Thusith moves into composing

By Mahes Perera

Ask any band leader and you'll get the unhesitating reply that introducing a new artiste or band into the music industry today is a much harder proposition than it ever was. The answer lies in the fact that there is more competition now than ever before. Extreme TNT's climb in our music industry has been more of a slow and steady thing rather than an out-of-the-box sensation. They've been together for the past fourteen years despite the fact that their name TNT spells the dangerous explosive 'trinitrotoluene'. They have survived so far and still intend to be active and energetic on the music scene. Thusith really didn't consider doing anything other than music and he kept his fingers crossed that he could survive making a living out of music.

Now an accomplished keyboardist, his first love was the flute and he lost no time in studying the intricacies of blowing the flute from the master flautist V. Hemapala, who in fact, after listening to Thusitha's vocals encouraged him to create his original songs.

"Our first original song was 'Miracle' which talked about true love, and when it became a success we gained a lot of confidence to create more originals.

When we were young my sister Thusharah used to always copy me singing the songs I sang and when I heard her play, I decided to form a duo band. When we won the CYP Commonwealth Youth Asia award in 2000 and 2001 we were overjayed" said Thusith.

Question: Take us back to your early years?

Answer: In the early 70s my mother when she was a student at the University of Colombo learnt to play the violin under Visharad Sanath Nandasiri and my father used to sing at the outdoor musical shows that were held at the Ceylon Government Railways Headquarters.

My sister and I we were taken to listen to the music and this became our beginnings in music. My father he brought me various musical instruments and the one I was fascinated of was the harmonica. One of my class friends (in 1984) used to play the melodica by ear and this urged me into mastering the playing of the melodica. At that time I was studying at Asoka Vidyalaya, Colombo and my school friends who were playing in the band never could play by ear. In 1989 when I joined Ananda College and the Cadet Band, members of the band guided me into playing the flute. Unfortunately some of them sacrificed their lives in the war. I was attracted by the complex melodies of the Pet Shop Boys their songs were being constantly played over the radio and I began composing my melodies influenced by the Pet Shop Boys. My father who spotted my talent was happy for me and encouraged me endlessly.

Q: When did TNT come about and how different is your music from other bands.

A: TNT Plus T stands for Thusith and Thusharah plus Tekla. My sister and I formed Extremes TNT and we successfully played gigs for over 14 years and it was only in 2012 that Tekla Cleopatra joined us. Our 10th anniversary concert 'TNT' was held at Ananda College, Colombo and here we released our CD of original hits and we performed with the SLBC Orchestra in a program of Sinhala songs, apart from the Western songs. I sing western songs. I enjoy the songs of John Denver and Jim Reeves and singers of that calibre while my sister sings the Eastern, classical vocals.

As for Tekla she does a combination of Sinhala and Western songs and what's more when the occasion demands it moves into dance acts as well. After 14 years of playing gigs we are now the masters of our own fate. We have the capacity to create new songs write meaningful lyrics, the music arrangements the editing and the mixing.

Today we have extended our creativity to compose ringtones, script writing, videography and web designing. Most of the musicians have branched into this area as well while covering gigs. In fact now we have our own studio called Extreme TNT Music Factory and with two of our team members Ayesha and Sahan we provide services free from A to Z on technological or any artistic matter.

Having won 17 National awards for his creativity and originals such as Randagathi gena under his belt Thusitha is confident that his band TNT Plus T has gained popularity which has made him spread his wings to move into regular composing and recording tracks for other up and coming young musicians who have no money and who need guidance to break into the competitive music industry.