This beautiful girl started her musical career at the tender age of 7 and she has come a long way since then. Shamistha is a humble girl who excels in music; is an expert at playing the piano, cello and many other instruments which she has learned from trial and error.
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Full name |
Shamistha Rushmi de Silva |
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Nick name |
Shamz and Shami |
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Education |
Stafford International School in Colombo. From there on I dove straight into my music career which was anyway building throughout my entire schooling career. |
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Training |
I trained voice under the legendary aunty Mary Anne David and under Savithri Jayathileke, Dushyanthi Perera and Eshantha for cello and piano, and I have Mr. Aruna Siriwardena to thank for making me the musician and performer I am today. As for the other instruments I play, I have just picked up along the way, on my own. |
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Years active in music |
Music became a part of my life at the ripe age of 7, which was when my mother gave me my first cello. I’m 20 now, so that’s nearly 15 years (give or take a few) of being an active musician. |
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Biggest achievement in life |
The biggest one just happened a month ago! I got the opportunity to be the musical director of the Broadway musical 'FAME', held at the British School in Colombo. |
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Awards won |
Awards won is also a bit of a tough one, I’m going to keep it short. I did ABRSM and Trinity-Guildhall examinations, and I always managed to get the award for getting the highest mark in the country (Distinction), and of course winning various talent competitions. |
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Life’s moto |
Life will AMAZE you! Totally amaze you! There's so much out there! Things you haven’t even dreamt of ! So don’t give up and always give it your 101% effort! |
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Out of all the instruments you play, what’s your favourite and why?
I play the cello and the piano. But I can also manage to play through with the violin, bass guitar and drums. As for my favourite, it’s hard for me to pick between the cello and piano. The cello is such a mellow, beautiful, expressive and soulful instrument. I can express everything I feel through the cello, I think it’s close enough to being as communicative as a human’s voice! As for the piano, where do I begin! Give me a piano and I’ll just sit behind it and play and sing all day... it’s like riding all day in your favourite car, you can experiment a lot and express so much.
Do you recall the day you were prompted to enter the life of music?
Well to be honest I don't. The first time I remember singing was in nursery. As I mentioned before when I was around 7, my mother and I went for this concert, where there were a few cellists playing, at that point, since my mum saw me develop an interest in music, she decided to get me a cello and piano. I think from day one I knew that this was it. You know that ultimate rush of happiness you feel, that utmost peak in your happiness? As corny as that may sound, that’s how I feel whenever I play or sing. So I knew from that moment in time, that this was my way to go! Things just built up from there. Being onstage, whether it was acting, singing or dancing, made me the happiest person in the world!
So is this going to be your living? Challenges you face every day?
This is definitely going to be my living! The problem is that being a musician here in SL means, you’ve got to learn how to rough it out at first. I think I speak for most musicians as a whole when I say that a lot of people don’t fully appreciate what we offer. For example, we spend A LOT of money on instruments, music, transport etc, and at a typical event we’d get paid less than quarter of that amount. It’s a tough life, but I’m a positive person. And honestly nothing will make me happier than making music. So those are hardships I’m willing to deal with it. And once you get somewhere, it’s honestly not too bad, it’s just that you have to rough it out at the start!
In 10 years, if you look at yourself in the mirror who will you see? A female vocalist with a dozen chart topping albums? A music teacher?
As much as I love making music I also love spreading the word of music! And I’d like to think that I’m doing a bit of both already because I do perform onstage and I also teach at one of the most prestigious schools in Colombo. So 10 years down the line, YES, I’d like to think that I’ll be making great music and sharing it with the public and also spreading whatever I have to offer to the younger generation and inspire them to come to love music the way I and other dedicated musicians do!
There are so many young musicians out there, in your opinion are they doing justice to music?
Well, in my opinion, I feel that there are many talented young musicians out there. And it’s great that there is so much budding interest in the field, what they need to remember is, as a musician you can never stop learning and you should always remember to make an effort to practise and develop skills and experiment and always keep up to date with techniques, genres and styles.
Having said that, something I feel that young musicians need to look into is listening to different genres of music, what I see today is that a lot of kids choose one genre and stick to it. I think you need to just be open-minded and listen to all sorts of music and expand your musical knowledge.
Speaking for myself, there was a time when I too was close minded, but I’m so glad I snapped out of it because I have grown so much since. I listen and play music from the classical era, to heavy metal to jazz to R&B to hip-hop. I mean the list just goes on! As a musician you NEED to have an open mind, or your music will become stagnant, and nobody wants that right?
You seem like a social bee, are you specific about the people you hang out with?
I love good company and good music. I confess to love having a fun-filled hyperactive time with my buds. My whole lifestyle is music. My world revolves around music. . So when it comes to my friends I guess one would think that I only hang out with musicians, but this is not the case at all. I’m pretty easy going once I get to know a person, so I have friends who are some of the best musicians in this country and friends who know nothing about music!
Interview and pics by Jayantha Fernando
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0 Comments
Lalith says:
Apr 24, 2013 at 12:00 amLooks to be having lots of innovative thinking, and do something interesting and constructive to the filed of music !!!