- Dixxa on making music in current times, the ever-growing EDM industry and more
Dixxa is a self-made dance music producer who kicked off his journey in 2015. His roots can be traced back to the pearl of the Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka. His journey as a standalone artist began when he was introduced to beats that were made by industry legends such as Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Marshmello, etc. After extensively experimenting and studying the genre for two years, Dixxa was able to drop his debut single Deadrose which mainly focused on platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube.
In the same year he was able to make a collaboration with an upcoming artist known as Dex. Together, this dynamic duo was able to make waves in the local and underground international community. What was special in this collaboration was that they were doing the vocals for these serenading beats in Sinhala, which ultimately promotes Sri Lanka to the international community.
Brunch reached out to Dixxa to learn more about his musical career and what it takes to be a DJ/producer in Sri Lanka.
Sharing his backstory, he told us he found his inspiration to get into music while enjoying the tracks that were played during his teenage years. A noteworthy persona that stood out and inspired him was Hardwell. “This motivated me to experiment with music, and I slowly progressed into discovering more musical genres and styles and eventually began performing on my own to make a name for where I am standing today.” Listening to artists is still how he stays up to date with current musical trends.
“My habit of hanging around music platforms both known and unknown helps me rediscover a lot of lost music and I also learn something new every day,” he added. Dixxa named TikTok as an upcoming platform to discover new audiences, as well as SoundCloud, which he reckons holds a lot of hidden gems that are waiting to be discovered.
When asked what his most memorable moment was during his seven-year career, he named having to perform at the Rock and Reggae Fest organised by Bourne Innovations. Apart from that, he also named a few collaborations he did for some upcoming tracks that are going to be released soon. One of his more noteworthy achievements during his career is when he was able to organise and take part in Wonderland Sri Lanka along with Natalie Lorient and few others. Dixxa told us that the follow up to this project was called “A Rave at Hogwarts”, which was a Harry Potter-themed musical event that was well received by the international and local fanbase alike. Apart from the plethora of events Dixxa has participated in, there’s the song which he collaborated on with Dex, by the title Rise Again for the Restart Football National Campaign that he believes made him who he is today.
Talking about his most recent success, Dixxa mentioned a song he released back in November 2021 by the name Ae Yanne. This was released with Sinhala rap lyrics by DBoy Thira from Westkeep and vocals by Muditha Subasinghe with a music collaboration with Dex. According to him, what’s most impressive about this track is that the incorporation of both rap and EDM melodies were executed flawlessly. Speaking of his music, he also gave us some insight on what it looks like behind the scenes when he produces music. Dixxa told us that his production procedure is pretty straightforward. “I develop a beat I envision in my head, then I add some lyrics which exemplifies my thoughts. I then go back and forth until I’m happy with the track and decide it to be worthy of my fans.”
For him, the biggest challenge during his career was to convince himself to get into this musical path and build a name for himself in the music industry. Other than that, he also found it hard to network with his community to create opportunities and to understand the mass market and perform to them while staying true to the roots in the EDM industry.
Right now, Dixxa believes there’s a huge gap when it comes to technological advances in the local market and the international market, but added: “Despite this gap I believe if you truly put your heart into the field and learn to improvise, adapt and overcome you will learn more things on your own.” On the topic of electronic music in Sri Lanka, Dixxa agreed that it is quite new but observed that it’s a growing industry that is expanding at an exponential rate. “So myself and my fellow artists are proud to be the foregrounding fathers of an ever-growing ambitious industry,” he told us.
We also asked him how musicians including himself are faring during the current situation in our country and whether he thinks that this state of affairs will be detrimental to the entertainment industry as a whole. In his opinion, he finds the current state to be very favourable for upcoming artists since there has been a shift of power on some named forces in the industry with people coming together in Sri Lanka.
“So this is the best moment for us to seize the opportunity and shine,” he stated, adding that he also believes that if we fail to grab our opportunities now, it’ll be a reason for remorse. Dixxa also added that this year has been more than welcoming to him, and he honestly feels very blessed to have his team. “There are a whole bunch of events that I was invited to perform at, and I even have the opportunity to be part of two international tours which will take place this year,” he told us.
Apart from that, there are few future projects that he’s expecting to release soon with Ramesses Reezy, Gletto (Croatia), Amizio and Shanon. He also mentioned one track that’s yet to be disclosed which will feature a collaboration with an international artist. Dixxa also took the opportunity to thank everyone who has been there to support his journey and to all citizens in Sri Lanka who are fighting for a cause which he believes will bring stability to our motherland.
