 
Mahes Perera
Inspired by the irresistible beat of hip hop, rap and the music of
Gray and Bathiya `N Santhush, three young music fanatics while still in
school, St.Peter’s College, threw themselves into every music activity
at their alma mater and came through trumps. Calling themselves
Hailztorm they took part in competitions, talent searches and concerts
and were fortunate to carry off the awards for All Island Champions 2001
and the Inter School Spotlight.
Hailztorm was led by Amila Dantanarayana - vocalist, leader and
rapper too. Now a soft ware engineer his two other companions were
Chamira Meegahawatte - rapper and today a soft ware engineer and Trevine
Kumarasinghe the other rapper himself an IT Executive. The desire to get
into the music industry professionally made Amila co-opt two other
friends.
Udara Dandeniya who had his schooling at Carey College and is now a
full time musician, vocalist, keyboardist and composer. Filling in the
other slot is ruggerite Buddhika Palihawadana a vocalist in the outfit,
and a past pupil of Ananda College.
“Once we became a five member group it was necessary to change our
name to a hip hop kind of name and so we decided on Intenze which turned
out to be a good luck charm for us. Our first video `Sindu Hendewa’
moved into the popular ITN Chart - Heena Hathak and was successful
enough to gain the 4th rung on the charts.
It also received considerable air play on other TV stations. The
music was composed by Udara and mixed by Ranga Dassanayake.” What was
the story board like?
 “It was based on a true incident. A rich girl who gets into an
emotional entanglement largely due to her stubborn nature which resulted
in a tragic end for her.
Our second video Muwa Madahasa was released recently and the lyrics
were by Buddhika. Here the theme is totally different. It is laced with
humour with cameo roles played by Rodney Warnakulasuriya and Norman
Palihawadana.
The future for Intenze is paved with success, considering the fact
that they have performed on stage with bright lights Bathiya `N Santhush,
Ashanthi, Randhir and Centigradz. “We hope to record two more videos.
The music for both will be handled by Udara and by the end of 2009 a CD
with about sixteen tracks is in the pipeline.
“How about your fan base?
“We have quite a lot of girl fans. In fact out web elakiri.com is
“the most famous forum site in Sri Lanka”!
Your advice to new comers?
“It’s good the prospects for new and young artistes. But if you have
to get a firm foothold in the music industry - then it means hard, hard
work and dedication.” |
