On a casual Sunday a friend of mine shared a link to a music track on soundcloud and was quite astonished by the sound that I heard.  And even though I am not a complete Electronic Dance Music (EDM) fan this was something far from the usual EDM I have heard before and the most strangest part was that it was EDM mixed with baila and the combination of the two was something that one would not even imagine as being compiled together.

The creator of this new music phenomenon is Ranidu Lankage who is not a newbie to the music industry and it was indeed a pleasure to ask a few questions regarding this new sound which Ranidu called Bailatronic!

According to Ranidu, Bailatronic is a philosophy, a movement.. which connects to the international electronic music industry.  He says that Bailatronic is the intersection between various influences he has had while being in the music industry over the years and simply puts Bailatronic as being, original Sri Lankan music of the 21^st century.

Ranidu was the first Sri Lankan to play at one of the world’s largest dance music festivals called the Ultra Music Festival in Miami and the world famous Coachella Music festival in California. He says that when he DJ-ed at these festivals he realized that he did not have much music in his set that represented who he was. So he wanted to make EDM that is undeniably Sri Lankan and represented Sri Lankan culture and thereby bring it to a Western audience, and this is how he says that he got the idea to mix baila with EDM.

Up to now Ranidu has been influenced by western genres such as hip hop, R&B, electro, trance, dubstep and many more when creating music, but he says that he wanted to create EDM that had an eastern soul, which he says is a true reflection of who he is and says ‘what better way to mix eastern sounds with the already familiar sounds..’

Considering the hype created online by EDM fans regarding the initial sound of Bailatronic called Rockin N Rollin featuring DJ Fedde Le Grand which was released in July, Ranidu says so far the reaction towards Bailatronic has been incredible especially since no one imagined that there can be bass music with the Sri Lankan touch. Ranidu hopes that the audience continues to support this Bailatronic movement and that this genre of music will grow not only in Sri Lanka but globally as the first original Sri Lankan genre of EDM.

Yes FM has already premiered the initial track and a lot of EDM blogs have posted the initial track praising this new form of music. According to Ranidu the feedback has been amazing and so far the response from the international community has been overwhelmingly positive.

Creating a unique sound in EDM is a very difficult thing to do and a lot of key industry folks like DJ Nihal and DJ Yasser of the BBC are already supporting the sound on radio. DJ Fedde Le Grand who is a top 20 DJ in the world has also praised his work, so Ranidu is very happy and positive about the future of Bailatronic. He also says that more major western media outlets are picking up on the story, so hopefully there is a long road ahead for this music.

Ranidu is currently in the process of creating few more tracks based on Bailatronic and the EP of Bailatronic debuted on 20^th August by a major American Record label, Indie-Pop Music with three original tracks called ‘Baila Bass’, ‘Baila Bounce’ and ‘Papare’. He also says that there are some surprises in store for his fan and wants them to stay tuned.

The tracks already launched have been produced, arranged, mixed and mastered by Ranidu so far. However, he is inviting all young producers to get behind this movement! He says that this is our EDM movement. And the future of Bailatronic is up to the people. So Ranidu hopes that all Sri Lankans will get behind the Bailatronic movement in order to take it globally to western audiences and be able to give them a taste of Sri Lanka Swag!

The EP of Bailatronic has debuted in all digital stores worldwide including beatport and ITunes on a major American record label Indie-pop music. DJ Nihal and DJ Yasser of the BBC have already premiered Baila Bass and are also supporting Baila Bounce. The Billboard.com has described Ranidu as a forerunner in merging global styles with a sound that is captivating a generation.

Why not get in board with the Bailatronic movement, by showing your support by visiting www.bailatronic.com or any of the following pages:

www.raniduonline.com

www.soundcloud.com/ranidu

www.youtube.com/ranidutv

www.facebook.com/raniduonline

www.twitter.com/ranidu

By Radhi De Silva