Dilanjan Seneviratne Takes Sri Lankan Music to the Ziro Festival of Music
25 September 2026 | Moon Stage, Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh | an all-original, mostly Sinhala set from Kella, Aadarei and Sadde
On Friday 25 September 2026, Yohani closed the Moon Stage at the Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh, India, with an all-original set sung mostly in Sinhala. Dilanjan Seneviratne, her manager and Founder and CEO of Outright Play, managed the appearance.
The set drew on all three of Yohani's albums: Kella, Aadarei and Sadde, whose first single, "Punchi Ruchiranani", carries his lyrics and had premiered a week earlier. The international audience sang along to Sinhala songs, among them "Chuttak Chuttak", and chanted "Aadarei" as the set ended.
The 13th edition of the festival ran from 24 to 27 September 2026 with more than 40 artists from India and abroad. Ziro is independent and runs without a traditional headliner hierarchy. Footage from the night showed the Sri Lankan flag on the screen behind Yohani and her band.
On 24 September 2026, the eve of the set, the Colombo Gazette published an interview with Dilanjan about taking Sri Lankan music to the world through the performance. The Daily FT covered the set afterwards.
The appearance reflects the idea he has worked to since Pettah Effect: that Sri Lankan music, sound and culture are their own, and can travel as they are. India took a Sinhala song, "Manike Mage Hithe", to the top of its playlists in 2021. At Ziro, Yohani returned with a set built entirely on her own songs, most of them in Sinhala.
The festival opened the international chapter of the Sadde era.
