By

Steve A. Morrell

Raj Seneviratne’s hit song ‘Sili Sili’ in Sinhala, was literally top of the tunes a long time.

Radio stations in most Colombo locations featured this song on their request programmes. More to the point, ‘Sili Sili’, was requested. Very often. Sometimes you’d listen to it daily.

Take the SLBC for instance, you’d hear Raj, sing, Sili sili, on practically every request programme.

Recently he recorded ‘Sili Sili’ again. But this time in Tamil.

We heard it and decided we must talk to Raj.

What follows is the interview we had with Raj, recently

Excerpts.

You’ve done so much for our music scene, what provoked you to do this hit tune in Tamil?

That Song was immensely popular among the Sinhala speaking people and I felt that it would be great way to reach into the hearts of our Tamil people.

Are you fluent in Tamil?

I have many “Tamil friends but I unfortunately do not understand Tamil.

If so, write’? read? if not, what sort of help did you get?

Aaaah! Yes. Abdul Hameed who is a friend of mine said to me about 3 years ago that he liked that song and said that it would be nice if it was done in Tamil. In July 2013, when I decided to do it in Tamil, I called up Hameed because he had the Feel of that Song. He had the essence of it and he gave me the Lyric’s in about 3 weeks

Naturally, you know all about rhythm and so on, but translating Sili Sill, to Tamil would have been quite a job. How long did it take? A day, two, a week’?

I practiced the song for about 2 weeks because of the difficulty in pronunciation. It took me 4 sessions of Recording it, with Abdul Hameed being by my side. The whole process took about 1 month.

Usually how long does it take you to write a song, lyrics, music?

If it is in English, the basics of it would be roughly I hour. Cleaning it up and getting the structure together would take about 3 hours.

Do it all yourself or do you get others in on the song.?

When it comes to Sinhala songs, I get others to Compose and write Lyrics for it, but get involved in the Musical aspect of it.

Wrote any English songs’? If so how successful were they?

I always Compose and write Lyrics for English Songs. The response was very good.

Apart from Sili Sill, how many hits have you recorded.?

I really don’t know. If you get into Youtube or Google, you can find out. English songs are my Forte, but in Sri Lanka I sang my 1st Album in Sinhala which was a hit.

You’ve been on the music scene about thirty years’? What kept you going’? Had any ups, downs?

Not really. Music is my Life. I am thankful that I can do what I wish.

Any more Tamil songs you will be doing?

I really don’t know. Wait and see.

You are in the recording business as a well. What sort of technical advances have you experiences since you started?

Oh! I have done the whole bit. From Spool recording to Hard Disk to Computer recording. Today’s Technology is far superior to what I used at the beginning

Singers and musicians depend on electronics and technology, these days think its a good thing or bad?

There is a basic Drop in the talent of a Singer or a Musician when he depends on the ability of such Technology.

Qualify your answer. What ever it is.?

Raw Sound is best because you can judge where their strength in music really is.

Like to go back to days of real performances? Not singing to tracks, and so on?

Oh man. Live Music is a lot better than singing to Tracks. You are enjoying the music of so many individuals placed together.

Some of the newer singers do not pitch correctly. Agreed’?

Yes, I agree. In today’s equipment there a thing called the Pitch Corrector. When they get used to it, it is difficult to hit the Note on Key.

If so why do they continue to perform?

I have no idea.

Don’t you think its time we had a professional music School? teaching music to degree level?

There are music schools, but I think most musicians believe they don’t need it. I have followed the Vocal Techniques of “Ben Leowy” and “Seth Riggs” and still do the exercises provided by them.

How successful would such a project be’?

I think we would have to ask the people who opened such schools.

What sort of professional contribution could you make if there would be such a school?

Oh! Definitely everything I know.

From this point on, what are your future plans, in music?

Concentrating a little bit more on English Songs

Take Care and God Bless,

COURTESY:SUNDAY ISLAND