Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Making music
By Marisa de Silva
With many young and talented local musicians slowly but surely breaking into the international music scene, we seem to be making waves even in the sphere of music production. What’s more, the latest Sri Lankan music producer cum student in town, Shanaka Tennekoon is just 17 years old!

A past pupil of St. Joseph’s College, Maradana and Gateway International, Shanaka had the honour of bringing home the award for ‘Music Producer Of The Year’, one of the two awards presented at the ‘Freedom Jam 2005’, an annual concert held in August, at the Palace Grounds, in Bangalore, India, in celebration of the country’s independence. Not only was it the first time a Sri Lankan band participated at this concert, but in addition also bagged one of the two awards presented at it. He was even featured in The Hindu, Indian Express and Decant Harold of India, with regards to his band’s outstanding achievement in the music industry at such a young age.

He was given this award for his song “Ozone”, which he produced and performed together with his band ‘Sri Lankan Vibes’. Shanaka not only handled the audio engineering aspects of the song, but also helped with its composing, and was also a part of the performance at ‘Freedom Jam’, this year. “Ozone” had even made it to Number 1 on the TNL Music Charts, this year, he said.

The ‘Freedom Jam’ is a unique, free-for-all musical gathering. It is the continuation of an old musical tradition in Bangalore, where for a few years in the early eighties at the ‘Music Strip’ in Cubbon Park, musicians used to get together and perform free on Sunday evenings. This spirit was revived during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Indian Independence in 1996, when musicians of all styles gathered together behind Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore to celebrate freedom in their own way – by playing music. And thus, the ‘Freedom Jam’ was born.

It proved hugely popular and it was continued in the form of monthly jams, regularly held on the first Sunday of every month and a nightlong free music festival – ‘The Freedom Jam Festival’ on the eve of Independence Day.
Of the entire repertoire of songs sung by the 50 bands that performed that night, just 16 songs were selected to compile a CD, he said. In addition to “Ozone”, their 45-minute performance had included some of Shanaka’s other originals and some popular Baila numbers, which had been quite a hit with the Indian audiences. They had also had quite a large Sri Lankan audience as there had been nearly 100 Sri Lankan students studying in Bangalore who had attended the concert.

Currently a first year student of digital filming and audio engineering, at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Bangalore, India, Shanaka also works at his father’s studio Sparx Digital Recording Studio, whilst on vacation. Having started music production just this year, he said that he handles audio engineering and video production for various upcoming musicians, who need a helping hand. He also dislikes copying from originals and prefers creating his own music, he says. So much so, that he had just released his debut music video, produced for local artiste, Don Sherman. Although he had filmed it here, he had added the final editing and graphics to it in India, where they had to work on various projects such as music videos, mastering tapes, advertisements and post production work for short films, as a part of the hands-on training, he explained. So, even if he gets some work whilst on holiday here, he can take it back with him to India and work on it and eventually finalise it at his studio in Sri Lanka, he said.

Specialising mainly in composing ‘Turntable’ cum urban music, aptly titled Urban Hip-Hop, Shanaka says that he’s more interested in music production, than performing, although he did perform in India. He generally likes to make experimental music of sorts, by using a mix of instruments, voices and sounds, when creating his own tracks, he said. “Any sound can be made into music,” said Shanaka enthusiastically. Thereafter, he decides on a vocalist who can do most justice to the song and produces the song. However, he also makes customised tracks as per the request of a particular artiste, to suit his/her specific requirement and style. He hopes to release his first album for the ‘Killer Bs’, later this year, he added.

When asked how he got interested in the field, he said that he came from a very musical background, as his father is quite involved in the entertainment business, and therefore always had an interest in all types of music.
“My main aim is to have my own studio one day, in keeping with international standards” he said. He says that there may even be a possibility of him starting up a studio in India as well, which would receive international recognition. He’s presently working on some projects alongside popular Indian artistes such as Siwamani (drummer), A.R. Rahuman and Sidhartha a famous guitarist. He’s also working with the Guru School of Music in Bangalore (one of the organisers of ‘Freedom Jam’) on composing music etc. He had also helped edit the music video “Udarata Meniketa” in the studio Frameworks of Josna Murthy, one of his lecturers, who is an editor and the co-director of the famous Bollywood movie The Twister amidst others.

“I want to be technically qualified and obtain a masters in audio engineering and music video direction, collaborating with SAE and Quantum Studios International. I’d also like very much to help young talent to come up in the music industry and they could even release their records under the ST Records label. However, as I am still quite young, I have time to develop my talents and reach greater goals in the music trade,” said the aspiring youngster passionately.

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