1. Give us a brief description of your music band and how you first entered this field.
First of all, the name of our band is Watalappan. We didn’t have a big idea that we wanted to form a band, because this band was formed when people from the same school came together. There was a big crowd. At the beginning of this, we had no idea that we wanted to continue playing as a band. But we all had a good music background. The people who joined this band with us were the ones who had music knowledge, which means that no matter what profession they are engaged in, they learned more about music, and after taking exams, they had a good understanding of it. We started in a very simple way and added a name called watalappan. At the beginning of our band, there was a group of 6 people. We didn’t think of giving a name like this. First, we got to play outside the school for a carnival at another school. We didn’t have a name for the band at that time. As usual, we were just practicing in the studio. Then a name that came to our mind was watalappan. That’s how we started our band. That way, we did our first show very successfully to the best of our ability. With that work, a lot of people got excited about our band’s name and our performances. The name of our band is very catchy and uncommon, with those things they saw as our specialty. That way, we gradually improved our platform. If we talk about our beginning, we started in February 2017, and at that time, we played low track. After that, in 2019, we started playing at weddings. That means we became active in the last half of 2019. Because until the,n we were performing in small concerts as a small band. But unfortunately, at that time, the Covid epidemic came, and we built our band by overcoming the challenges that came with those things.
2. What are the experiences and challenges you faced in this field?
We overcame the challenges that came to us easily because all our team members contributed much to it. That means this is not one person’s thing. When such challenges arise, everyone should face them as a team. And we had that support within our team. In our band, we split the tasks between us, and they did it right. And when we did those things, those things did not go beyond the 6 of us. Even now, the success of our band is due to things like unity, desire, and commitment among the 6 of us.
3. Are you doing this as your profession, and if it’s yes, how long have you doing it?
If we talk about our band until the year 2022, three of the 6 members of our band are engineers, two are undergraduates, and the other one is studying music. We are running our band full-time now. Attention is focused on how to improve this. We are now planning what the condition should be like in 5 years. One of our specialties is that we didn’t want to publish on social media until two years after we started our band, and there were reasons for that. One of the main reasons is the advice we received from other famous bands; they always told us to plan how to work in the next few years, rather than thinking about promoting our band on social media. Most of the people got to know us by word of mouth, which means that when we performed at a wedding ceremony, someone watched our performance and told another person, and then they also invited us to their wedding ceremony. That’s how the people around us were formed. That’s why we tried that method, because we want to spread it by word of mouth. I think we succeeded in that.
4.What musical instruments do you play in your band, and what are the ones you mostly use?
Yes, if we talk about musical instruments, we usually use bass and drums in our band, and if we talk about keyboard, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and vocalists, there are three people. Minura is the main vocalist. Besides him, there are two other vocalists, Ashen; The one who plays the keyboard is another one. Those are things I have to say about musical instruments and vocals. Apart from that, we decide on a wedding or a corporate event by observing the audience we meet there. That means we play a song there first and see how the audience reacts to it, then we perform at that time. But there may be a risk in doing that, so we prepare a big song list beforehand and participate in the events with preparation. In terms of genres, we have a lot of old songs in Sinhala, that is, H. If we play the songs of Mr. R. Jothipala, Mr. Clarence Wijewardene, and Mr. Milton Mallavarachchi, we will also play the songs of those who came after 2020, i.e., Iraj, Ranindu, etc. We are not confined to one of them, because we play every genre like Classic, Hip-Hop, and Reggae according to the audience.
5. What is the importance of a music band in a wedding?
If we talk about the difference between a live music band and playing recorded music, a live music band can play music that matches the vibe of that time, that is, change the rhythm of the song to suit that time. But that doesn’t happen when playing recorded music because it only plays the same song for two or three minutes. We cannot change it. My idea is to tell people how to play the way they want, how to give them a memorable evening, and how to make this day special for them with live music.
6. Are there any special packages you offer for weddings, and if it’s yes, what are they?
If we are talking about the package, we give a special sound package and a light package for weddings. Also, we are concerned about the size of the crowd, because at a wedding there are about 500 people, or if it is more than that, our package will change because then we will upgrade our sound. To say more about this, if we take a wedding as an example, we give our performance to them according to the needs of the couple. That means that each person has different needs. Many people ask for a band with lights, which means they want the band to play in a very colorful way. Other people do not like to use any light. That means some people do not bring any liquor to the wedding; they want to keep a very calm background throughout the day. We also provide the music choices according to their needs. We do everything according to their requirements. Then our package depends on such things.
7. What are the events you perform other than weddings?
We have seen and heard about Poruwa.lk, but we have not talked to you like this. First of all, we would like to thank you for thinking of interviewing us like this. Because not much attention is paid to those who work on weddings like this. But people know about us through things like this. Very happy with that. You and I work on the same platform, so we are happy that we could work together like this and also appreciate the service provided to society by Poruwa.lk.
8. How to contact you for events?
In addition to weddings, we cover everything from dinner dances, concerts, private events, and parties. Because weddings are held in auspicious months, the organizers often don’t plan other events in those months; they are held in different months. Likewise, we also play in pubs in Colombo, Negombo, and Kandy every three months. We have a good fan base in these three towns. Apart from wedding ceremonies, we play in these kinds of things.
9. Finally, who do you have to thank for this successful journey?
We have a lot to thank at this time. I don’t have enough time to thank all of them. So I’ll be brief and quick. First, I would like to thank all the 6 people in our band and the two sound engineers and lights engineer of our band. We especially want to thank our sound engineers and the crew, because they greatly support our work. Everything is done on time and the support they give us is because they have made a great sacrifice. Also, as I said before, my band members have made great sacrifices to bring our band to this point and their parents. In addition, I would like to thank everyone who has been in our circle for so long. There are also event planning organizations that support us, they bring us weddings and give us great support. I also remember the artists who supported us with love at this time. Finally, our clients trust us and stay with us, feedback from them is all important to us. Many thanks to all of them.
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