visited before this last trip, I witnessed things
like military checkpoints, curfews and bomb scares regularly. My family is Sinhala but unlike many in the majority group I was never taught and have never felt any sense of resentment towards Tamil people. I think because there are also Tamil speaking people in India, and Sinhala are only found in Sri Lanka, we have always had a complex sense of identity and certainly the mistreatment we experienced during 500 years of foreign occupation didn't help. Because I am the first Sri Lankan American to release music professionally and I am outspoken "politically,” I have been a voice of unity and understanding between the Tamil and Sinhala children of Lanka. Songs such as "Decolonize", "My Island" and "Heal Lanka" speaks to these issues and principles.
I moved to Colombo, Sri Lanka right around the third anniversary of the ending of the civil war. The present government celebrates this date as "Victory Day" but after traveling to the Northern and Eastern parts of the island that were previously under Tiger control, I
wondered what kind of victory is it for the victims of the war. I came to Sri Lanka to work for a Non-Governmental Organization to oversee the distribution of books to schools and libraries throughout the country, with a focus on the areas most affected by the war. I felt like it was due time for me to do something to directly contribute to the rebuilding of Sri Lanka. So I hit the ground ready to put music aside and focus on the work. On my third night there, I was eating some string hoppers (local Lankan dish) at a late night eatery when someone walked by on the street and recognized me as Ras Ceylon. I experienced that same thing about three more times in my first few weeks there and I realized that I could not just push pause on the music. What I discovered was that much like myself, there were now many young Sri Lankan people from all over the world that were returning to the island to do post war rebuilding work.
I continued my job at the NGO during my stay in Sri Lanka but every day as soon as I was off of work, I was going all out with the music. I was able to connect with many conscious young Sri Lankan people of a new generation that do not want to hold on to the prejudices and fratricide that has kept our people down as a whole. I always thought my songs that spoke about Sri Lanka were too revolutionary for most of the people there, especially because of the polarization that exists between the Tamil and Sinhala diaspora. However, from Jaffna to Galle I found that Sri Lankans are all warm, friendly, funny and loving no matter their religion or ethnicity and they were definitely ready for the message of Revolution and