Dilanjan Seneviratne Brings Red Bull Into Sri Lankan Artist Development
A Red Bull Sri Lanka culture programme built with Pettah Effect | Pop Hits Ultimate Mashup, 5 December 2019 | more than 10.3 million views | Raigam SoMe Best Video Remake
On 5 December 2019, Pettah Effect premiered Yohani's Pop Hits (Ultimate Mash Up Cover), the standout release from a Red Bull Sri Lanka music programme that grew out of Dilanjan Seneviratne's conversations with the brand.
Red Bull had backed Pettah Effect from its first year. Inura Jayasuriya, then head of marketing at Red Bull Sri Lanka, made the first outside investment in the company, and Red Bull was among the partners on its 2018 shows.
In 2019 Dilanjan and Jayasuriya took the relationship further. Red Bull Sri Lanka funded a culture programme for music: artists chosen through open auditions would receive industry-standard production for covers, each launched with a music video on the Pettah Effect channel.
Dilanjan entered the remaining Pettah Effect artists into the auditions alongside everyone else. Three were selected, among them Yohani and Minura Halwathura.
Yohani's piece was a medley of Sinhala pop hits, from Thibuna Nam Hungak through Mata Aloke, Dhess, Katakaranam, Ahangakara Nagare and Thiththai Panirasa to Ran Wan. The songs were existing hits; the video was an original concept, shot in Pettah itself, with direction and cinematography by Nick Leoz and video production by SGM Media.
The results followed quickly. Highlights include:
Views: more than 10.3 million on the Pettah Effect channel.
14 December 2019: Yohani and Minura on the bill of Red Bull Sri Lanka's year-end concert at Stein Studios, Ratmalana, with Bathiya and Santhush and Lahiru Perera.
Raigam SoMe Awards: Best Video Remake for the mashup.
The programme set a pattern Dilanjan has followed since: bring a brand into the culture as a partner in building artists, not only as a logo on the night. Red Bull stayed close to his work, and in November 2021 Yohani's Moving On, which he wrote and directed, was released through Red Bull Records.
