Known for her popular cover of ‘Manike Mage Hite’, Sri Lankan musician Yohani finally talks about coming to India for a tour and her multilingual ambitions as an artist.
In early September, when Yohani Diloka De Silva’s cover of ‘Manike Mage Hite’ went viral in India, the Sri Lankan musician expressed his desire to tour India and interact with not only Indian fans but also artists. From October to October, Yohani, during a busy tour with Zee Live’s newly launched sub IP ‘Supermoon #Now Trending’ across India, after completing a set in Gurugram, at Le Meridien Hotel in Gachibowli, Hyderabad are sitting.
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The 28-year-old sports a small bruise under her right eye and she explains with a laugh: It’s an occupational hazard, obtained from the stem end of a guitar during a set the night before. “I fell asleep today thankfully, to help fix it!” She laughs. And what about pre-determined rituals? Yohani keeps it simple, “I already train my voice.” But when she gets on stage, it’s the atmosphere that gets her in the zone: “The lights, the band, the audience, the space, the stage itself — the whole package flips a switch.”
Originally performed by Satishan Rathnayaka, ‘Manike Mage Hite’ is a Sinhalese ballad sung by a man to a woman, to express appreciation for her character and beauty. But more than the melodious lyrics, Yohani’s soprano tone and on-camera gaze give it a simple teen-pop vibe that captivated millions. The cover also features satirical rapping and – as of writing this – the video has crossed 139 million views. He has received an outcry from Amitabh Bachchan and Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya.
Since then, ‘Manike Mage Hite’ has been used on TikTok and Instagram reels; The hashtag #ManikeMageHithe has close to 70,000 posts on Instagram. For example, IndiGo air hostess Ayat aka Aafreen, wearing PPE, danced to ‘Manike Mage Hite’ in the flight aisle during a long stopover. In other videos, the song is seen as a musical background for makeup transformations, choreography and cinematic shots. Fans have made covers of the track in Telugu and Malayalam as well as other regional languages.
Such videos make Yohani extremely happy. But she doesn’t take the responsibility that comes with the viral track lightly, as she believes she has a culture to represent during the tour. “This is the first time a Sinhalese song has gone viral to such an extent, and I want everyone to be proud of the success so far. Many people did not even know that the Sinhalese language existed, so I am glad that the language has gone far enough,” she says, adding that being a kind of ambassador for the country, the language and the language has been overwhelming. music.
Curiously, Yohani’s tour does not include Chennai and Bengaluru, even though she and her team have put together a Tamil version of their ‘Manike Mage Hite’ cover. “My producers are actually Tamil,” she explains, “and they taught me how to pronounce certain things.”
The tour is proving busy and to refresh herself, she tunes in to two acoustic albums by British electronic group Above & Beyond. “My first cover on YouTube was ‘Satellite’ by Above & Beyond; they’ve been a huge part of my musical life,” she says. “I listen to a lot of languages and I’m always looking for other genres. I I don’t want to limit myself.” Growing up, she was surrounded by her parents’ love of music; He listened to the Beegies, Spice Girls and Elton John and AR Rahman. These artists spoke a lot about her musical style and she often listens to them for nostalgia.
more ambitions
The musician isn’t driven by numbers as she talks about her next effort: her debut album. banana, is scheduled to release on 9 October. The album, consisting of 12 tracks including ‘Ithin Adare’, describes what it means to be a young modern woman in Sri Lanka in terms of friendship, relationships, freedom and the mundane (banana Meaning girl or woman in Sinhala).
Bollywood also kept Yohani busy; She has just finished recording the female vocal of Kunal Deshmukh’s title song. shiddato Which is currently streaming on Hotstar. “It wasn’t easy,” she recalls, “I had to record it about five different times mainly because my pronunciation was off; I was stressing the wrong words because I didn’t know the meaning. So I Had to sit down and write down every word and its translation. There are still some problems with pronunciation, but I think I will sing better in Hindi when I am more comfortable with the language.”
Given Yohani’s determination to become more multilingual, as is expected of most young musicians in the industry, she says she is excited about the prospect of doing another tour in India, which will hopefully include Chennai, Bengaluru, More cities like Mumbai and Kochi will be included. Meanwhile, those curious about Yohani’s other popular songs can check out ‘Rowth Dasin’ with Chanuka Mora, ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ and ‘Pana Senehasa’.
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