Friday 10 March 2017

Api Kawruda by Senaka Batagoda

View of the buildings by Galle Face Green


In this post I am sharing a song I love called ‘Api Kawruda’. This song comes from Sri Lanka and was a Sri Lankan hit by the band Wayo in 2012. However, it was written by a songwriter named Senaka Batagoda whose version remained unreleased until December 2015. While this song is in Sinhalese, it has a classic rock feel where I see similarities with the music of my two favourite singers Elton John & Bob Seger. It sounds like Elton John’s song ‘England And America’ from the Deluxe edition of his 2016 album “Wonderful Crazy Night”, with the biggest similarities being the melody and the piano. I also find it to sound like a Bob Seger song (more on that later). I am embedding the song from Senaka Batagoda’s YouTube Channel here, and the YouTube video is a slideshow so the readers can listen to the song as they read this post where I describe it and point out what makes this song special.




It opens with acoustic guitars and is then followed by piano played by Janath Kulathilake. The first verse starts off softly using a mix of acoustic guitar and piano. In the second half of the first verse, the song becomes faster. In the chorus, the piano gets louder and throughout the song it is melodic and gives energy. In the first instance of the chorus, the song is able to be both gentle and rocking at the same time with the piano giving a rock feel. Janath plays a great piano riff throughout the chorus that’s a big part of this song.


The second verse starts off similar to the first verse. About two minutes into the song in the middle of the second verse, we noticeably hear the organ (also played by Janath Kulathilake) which gives the song a real Bob Seger feel being reminiscent of the usage of the piano/organ combination in some Bob Seger songs. After this verse is concluded, electric guitars come in the chorus making the song rock more. Once the electric guitars come, we can see that this song has the Bob Seger sound of piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and organ that he has used in some of his songs. The electric guitars give a new dimension to the song and it’s good to hear the chorus done differently. When the chorus ends there is a great rocking guitar solo which is accompanied well by the piano. The final section of the song is the chorus once again followed by some good electric guitar parts that concludes the song.

I’m writing this post to give exposure to what I see as a great Sri Lankan song to the world. The song has energy, a catchy melody and rocks in a good way. I think Senaka’s voice sounds a bit similar to the Sri Lankan songwriter and performer Clarence Wijewardena. He sings the song with passion that’s part of its strength. I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on the song. I hope this song will grow in its reach connecting with people in all corners of the world. Thank you Senaka for writing a very special song.

17 comments:

  1. Wonderful. I liked the song very much!

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  2. Great post Asela. And yes, it's a great song and I did enjoy it.It's one that will resonate with a lot of people and you have done really well in analysing it. That's very interesting that you could see similarities to Bob Segar's music. I hope many will listen to it. It's really good that Senaka has written a song that might reach every corner of the world. Well done to Senaka and well done Asela.

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  5. Yes Asela That's a hit loved by by young and old alike. My students love it and I use it for drums, bass,guitar & keyboards. I met him recently & we go back in time & I'm really proud of him.
    Cheers Melantha

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    1. Thanks Melantha. It's good to hear that you use this song for drums, bass, guitar & keyboards. It's interesting that you met Senaka recently.

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  6. Hi Asela, Your article is one of the rare ones about Senaka. There is hardly any information to be found online. Have you got any details about his background and the Music career ?

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    1. Thanks Kanda. I couldn't find out much information about Senaka's career, but did find out from 2 TV Times articles that he was a member of 'Chandimal & The 2nd Connection' in the late 90s (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/981122/mirror5.html#LABEL15) and that he was a member of the band 'Clear Waters' in 2005 (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/050821/tv/4.html).

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  7. Thanks for sharing this. I was surfing to see who this *Senaka BAtagoda" is because of another beautiful song "ananthaya". Amazing lyrics and music. I also love "senasennam maa "..sung by his daughter...deeply meaningful song yet with such simple lyrics.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked my post. I also like Senaka Batagoda's other song "Ananthayata Yanawamai".

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  8. Salute the authentic artist!!!

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  9. Does anyone know who plays bass in Senaka Batagoda's original song above? I think he is in one picture. He is the one wearing a black cap.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, I don't know who plays bass in this song. The YouTube video description gives the credits for who played piano, organ and drums, but it doesn't give the credits for the other instruments. Sorry.

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