Dilanjan Seneviratne Proposes and Shoots Yohani's First Cover
Satellite / Stealing Time, 1 March 2016 | Theewra Worldwide | the start of a decade-long creative partnership
On 1 March 2016, Dilanjan Seneviratne published Yohani's acoustic cover of Above & Beyond's Satellite / Stealing Time through Theewra Worldwide. It was her first YouTube video, and he was behind the camera.
The idea was his. The two had met in 2015 in HNB Towers, where Yohani worked at CMA CGM, and she had begun helping the Theewra team on small photography projects. Dilanjan suggested she start a YouTube channel.
He proposed the cover, brought in Nuwan Wijesinghe, who had named Theewra, and shot the video himself. A 2017 Sunday Observer profile of Yohani named Satellite / Stealing Time as her first video.
The covers that followed were made with the same team through 2016 and 2017. Highlights include:
Pehla Nasha, 2016: a bilingual Hindi and Sinhala rendition of Udit Narayan's song.
Sayure, Katu Akule and Unmada Wu, 2017: a three-song Sinhala mashup.
Deviyange Bare: a rap cover with Sanuka that passed one million views, after which fans began calling Yohani the Rap Princess.
By September 2017 she had made 17 videos and built a following of close to 30,000, while studying in Australia and recording in her breaks.
The first cover set a working pattern that has run for ten years: Yohani in front of the camera, Dilanjan on concept and camera. He went on to produce and direct nearly all of her music videos, the exceptions being those made in India.
