Satheeshan: original singer of ‘Manike Mage Hithe’
View(s):When young Satheeshan Rathnayaka first rendered his voice to ‘Manike Mage Hithe’, the song made by Chamath Sangeeth, he would not have ever thought that it would go to the internationals chart bringing glory to Sri Lanka. However with the cover version by Yohani de Silva and his rap part, the song has reached eye of millions and millions worldwide specially creating a sensation in India and the sub-Continent. The lyrics of this song were penned by Dulhan ARX (Dulanja Alwis) and the music was composed by Chamath Sangeet.
Hailing from Anuradhapura, Satheeshan, a music producer, singer, composer, musician, artiste, entertainer and lyricist is well known for his many songs and lyrics, however, he captivated the audience with his song ‘Manike Magee Hithe’. He considered it his first hit song.
The song sung by Yahahi went viral and within three months surpassing 150 million views on YouTube as it became an instant hit worldwide especially in South Asia. The video song also marked the first major breakthrough viral marketing in Sri Lanka.
The song was produced by Chamath Sangeeth in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Sri Lanka. It was uploaded on YouTube on 22 May 2021 coinciding with the Republic Day of Sri Lanka.
Later the cover version was done by young artists Yohani de Silva and Satheeshan Rathnayaka in the background crooning the lyrics of the song. The song became an internet sensation within few days since its official release on YouTube. The song was later dubbed in many languages including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Bengali, Bhojpuri and Malayalam by different artistes due to the huge audience response in many countries including India for the song which was originally produced in Sinhala language.
The Tamil and Malayalam versions of the song were sung by Yohani were published on YouTube on 28 August 2021. This has become the second cover song after ‘Shape of you Sri Lankan Mashup’ by three member DeepSounds to go massively viral in Sri Lanka and the first ever to have a wider global outreach.
Due to immense popularity in India, the copy rights of any Indian language version of ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ have been brought over by India. ‘However Chamath, the owner of the song have the rights to release in any other language’ said Satheeshan.
“It is Chamath who is the big strength behind the screen. The entire process is managed by Chamath and it is because of his management that the song became so successful’ said Satheeshan. The young singer, Satheeshan had a hard time until he reached the peak with ‘Manike Mage Hithe’.
‘I used to ride my motor bike from Anuradhapure to Colombo for over five hours to work on music. My hard work had now proved triumph’ said Satheeshan.
‘I must thank everyone who was behind this song. From music director, lyrics writer, recorders, players and even those provided a bottle of water to us is part of the success of this song’.
‘This is a major achievement and it became success only because we worked as a team. That is the main reason for his success. We had not issues on ‘Rights’ over the songs. Several times this song was in the breaking news. Yohani becoming popular with this song is not an issue for me or our team and since I am new to the music scene, even Yohani helps me in many ways, many a times’ said Satheeshan.
The song surpassed 100 million views in YouTube as of September 2021. The song debuted at number 8 on the Asian Music Chart Top 40 on 24 September 2021
Satheeshan is to release his next song ‘Omari’- ‘Manike Obe hithe-2’ will be an Indian-Sri Lanka collaboration. There are number of India-Sri Lankan projects that are in the pipe line.
‘Manike Mage Hithe’ Original song and video was released on 31st July 2020. Original song also produced by Chamath Sangeeth Songwriter: Dulan ARX Singers : Satheeshan Rathnayaka and Dulan ARX. The music video of the original song was directed by Hasith Aryan (Hasitha Vithanage) who is a renowned Sri Lankan Director. Music Video was filmed and produced by the Aryans Music production company. The actors Madushi Soysa, Kasun Tharaka and Ruwan Priyadarshana contributed to this through their performances.