Maime Indan by Rookantha Goonatillake

As I’m into classic rock music, I decided to write a blog post about a great rock song from my country

Sri Lanka to share it with the world. The song is “Maime Indan” by singer Rookantha Goonatillake

and it has a classic rock feel. I previously wrote a similar blog post about another Sri Lankan rock

song, that being Senaka Batagoda’s “Api Kawruda”. I’m embedding the YouTube audio of the song

below which was uploaded by Sri Lankan record label Torana Music. You can listen to it as you read

my thoughts on the song below.

It opens with intense catchy guitar riffs which is soon followed by Rookantha’s singing. The first

singing part is the chorus. The electric guitars aren’t there while Rookantha sings and the electric

guitar riffs come during the breaks. After Rookantha’s singing there is a good guitar solo. Towards

the end of the guitar solo, it’s nice to have it followed by some organ notes. Then there’s the first

verse which takes the melody to a good place. The organ while low in the mix continues to play a

good role in the song. It’s good to hear Rookantha accompanied with the backing vocalists sing

along with the melody something like “do lo lo lo lo … ” at the end of the verse. 

Then we get another guitar solo similar to the previous one which is combined with good organ

parts. The second verse is then sung. The verse concludes with Rookantha and the backing

vocalists again singing along with the melody. Then the chorus returns. The chorus seems more

intense this time with some increase in the electric guitar parts. In Rookantha’s last words he sings

along with the melody again. This time he sings with a different set of sounds, something like “tor low

low low … ”. The song concludes with intense guitar riffs accompanied by the organ which closes

the song with the hauntingly fading organ echoes. This song has an unusual and unique structure of

chorus, guitar solo, verse, guitar solo, verse and chorus. 

“Maime Indan” is a powerful song with a good melody, energy, rocking guitar parts and good

accompaniment by the organ. It is a great example of Sri Lankan creativity. I hope this song gets

discovered by people throughout the world.