>
i was born in sri lanka, in 1981. i grew up in germany ( first in heidelberg ), then moved to the states ( menlo park, near san fransisco, CA ), came back to germany ( kiel, near hamburg ) and now live in cologne. i grew up with german, english and french, what kind of explains why i tend to " juggle with lingo ". :-)
and who would have thought - i am now a student at a university of applied sciences studying english & french - ain't that a coincidence . having grown up on two continents ( 3, to be precise ) and with different cultures and languages, i pretty soon came to see that languages are my passion, so is music - so why not combine them.
as a child i was probably one of the biggest michael jackson fans you can imagine, i even performed on stage singing and dancing just like him ( ok, maybe not exactly like him, but given my age and the fact that it was not my job i guess i did a pretty good job) . then during the 90's i became more and more acquainted with hip hop music. i loved rap! having written a buttload of poems throughout my childhood and youth, i eventually started writing raps.
my first raps - to be honest - sucked!
i wasn't writing about anything i really felt. i just wrote things i somehow heard and subconsciously copied out of tupac raps . you know the type . about G's, hoes, cash, etc . that wasn't me . it took another few years until i really got into my own rap . but then it came very quickly.
one the most significant moments was meeting an old friend ( JACKIE ) who i had lost touch with for a couple of years, though having been very good friends before. we met again, by coincidence, and we had a kind of chemistry going. it was like in old times, just that we had both gone through quite some development and happened to meet again on the same level. it was fate, that we both were just starting to discover our rap skills and trigger our creativity and we decided to do get together and see what happens.
" i remember exactly it was that september with jackie,
when in 2004 we started writing our first track,
we had a beat, had ideas n we were awfully ambitious,
n it soon became clear that makin music was one of our deepest wishes,
it was the seed of our dreams, we started believin in dreams,
now we livin' it, give the fact that we believe in this team, . "
. so we started writing our first song ( GET OUT ). i remember when JACKIE came to my place n we were chillin in my room. she had her guitar with her and showed me 2 songs she had composed by herself and let me tell you: I WAS SPEECHLESS! still gives me goosebumps! well i just happened to have a cd with a few beats at my place and there were 2 beats i could use. so we listened to them and pretty soon found one that would be perfect as our first song! we had a subject for our song and found wrote a hook we both liked and then during the next weeks we wrote the lyrics to the song . it worked out so well that we were more than convinced that we should take this creativity to another level - so we did . we started writing more songs and we soon became CHOCANILLA!
it was amazing how fast we grew as CHOCANILLA . i got so much inspiration during that year . we constantly kept developping and improving our rap skills . and our songs proved it. in june'05 we had our first concert, actually it was a competition for newcomers . and we came in 2., which was quite a boost for us . and then things just happened so quickly . we had a few concerts in kiel ( our hometown ) and even one in schleswig .
in october'05 i then moved here, down south, to study and it wasn't that easy any more, since we couldn't just write, record or perform new tracks whenever we wanted to. but whenever we meet we cease the opportunity and that's what keeps CHOCANILLA alive.
---
here in cologne i've a also been working on other projects . i've been writing a few solo tracks and still am ( keep your ears open! ), but i also started working with a friend i met a university. he raps in german and spanish ( his spanish flow is impressive! ) . we call this project: MICROPHONETICZ .
in july 2006, while i was at work, someone came in and asked if she could hang a poster in the shop . the she told me what it was about. it was for an audition here in cologne and the " winners " would take part in an international hip hop workshop ( www.rootsnroutes.org ) . i could believe what i was hearing, it was as if she gave me the answers to the question i hadn't even asked yet . of course i ceased the opportunity and went to that audition . i was a bit exited on my way there, but not too much . it was only when i arrived there and saw the other 40 contestants, really talented singers & rappers that i really started doubting my chances to succeed . then it was my turn. i was supposed to step in front of the jury and perform. we were 6 contestants in the room and of course i had to go first and of course i nearly tripped when i went on stage ( man, i just thought: damn, why now . ok reez, forget it, ya blew it! ) . but the jury was ccol . and so was i . we laughed it off and i went on stage and DID MY THING! first i did an acapella version of a rap part which is in 3 languages . and after that i did another bilingual part on a beat. the jury seemed to like . the second part of the audition involved the whole group. we were supposed get on stage all together and they gave us a beat and we were supposed to freestyle or at least rap or sing on it spontaneously and they wanted to whether or not we can adapt to a group . that also worked out pretty well and i had a good feeling, but still was not sure whether or not i would be invited to the work shop. the jury took 2 hours to make their decision . and then they read the names of the 2 rappers and 3 singers (from germany) they wanted to invite to the work shop and when my name was one of them i was OVERWHELMED! :-) The work shop took place in cologne from the 9th to the 16th of july and at it's end was a performance as opening act at the SUMMER JAM FESTIVAL ( Fühlinger See ) - it was such an honor and clearly my biggest performance so far! So we met on a that sunday and got to know each other . there were participants from 8 countries ( germany, england, sweden, france, italy, netherlands, hungary and greece ) . we split up in five international groups, mine was really international: Janós ( Hungary ), Daniel ( Italy with Somalian roots ), Laetitia ( France with algerian roots ), Magnus ( Sweden with chinese roots ), JJ-D ( Germany with Angolan roots ) and ME ( Germany with Sri Lanka roots ) . we decided to name our group THE COLORBLINDZ!Then we got a beat and started writing . and at the end of the first day our song was finished . so we spent the next days with practising, recording, performing, etc . and then on friday we had the honor o performing for ca. 3000 people at SUMMER JAM on the main stage!
I will never forget that moment!!! During the audition i got to know JJ-D, a very talented singer with mad skills . we kind of connected immediately and we were sure that we would hook up and make some music together as soon as he moved to cologne, which he had planned anyway! So now he's here and we started working on our album and i can tell things are growing, so keep your ears to the street!
Since he has roots in Angola and mine are in Sri Lanka we came up with the name ANGOLANKA!
. to be continued
