Dance to the music of Ranidu

Popular singing sensation Ranidu launched his third album 'Ranidu' last Friday at a mega Concert at the Viharamaha Devi Open air stadium.

Ranidu came down to Colombo after nearly eighteen months from New York, where he continues his studies and music career. Ranidu will fly back to USA on Sunday.

This new album was officially launched in New York by his music company a couple of weeks ago. New album 'Ranidu' comprises fourteen new songs and two of them are already getting air play in New York.

‘Unmada Dethol’ (Memorize) is getting much needed air play in radio stations in the States and are now being played on BBC Radio 1.

‘This album is quite different from the other two. I call this is my true colours and this is pure hip hop music. I am under the influence of heavy Hip Hop music in New York. My other two albums, I must say are more to pop. So this is different and I always wanted to do something different’ Ranidu said in an exclusive interview with the TV Times.

American rapper 'Hollee Smokez' Lawrence was in Colombo with Ranidu for his concert.
‘'This is my very first visit out of US and I am really enjoying it. We work together in New York and believe me, Ranidu will be a star in time to come’ he said.

Ranidu Lankage is the undisputed icon of Sinhalese RnB and hip hop, who has captured the imagination of the Sri Lankan masses with his breathtaking voice and enigmatic compositions. He is also the individual who has single handedly taken the genre of Sinhalese RnB/ pop to new and never before seen heights in the international arena. Ranidu is the first Sinhalese artiste to be played on the venerated Radio1 of the BBC and also the creator of the first Sinhalese single to be played on MTV, Channel V and Z Music India.

'Pa Salamba Sala' is another song , which got the BBC air play and I think this will be a hit too' Ranidu said. Ranidu sings in six different languages in this album.

‘I sing in Sinhala, English, Tamil, Panjabi, Spanish and Hindi, but majority are in Sinhala’ he added. He is the total creator of this album.

‘I have composed and arranged music for all the songs and produced it. It is a total me ‘ he said.

In the past four years Ranidu has produced an incessant array of hits that has revolutionized the Sri Lankan music industry and has left his competition behind in a cloud of dust.

Lankage's first single 'Oba magemai' in 2003 sets the standard in new age Sinhalese pop and became an instant hit on the radio charts.

He went back in the studio in the summer of 2003 to create one of the masterpieces of new age Sri Lankan music, namely, the album 'Diviyapura/ All my life' which included the monster hit 'Ahankara Nagare'.

Ranidu also embarked on his first major tour in Sri Lanka in the summer of 2005 and as expected all shows were a massive success. This was not an end point for Ranidu as he once again collaborated with Iraj to come up with what is currently Sri Lanka's top selling Single 'Mata Aloke Genadevi Sansaraye'. Once again this track resulted in international success for Ranidu with the song airing on the BBC radio1, Asian network and 1 Xtra and also being aired on all Sri Lankan and Indian music TV channels. Aloke was also included in the Bombay Bronx compilation by the BBC's superstar DJ and Ranidu and Iraj's mentor DJ Nihal.

Ranidu is collaborating with many artistes on this album including Iraj, West coast Rapper Delon, Anson of the DID Crew from Trinidad, Holee Smokez and the MDT crew from New York, Yohan Rakapakse, Yauwanan, Ranga D (The god) and many more.

A song from the 3rd album, dubbed 'Herde Keniththuwa' produced by Iraj, was the theme for the movie Anjalika which, was released in April of 2006.

The first official single Paa Salamba Sala- ft Anson was released on Radio1 and BBC Asian network in December 2006 and was the first Sinhalese single to be on the 'A' list of the Asian network. Lyrics for the album were provided by the usual friends- Bandula Nanayakkarawasam, Chanaka Jayasekera, Kelum Shreemal, Vasantha Dukgannarala and a childhood friend of Ranidu's Anuradha Uduwage.

Ranidu along with Iraj and the crew are planning a tour of the US, Canada, Australia, Dubai, Cyprus and the UK. With all this activity 2007 seems to be another record breaking year for Sri Lanka's biggest RnB pop sensation.