JOIN USApparently, Sri Lankans are not only crazy about cricket, but music as well. Lankan pop sensation Dushyanth Weeraman has the highest number of followers on Facebook — after the island nation’s cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene, that is.
Dushyanth has tried his hand at all genres of music but prefers pop to any other form. On an Indian tour to perform along with Sonu Nigam for their collaborative project called ‘Just a Fact’, Dushyanth says, “The Hindi version is sung by Sonu and the English by me. I first wrote the song in English and because we wanted it sung in Hindi as well, we decided to smuggle in a few Hindi lyrics. That’s how the collaboration happened.”
He admits that he always wanted to sing with Sonu Nigam. “Sonu is popular back in my hometown. The response we got when we performed together in Sri Lanka and India was mind-blowing,” informs Dushyanth, who is looking forward to participating in more collaborative projects in India.
Incidentally, Dushyanth is also nicknamed the ‘Michael Jackson of Sri Lanka’. As a child, he would spend hours listening to Michael Jackson’s (MJ) music and watch his videos.
“MJ was a childhood inspiration and I must say that along with his music, I always admired the humanitarian side of the man.
I have never researched and read about anyone as much as I have about him,” explains Dushyanth and adds, “people didn’t have too many good things to say about him when he was alive but after he was gone, people began praising him. But all said and done, he was a good man.”
It is said that all of Dushyanth’s performances have a fair bit of dancing. He proved his skills when he won ‘Sirasa Dancing Stars’, a reality series on TV. “I am a self-taught dancer. I believe in completely entertaining my audience. They must feel what they hear,” he says.
Having composed, produced and directed most of his songs and music videos, Dushyanth — whose numbers have topped the charts — has developed a unique style.
He is currently in the process of finalising his debut album.
“This is my first solo album and I hope to choose one of the songs as the title of the album,” he states.
He has also participated and judged several reality shows, but thinks that they need to grow a bit more mature. “Reality shows have become a little tiresome and monotonous,” he notes.