Interviews

What does your artist name mean? How did you come up with it?

From 2003 to 2006, I was playing with a band, we were experimenting electronic sounds with instruments. At the same time i was listening more and more psytrance and chillout, and in 2006, after a 3 months trip in Sri Lanka & India, I decided to start a chillout project. I didn't have a name yet, but on my way back to France i had the idea to use the nickname my friends in Sri Lanka called me with, Sudu eya, which would mean something like white brother in sinhalese. It meant much, as it was my first conscious dive into spirituality and in a culture so far from our own in Europe. It blew my mind, gave me a fresh start in life, new perceptions, and a sense of taking control on my own life instead of following what society wanted me to follow. Musically it was so interesting too, so it made sense to have a name connected to that, and I blended those two words together.

How did your musical journey begin? How would you define your musical genre? Tell us more a about your musical projects!

I started to play the violin at the age of 5, guitar at the age of 13, and electronic music came up at 17 years old, so there is a lot of music I went through and discovered before finding what would be the best for me to express what I want to. I love funk music, old school rap, roots reggae, dub, but heavy metal is a big part of my musical DNA, I connect that to classical music, in the power it emits. I love classical Arabic music, and Balkan music has my heart too.

You recently released an album during these unpredictable times…why “Starseeds”(title of the album)?

Starseeds represents the balanced connection between ourselves and the Universe. I got inspired by something new I have been doing for the last two years, growing my own food. There is a power in that, it's grounding, and it resonates within, that's the real magic of Life, that's what I wanted to be seen in the artwork as well, the seeds we plant on Earth are the seeds we plants in ourselves, the process is healing, at least that's how I experience it.

Tell us a little bit about your production process!

I'm working on Logic Pro X, and it starts simply by messing around with sounds, playing melodies on my keyboard, slowly building something up with pads or beats, and suddenly things start to take shape. I like the workflow with computer music, it's different from having something running in your mind that you want to put on paper, it's more like what comes up in this particular moment, and I love that, I love the idea that a composition would never exist if I would have decided to work in the afternoon instead of the morning, or being in a place or another when I put some ideas out, I find it fascinating.

How do you find inspiration to produce music?

In the present moment. Everything that led to this moment has a part of it there, it can be anything.

Do you have any advice / tips to emerging artists that are trying to enter this musical scene?

Be true to themselves musically, and never give up their freedom. Also always check your contracts, many of us tend to be excited when we start to have deals opportunity and sometimes don't read or don't try to understand deeper the terms of contracts.

You have been at Shankra Switzerland in 2016, how was your experience? What is your best memory?

Shankra was so nice, the first thing I remember is that at the time of my psytrance set it was pouring rain, so much that some drops were leaking from the stage roof. We managed to cover all equipment, and what made it so amazing is that almost nobody left the dance floor, they didn't matter the rain, it was so good, to see people stomping full power, such energy, I loved it!

You are going to play at Shankra Festival 2022 in Sri Lanka…how excited are you?

I can't wait, specially because of the connection I have with Sri Lanka, it's like the birth place of this project in a way, so it means a lot to me, and it will be the first time I play over there. The two months I spent back then changed my Life, the people I met, the places I've seen, Nature, culture, history, spirituality, it's a beautiful country.

Discover more about Suduaya's music.