It’s why in dreams you have no heart ache; you can be whatever you want. So, Cinderella says believe in what you want to be, even if the heart is grieving. Sometimes all you need is trust, faith and a little pixie dust. Plus an accident too. The broken shoe took Cinderella all the way to the palace. Not necessarily saying that we’d live ‘happily ever after’, but there’s some magic in this universe. You just got to know how to play it.
Somewhere around 12 noon, I found him at the Café on the 5th, sipping orange juice out of a glass. He was on his way to meet some friends in Colpetty.“I have no time for rest or to enjoy the company of friends, it’s all day gigs!” He missed a few sips . “You are famous now, you got to work hard. People love your work.” There was smile spilling off with little giggles. Reserved .There was happiness steaming up. Yes, he is famous in his own little world.
Hiranya Rahul , 21 years old, was educated in Nalanda College. He liked engineering. He headed a couple of societies in Nalanda College like the Aeronautical Club, Automobile Society and Photography Society. His plans were to become a pilot. He taught, even organized workshops and lectures in aeronautics for Nalanda with the help of SriLankan Airlines and Civil Aviation and Aeronautical Society.
But somewhere down the line something went wrong. All that magic about flying and planes just got thrown way when he was studying for A/Ls in the math stream. He wasn’t heavily into music. As a habit he used to listen to Night Club sessions on radio. “It hit me suddenly. I was so obsessed. I was confused as to how they mix all kinds of music at once. I started googling and researching about sound mixing and engineering. I had sleepless nights back then. Read and read on disc jockeying and sound engineering.” He begins with a radio channel founded by him titled ‘Electro Revo’ on a website that supports free live streaming. He had played with his computer plugged into a few sound systems and speakers, alone, until two o’clock in the morning, despite his A/Ls.
“I wasn’t competent enough to run a radio channel. It became more of music than talking unlike many other live streaming media. Eventually I got requests from all over the world to play music. There was a good fan base. I was happy.”However Hiranya stopped radioing after two years. He brings in his own sounds systems, consoles and the whole nine yards. Meeting Dhanuka had brought him a long way. “Dhanuka taught me about buttons to mixers, plug-ins, volume control, beats and everything in between. He should be thanked for most of what I’ve been able to achieve.”
Dhanuka has helped Hiranya to rent amplifiers and other machines in the beginning. His first disc jockey (DJ) performance was an O/L after party. There were days to think alot, he says. To think of things like spending money. Sound machines and gear is too expensive. Saving money proved difficult for Hiranya. Every penny that came his way was spent on gear the next day. He likes to thank his friends who helped him find events to provide music, sound and lighting systems for, which brought him the much needed money. Life became a bit easy afterward.
When Venura joined the group recently, Hiranya commenced a start up company supplying sounds, lightings, photography and even does hires for other DJs. Hiranya is now hired by various institutions, hotels and event organizers island-wide for Dj’ing and sounds. He is busy with almost three to four gigs per day.
“I was invited to do gigs for overseas hotels in India and Indonesia. My mother wasn’t very happy about that. So I have no plans to play overseas. Maybe when I’m a little more grown up,” Hiranya interjected.
Hiranya’s hard work paid off, having been awarded the winner of Spin Off at one of the most demanding and competitive music events held in Colombo recently. He has been encouraged, literally forced, by his music fans to join the competition. And above all his brother’s feedback during trials has been one big reason for him to nail it. Hiranya further added that Dj’ing isn’t just playing music. There are has-to-be-done things before one performs. You need to know what you are playing, what music the crowd likes, how you are going to jump from one song to another. You can manually mark the starting point and finishing point of a song. It’s a combination of sound mixing, volume control, changing beats, changing genres of which many Sri Lankan DJs have no idea.
“You learn with experience and with different crowds,” He says.
What is he going to do next?
Hiranya couldn’t make it through his A/Ls, because his head and heart were somewhere else seeking answers to music sessions he heard in Yes FM. All day and night was dedicated to studying sound engineering and disk jockeying. There was nothing better than for him anticipating his own sound system – to own his own sound system. He wants to save a little more money, go abroad and study sound engineering, especially Public Addressing(PA) and then expand his business. He thinks that the growing night life in Colombo and suburbs will provide a more conducive environment for his business, specially hangouts, birthday parties and TGIFs.
Life is good for Hiranya. It’s a dream come true, though it took took time to build the ground up. Let’s give him a big clap.
(Published in The Nation , on 19th October 2014 , titled 'Spin Off for DJ-ing')
