Randunu Kaushalya plays to the music in his genes

• Randunu Kaushalya on his journey as a singer

By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya

In today’s world, age is not a barrier to kick-starting the journey towards achieving one’s dreams, and social media platforms in particular make it easier for young creators to reach an audience and build a fan base, which can be a challenge when relying on more traditional or mainstream channels like TV and radio.

Randunu Kaushalya is one such young creator, with a determination to get his work across to fans. At just 18, he has released five music videos, three of which are originals. A month ago, Randunu released a cover of Anushka Udana’s Marunu Hithe via his YouTube account, and the production has received positive feedback.

In August, Randunu released an original titled Adare, and said an original track titled Amma, released last year, recently won an award at an arts festival.

Randunu’s success in music doesn’t come as a surprise, given how involved in music his family is. His father Pradeep Srinath is a musician as well, and runs an arts academy by the name of Zenith. They hold various events, at which Randunu performs. Randunu’s brother Oshen Fernando runs D Studio and also works in audio engineering, while his sister sings as well. 

“Everyone in my family is passionate about music, so it comes naturally to me. It’s almost like a habit,” he told us.

Despite this, Randunu says he didn’t dream of being a musician as a child. A student of Panadura Royal College, the 18-year-old singer will sit for his A/Ls in music, media, and IT in 2023. However, as a child, he wanted to become an Ayurvedic physiotherapist and even experimented with herbal oils. With this goal in mind, he initially chose the biology stream for his A/Ls, but later switched to music, when, eight months into studying for his A/Ls, he contracted Covid-19 and was unable to focus on his studies for three weeks.

This was a setback, Randunu said, but added that it made him choose music instead.

While schooling, he also took part in various sports, with special interest in rugby. Although his involvement in school sports ended in grade eight, his interest in music didn’t, and Randunu released his first song, Manahari, for which he wrote the lyrics and melody, at the age of 16. While he didn’t create visuals for this song, it was a starting point and Randunu went on to gradually develop his content.

He also plays the drums and guitar, and has been involved in a few TV and radio programmes as well.

“When you look at my work over the years, with each new project, there is some improvement in terms of quality,” Randunu said, adding that he plans on expanding his audience to reach more people. However, a lack of facilities and resources is a barrier, as they need to invest in more equipment in order to further improve the quality of productions.

Randunu manages with what is available, and receives a lot of support from his brother, as well as two friends. Randunu shared that, when it comes to music videos, he plans the concept and then travels to the location with his brother to film the necessary footage.

“I like the practical side of music, but not the theory. Everyone in my family is involved in music, and I was the one breaking away from that, but without even realising it, I ended up in this field as well, with five songs released so far. I don’t know how; it just happened, but I don’t have any significant career aspirations in music,” he said. He plans to continue making music as a hobby.

In terms of career goals, Randunu wants to enter the film industry, and plans on following a diploma in cinematography at the National Film Corporation. He has acted in a few stage plays and would like to act in bigger productions. 

“My target is movies, but I don’t have the resources for it. I have always wanted to produce my own short film, and even wrote the script for it,” Randunu shared, explaining that this didn’t work out, because working without a budget was a challenge.

“When you do things without proper qualifications, there is less recognition, so I want to study these areas first,” he said, explaining that the diploma he has chosen will cover a vast range of subjects like directing, sound engineering, and scriptwriting.

Photos Saman Abesiriwardana