‘Oye Ojaye’ :
Arjun and Piyal sing for new generation
Gypsies have taken the Sri Lankan music scene by storm with the release of their hit song ‘Oye Ojaye- Oye Ojaye’ in the year 1989. From that nostalgic jungle beat that thrills millions of fans around the world thirty five years ago, is now in for a bigger surprise. Gypsies new leader Piyal Perera and singing sensation Arjun Coomaraswamy joined hands to remix and recreate the new version of ‘Oye Ojaye’ catering to the new generation of Gypsy fans.
The launch of this new song was held at the Swastha by Link on 11th October with the presence of Arjun and Piyal along with many distinguish invitees and their fans.
When past meets present, what mysteries will unfold? The most classic example is the new version of ‘Oye Ojaye’, which takes old fans diving back into the jungle rhythm with the vibrant new video featuring Rashiprabha Sandeepani as ‘Gomari’, the daughter of chef of Veddha community.
‘It was one of my favourite song during my young days in Sri Lanka. It’s an honour to sing and perform in this new video, sung by veteran Sunil Perera, the original singer/ composer of the song. As a kid whenever I would visit Sri Lanka, there was one song I used to hear at every party. ‘Oye Ojaye’ is a song that brings back so many amazing memories from my childhood. I have to thank Piyal for giving me this opportunity to sing in my home country’ said Arjun.
Sri Lankan-born
UK-based international singer/songwriter and music producer Arjun has become an overnight star with his hit remake of a song from the latest Hindi movie ‘Jawan’. Arjun has received praise from Bollywood superstar Sha Rukh Khan for his rendition of an English version of the song ‘Chaleya’ from ‘Jawan’.
Sri Lankan-born UK-based international singer/songwriter and music producer Arjun has received praise from Bollywood superstar Sha Rukh Khan for his remake of a song from the actor’s latest Hindi movie ‘Jawan’. Actor Sha Rukh Khan took to ‘X’ to praise Arjun’s rendition of an English version of the song ‘Chaleya’ from ‘Jawan’. Arjun rose to attention following an R&B cover version of the Tamil song ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’, which was uploaded on YouTube in December 2011. Arjun’s R&B Remix (‘How could you do this to me?’) of ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’ attracted over 3 million YouTube views in one month.
Arjun became known for his fusion of contemporary Western and Eastern sounds, combining R&B with elements of South Asian music. He was nominated for ‘Best Newcomer‘at the ‘Brit Asia Music Awards 2011’. In December 2011, his song ‘Stargazer’ was voted the number 2 song on the first ever Asian Video Chart on Kiss TV and the number.1 was A.R Rahman’s group ‘Super Heavy’, which included Mick Jagger and Joss Stone).
In January 2012, Arjun was chosen as one of MTV’s ‘Brand New’ (the Top 20 Unsigned Acts) out of thousands of contestants.
The lyrics of original ‘Oye Ojaye’ was written by late Hemasiri Halpita and the newely added lyrics were penned by Arjun himself. New video was directed and produced by Hasinth Pathirana. The director of Photography is Sampath De Silva, while the choreography was handled by Supun Abeysinghe (Island Stompers). Dancers are Dilshi, Geethmi, Hansi, Thamoshi, Manuthi, Ruchini and Vedda cast comprises of Gamunu Wickramasooriya, Roshani, Nishi Dissanayake, Vinuki Malinsa, Sampath, Samaranayaka, Ravi, Saminda, Nilakantha and Chathura Madusara.