized by major USA based Cymbal Manufacturer Soultone Cymbals in 2010, and he has since been on their roster as an official artist.
Dimitri’s writing has already gone viral with his quote from his ‘Ink Bleeder’ excerpts, “I want to be alone… with someone else who wants to be alone” having more than half a million shares, reblogs, memes and retweets. The quote has also been featured on Thought Catalogue’s Top Ten Introvert Quotes. It also clocked in at number 25, with Sylvia Plath and Paulo Coelho immediately on either side, on Introvert Springs official top 100 introvert quotes of all time.
Also a photographer, in 2012 Dimitri made a career breakthrough, to illustrate world renowned author Neil Gaiman’s (American Gods, Stardust, Sandman) collaborative project with Blackberry in their Keep Moving Campaign- ‘A Calendar Of Tales’.
Dimitri’s love for wildlife and mother earth particularly elephants has led him down a road alongside his father to run one of the oldest and largest communities for Sri Lankan elephants. One of the most memorable projects that they undertook was an independently funded project at Uda Walawe to search for the iconic tusker of the park, ‘Walawe Raja’, that went missing after last being sighted with a concerning injury. While Raja remains missing to this day, the project created considerable awareness and interest about the plight of wild elephants in Sri Lanka. See www.srilankaelephant.com or www.facebook.com/srilankaelphant
Support Dimitri’s work as a homegrown independent artist through: www.dimitrizaik.com
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