- Chamath Sangeeth on producing the now-viral hit and more
The song Manike Mage Hithe by Sri Lankan singer Yohani has gone viral, making Sri Lanka truly proud. Last week, it hit over 100 million views. Manike Mage Hithe famously received a shoutout from Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who posted a mashup of Yohani’s Manike Mage Hithe cover with footage of Bachchan dancing from his 1981 Bollywood film Kaalia. Put together by his granddaughter, Naavya Naveli, Bachchan first shared the video on his Twitter, saying: “Incredible Sri Lankan song Manike Mage Hithe…and edited here to my KAALIA song by the genius in the house, granddaughter NAVYA NAVELI…But honestly Manike…playing in a loop the whole night…impossible to stop listening to it…SUPERB (sic).”
Composed by Chamath Sangeeth in 2020 during the lockdown, Manike Mage Hithe was originally performed by Sri Lankan singers Satheeshan Rathnayaka and Dulan ARX. After listening to the song, Yohani ended up creating an official cover of Manike Mage Hithe, creating the version of the song that has gone on to garner such popularity.
Released by Yohani in May 2021, Manike Mage Hithe became an instant internet sensation, and within three months of its release, had received over one million streams on Spotify, trending in Kerala on YouTube and on Spotify India, as well as in the Maldives. It has now received over 100 million views on YouTube.
Brunch spoke with Chamath, the producer behind the song, who made the original track that Yohani has so famously covered, in order to find out more about this producer, how he makes music, and the story behind the original version of Manike Mage Hithe.
How did you get into music?
I started out in music as a kid. My family has a strong background in music. My father, cousins, almost everyone was already in music. As far back as 2009, I used to make my own small compositions. I downloaded FL Studio on my laptop and made small jingles because I didn’t yet know how to make a long song. Those early days, I would do things like remixes. I have a lot of good friends in the industry as well, and they have been like brothers to me, helping me to develop my skills and become a good producer.
What kind of music do you produce?
I usually make variations of hip-hop, R&B, and Sri Lankan pop. I also do rap music and try to mix it with Sri Lankan music. A lot of people in Sri Lanka don’t pay attention to rap, not like how people abroad do. I feel Sri Lankan people just don’t fully understand it. That’s why underground rap is so popular. I want to change this and make rap more mainstream, so I tend to do a lot of R&B and pop mixed with rap.
Who are your favourite artists?
Some of my favourite artists locally would be Iraj, Bhathiya, Radhir, Ashanthi, and many others. In terms of Sri Lankan rappers, some of my favourite artists are Smokio, Kaiser Kaif, Uzi, and Dulan ARX. We have some great talent and quality in our local music scene.
You’re a music producer. Tell us about your process.
I work mainly on my own music, and then I also do songs with other artists when they reach out and commission me to make a song for them. I have had several songs go viral before Manike Mage Hithe, but the success of this one has been unbelievable.
When I work on a song for other artists, some of them tell me what kind of song they want, and with the others I experiment a bit. My songs are long-term projects so that I can make sure the quality of the song is just right and matches with the artist and how they make music as well.
Tell us about the original version of ‘Manike Mage Hithe’. How did you create it?
I was approached by the song’s original artist Satheeshan Rathnayake, who asked me to produce a track for him. We ended up making a song that was the first draft of Manike Mage Hithe. It was a song that took us five months to make and there was a big change from the initial draft to the final draft. Even then I wasn’t satisfied with it enough to release it. So we ended up making a new song, and that was what became the Manike Mage Hithe that became so famous a year later when Yohani covered it.
Manike Mage Hithe was originally performed with Satheeshan Rathnayake. How did the cover with Yohani happen?
The original version of Manike Mage Hithe also went viral, although on a smaller scale. It was quite popular in the Sri Lankan market. Yohani liked the song, and even reached out to me saying how nice it was, and then she did a cover of it for TikTok (she had received a lot of requests), and that particular TikTok video became very popular. And so, practically overnight, I approached her to make an official cover of the song and release it. The whole thing was very quick. It happened in two days.
I have to thank the amazing people who helped make all this happen. The original video director Hasith Aryan, original version rapper Dulan ARX, cover version video director Pasindu Kaushalya, Yohani, Satheeshan, and Shane Vas.
How does it feel knowing a song you have produced has had over 100 million views on YouTube?
I still have trouble believing it. I’m not a big-time Sri Lankan producer; there are so many producers who are more senior than me who have been trying to do this for a long time. It’s honestly unbelievable that this small homemade production has gone so viral.
What is the key to producing a great song?
There’s no specific rule or key to it. You can’t really tell if you’ve got a great song until you’ve made it. It’s something you can only tell once you listen to the song. I’ve had so many songs that I’ve scrapped after completing them, because, again, I don’t believe in releasing something unless I’m absolutely satisfied with it, and I feel maybe that is why I’ve been able to come so far as a music producer. Because I’m a perfectionist.
What is the Sri Lankan music industry like? How can we go international?
If you take the film and music industry, we have a lot of great talent, but compared to India, we just don’t compare, because of how small our industry is. We have lots of similarities with India in terms of how talented we are, how we work, and how we understand music, but we’re still very small, which means that it is a lot harder for us to go international.
To go international, I feel we should really focus on our work, and let our quality speak for itself. If we do it well, then it will go international, and that is what happened with Manike Mage Hithe.
I would also say that we shouldn’t discount young artists. Big producers don’t pay a lot of attention to small artists, and focus on catering to the big names, but if I had followed the same practice, I would never have been able to make the original Manike Mage Hithe, and then I would have never had this opportunity to help create something that has gone so viral. If we work tirelessly, do every job well, and focus on doing good service, then we will automatically be able to show our work on an international level to great success.
What is your advice to other people who want to become music producers?
One thing I would say to the youths is not to discontinue their studies in hopes of becoming a music producer or rapper. There is a misconception that you can make it big the way producers and rappers do in the US, but it’s important to remember that the Sri Lankan market is very small, and the industry is just not that big. It’s very important to have something to fall back on, and then, once you have built up enough of a following and base, then you can move to become a producer or rapper full-time.
Becoming a producer is a lot of hard work. It’s not just about talent, it’s also about putting in the work and having an innate understanding of music.
