Raunchy Randhir!

by Nilma Dole

Causing young hearts to break and hot heads to stare, nobody can really avoid the bubbling and cute style of the character known as Randhir Witana.

More of a familiar face and voice on the B&S tracks, rapping up them deliciously with his ardent chatter, Randhir has decided now that he wants to make it on his own. Not that we didn’t notice the active and sweet sexy charm of Randhir but we didn’t know he could sing as good as he could rap.

While waiting for Randhir to appear at the studio, a note scrawled on a whiteboard by an infatuated fan of his catches my eye. “Do you attract a lot of (ehem) fans?” I politely inquire. “Yeah I do, they keep me motivated” he replies with a smile.

Starting with the *Brown Boogie Nation* outfit that got together and with the onset of the *Colombo Tribe Project*, he was part of the team that went on to release the first rap video in Sri Lanka. Randhir says “I took part in talent competitions but never really won anything big”. He stated that he didn’t really compete in competitions but wanted to sing for the fun and love of it.

“I always loved to get on stage and rock the crowd - by hook or by crook!” he commented. Well crooking or rocking, Randhir is sure to be a force to be reckoned with.

Growing with several musical influences whilst at Royal College, Randhir says even though rap and R&B remains his forte, he grew up listening to all sorts of music like soul, folk rock, alternative, and some metal. “I was influenced by rappers like *2Pac Shakur,* bands like *Boyz 2 Men* to the more recent *Kanye West* and *50 Cent* so I do have a varied taste” he said.

It’s pretty interesting to note that he has the *Goo Goo Dolls* on his ring tone which emphasises this aspect. About hooking up with B&S, Randhir says Santhush went to school with him and thereafter, Bathiya wanted a rapper to spice up the newly formed Bathiya and Santhush duo’s tracks. Randhir was the second rapper who was approached and the success was immense when they remixed the hit ‘Siri Sangabodhi’.

After rapping for B&S on a number of funky songs most importantly, on the Ayobowan (Namaste) album, Randhir commends the dynamic duo for the support and strength they extended.

In the near future Randhir will be launching his first album titled Namal Mitak in which the title track is a big hit on local radio. Its highlight includes a feature of the remixed version of the *Gypsies* classic Oyey Ojaye.

Speaking about how this came about, Randhir tells “I was jamming with Bathiya to work on something new when he mixed some beats together and came up with this brilliant new flavour to the Ojaye song”. Thereafter, they put some added sounds and kicked it into gear.

He noted “After having a talk with the ‘living legend’ himself - Sunil Perera, I got the rights to remix it and I am grateful for it”. The song does have an interesting ring to it and has been pumping up the airwaves on radio. “I’m the only person in Sri Lanka at the moment to have the rights to remix the Ojaye song”, he said.

The album features B&S (obviously) with feel-good rhythms to tickle anyone’s fancy. Krishan and Umara have also been giving their own rifts to the album making it really tantalising.

“I wanted nice club-friendly stuff to go on my album and one that has chemistry with the listeners”, he talks of the album. “At first, I was quite nervous when I had to sing in Sinhala because it wasn’t perfect.

Eventually with time and patience, Bathiya trained me until I got the grips on pronunciation and moved on to sing well”, he reminisces. “I am thankful for the producers for my album who are Bathiya and Sri Shyamalangan” he said.

“The lyricist who worked on half the album was Kelum Sirimal while Wasantha Dukganarala also helped out. Nilar Cassim did the ballads brilliantly and Upul Shantha also contributed. They are all thanked for their support” he says.

Randhir has completed the makings of the first video which will be released soon and the other two will be revealed shortly as well. “I hope to create an overseas fan base and have an objective for two years which I hope to achieve”, he hopes when contemplating on the future.

About advice for the young, Randhir says “Be focused and have goals”. He speaks straight from his heart for he knows how tough it is in the music scene here.

“My mates Bathiya Jayakody and Santhush Weeraman should be thanked”, says Randhir. About the person who helped kick-start his career, he acknowledges Afdhel Aziz who was the first person to play his song live on radio.

Randhir thanks his parents, his fans and his loyal supporters who have been with him every step of the way. After two years of waiting for the Randhir’s album, the wait is definitely worth it as we see soon-to-be sex symbol Randhir take on the music industry by storm!