Dinesh takes a bow
Ruwini Jayawardana
He had gained fame for his rare achievements before and this time
round Dinesh Subasinghe has done it again. The talented youth became the
youngest artiste to receive the best Music Director title in Sumathi
Tele Awards history.
Bagging the award at the event for his scores in Pinsara Dosthara, a
smiling Dinesh informed the Daily News that the key behind his success
is in creating a team of supporters and getting their help for the deed.
"I did not divide the chores among them as the composer, arranger and
orchestra. We more like a community working collectively to give the
best of our talents for the production. I cannot take sole credit for
the work," he stressed adding that he is grateful to his musicians, the
production team and director Sunil Costa for their invaluable support.
He notes that the first stages of the project have been hectic and
that he had to be consistently reminded of the deadlines.
Complicated subject
"I had a calendar pinned on my wall and the crew consistently
reminded when the tracks are due. I even panicked at times before
deciding which scenes to take up for the day. I would work on the notes
for hours until I finally locate something to work on. But the really
good tunes usually turn up out of the blue when you are not stressed out
and searching for a score," he explained.
Talking about the project which won him his most recent accolade
Dinesh noted that the teledrama is an adaptation of Scottish novelist
Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He
says that it was a complicated subject to tackle since it deals with the
mental condition called 'split personality'.
"The person embodies two personalities: the good and the evil. He
deals with each situation differently. The shooting took place in the
medieval backdrop of Galle Fort. My biggest challenge was to compose an
appropriate score for this using many styles of vocals and world music
genres such as western and Gregorian chants, Persian music and western
classical string ensembles with fusion drums," Dinesh said. He also
added that his vocals played a prominent role in the piece.
Musical stint
He had introduced Melisma, singing of a single syllable of text while
moving between several different notes in succession, to Sri Lankan TV
music.
With 17 years of experience in music Dinesh is now one of the most
renowned composers in the teledrama and film scene. The youth started
off his musical stint as a member of Stanley Peiris and Maestro
Premasiri Khemadasa's orchestras. He formed his own band Dee R Cee in
2003. His first teledrama music score was for Chnadrathan Mapitigama's
Humanne. Later in 2007 he introduced the age old musical instrument
Ravanahatha to Sri Lanka via his first solo album Ravana Nada.
In 2009 he received a scholarship to study at Oscar winning music
director A R Rahman's Music Academy in India in which he was recognized
as the best student in the instrumental section among his peers.
He has many projects in his kitty. He will be composing music for
Tennyson Cooray's new stage play Siwwamma Danapala, Minister Reginald
Cooray's teledrama Sarada Bambaguru and Indika Ferdinando's upcoming
movie. Director Roy de Silva too has invited him to compose music for
his latest production. He is currently getting ready to handle the music
and assistant direct the Grand Passion play 2013 produced by Prem
Fernando and Cletus Mendis.
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