The name might not always be on the marquee, but if you’ve listened to Sri Lankan music over the past two decades, you’ve heard Yohaan Rajapakse’s work. After shaping the sound of some of the island’s biggest artists, he’s now returning to the scene this time, to lift up the voices that haven’t yet been heard.
Rajapakse’s story begins in the early 2000s a golden era for Sri Lankan rock. As part of the band EZRA, Yohaan and his crew became household names after winning the TNL Onstage competition, one of the country’s most coveted music titles at the time. “The whole journey leading up to that win was unforgettable,” Yohaan recalls. “We were just a bunch of dreamers who believed we could make something new.” That victory marked the start of a career that would go on to transform the island’s sound.
He soon joined BNS’s first band, before discovering his real home wasn’t on stage, but behind the mixing desk. What followed was a career of firsts producing Sri Lanka’s first Drum & Bass track with Ranidhu, breaking ground with B.K’s pioneering Hip Hop album “It’s Real,” and creating the country’s first R&B Tamil album with Krishan Maheson. Remember BNS’s “Hoiya Hoiya”? That infectious beat still gets radio play today pure Rajapakse magic.
Working under the legendary Ranga Dasanayake at HitFactory Audio production house, he’s produced over a thousand commercials and even designed a digital production course that trained a new generation of producers.
But commercial success wasn’t enough. “I’ve worked with the biggest names, but there’s so much raw talent in Sri Lanka that never gets the platform it deserves,” Rajapakse reflects. “I’m coming back to change that to work with the underdogs and take our sound beyond these shores.”
Now, he’s putting action behind those words. Rajapakse has launched his own label and is already collaborating with both rising talents and familiar names. His first music video, “Oh, Ho Mage Baby,” featuring Lil Enza and Krishan Maheson, has already dropped and is making waves across the scene, a track he composed and produced, proving once again that his sound speaks louder than words.
From Hip Hop to Drum & Bass, Rock to World Music, Yohaan Rajapakse speaks every dialect of Sri Lanka’s musical landscape. And now, he’s offering something the industry rarely does mentorship, guidance, and real opportunities for the artists still grinding in the shadows. Also they don’t ride the waves but Make the waves.
The producer who helped build the scene is back to rebuild it, one underdog at a time.
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