Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

B&S to conquer Yugoslavia
By Marisa de Silva
Dynamic duo Bathiya and Santhush are once again off overseas to participate in an international music competition in Zrenjanin, Yugoslavia, for the IV International Pop Music Festival being held there from July 4 - 6.

This follows their success at the Azia Deusey, international music competition in Kazakhstan in 2001, where they battled it out with some tough opponents and turned up trumps for Sri Lanka bagging second place.

Santhush explained that during their last international performance at Kazakhstan, hardly anyone had known of Sri Lanka and the few who did, seemed to identify it for all the wrong reasons. One person had said, "Ah yes, I know Sri Lanka, the bomb country no?" So, more than winning, their main mission is to try and erase the negative image people have of our country. "Through our music we try to show them that we, as representatives of the local music scene, have so much more to offer, and are quite up to date," he added emphatically.

However, a most heartening experience on their third day of performance in Kazakhstan was when a small group of locals (Kazakhs) cheered them on, shouting "Sri Lanka," recalled Santhush. "It was a pleasant surprise. We finally felt that we had gotten through to the crowd in some way at least."

After some tough initial rounds, there were just 40 artistes from 18 countries, with Bathiya and Santhush being the sole representatives from the south east region. "As we were runners-up in the Kazakh concert, we were automatically nominated for this festival but we had to send in our applications together with a sample of our original compositions, specifying what we would be singing at the competition."

"Our being signed up with Sony as recording artistes and as song writers with Universal Music Publishing, we felt would carry a lot of weight in the selection process." They also had to send in information regarding the technical side of their music making. The organisers were also keen to find out how far they'd come in the local music scene and what they had achieved thus far.

They opted to sing Life as it strikes the perfect equilibrium between the western and ethnic mix they have in their music, they claim.

Ashanthi de Alwis, back up singer for Bathiya and Santhush, who also just released her debut album with Ranidu a few months back, is looking forward to the festival as it will be her first international outing with the duo. She's been singing with them since around 2000 and says there's lots of teamwork that she really enjoys. "Both are very professional when it comes to their music, so we can learn a lot just by working with them," she added.

Nevanthi Pieres, who's been with the duo since the end of 1999 and having accompanied them overseas four times (twice on competitions), says that it's been great working with two artistes who have really stormed the local music industry and taken it onto a different level.

Marketing Director of Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited, Asita Abayasekera explains that they've sponsored the duo for this competition because, "we see a lot of synergies in the brand values of Bathiya and Santhush. Singer Electronics and Singer Mega being leaders in the field are all young and dynamic and their appeal cuts across cultural and age segments."

Mr. Lakshman Peiris, Brand Manager, Coca Cola, explained they tied up with Bathiya and Santhush because through their unique blend of music they have been able to appeal to Sri Lankan youth. "Their music (fusion) is very modern but yet deeply rooted in Sri Lankan culture and brings out the local flavour in a contemporary manner."

"We need to globalise our local music too, so that we can improve and advance in the music world," adds Bathiya.

"This time's competition is going to be a real 'toughie'," he says but, "we'll definitely give it our best shot."

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