Sajjad Hassan

From the hills of Kandy, Sri Lanka a young phenomenon in Sri Lankan music , unafraid to take the road less travelled emerged. A masterful command of the Sri Lankan languages has allowed him to be truly trilingual in approach; his music actively transcends barriers and crosses divides. With his entrancing voice, soulful melodies, arresting beats and poetic lyrics this musical prodigy blends eastern and western sounds in his own inimitable style, fusing his compositions with a distinctly Sri Lankan flavour which has left both local and international audiences clamouring for more. His name is Sajjad Hassan.

Sajjad’s talent was discovered at a very tender age while he was still a Grade 3 student at Trinity College, Kandy. Under the able guidance of his mentors Mr. Lafir Shaheed and Mr. Nirmala Herath he released his maiden album “Kurulu Handin” - a compilation of songs dealing with children, education, culture and peace - in 1998. An introduction to Managing Director of Young Asia Television Mr. Hilmy Ahamed led to the production of music videos for three of these tracks. Amongst them was a peace song titled “Paraviyo” which captured audiences nationwide and topped the popular “Rasa Risi Gee” charts on Sirasa TV in 1999. Sajjad went on to win numerous awards for singing and music whilst still in school including 1st place at the All Island Tamil Singing Contest in 1999.

Sajjad took a brief hiatus from the local music scene in order to concentrate on his school career. In the midst of his schooling he began exploring the field of music production and developed his skills via emerging mediums such as digital music and software aided production. During this period he released a number of singles of which “Tuition” became a major hit and was also made into a music video. Another track “Sil Suwanda” – was the first Buddhist song sung by a non-Buddhist child artiste and won the Ratnadeepa Award in 2001 Sajjad also honed his classical music skills by completing Phase 1 of the Visharada Examination conducted by the Bathkande University of India.

Having completed his education at Trinity College, where he also represented the 1st XV in Rugby, Sajjad made a comeback into mainstream music in 2007 with his maiden production effort “Wasantha Samaye” a collaboration with the duo Sachin & Rakitha. The track received wide airplay topping both the Sirasa FM and Y FM charts. His solo comeback release “Mata Kiyanna Nam Epa” was also released in 2007 and proved to be a huge hit enjoying tremendous success on numerous local radio charts. The music video for the track enjoyed much success entering numerous music video chart shows on several channels in 2007/2008. It was also voted into the final round of the Derana Video Awards 2007 and proved to be a fitting comeback into the industry.

Sajjad has already taken his music beyond Sri Lankan shores with a mega performance to mark the launch of Universal Enterprises in the Maldives in June 2008. “Mata Kiyanna Nam Epa” has also been broadcasted overseas via Sri Lankan satellite television and is fast becoming a hit amongst the Sri Lankans abroad. The track has also gained popularity in cyberspace with a large volume of downloads as well as countless hits on the streaming site YouTube.

Sajjad has just released his second music video “Kadaliye” – a trilingual fusion track with a hip-hop flavour which has topped all tv charts and recently entering the most fancied "Sirasa Tv" Rasa Risi Gee, -Sri Lankan Top Ten and also topping it in no time .

Sajjad , released his newest music video "Gayala - Wayala" on the 17th of April which is currently steaming up all audiences islandwide., He also hopes to launch a new albumend of the year. His album promises to be an anthology of scintillating tracks with a unique blend of ethnic and urban sound which is sure to capture the hearts of music lovers island wide. In a remarkable metamorphosis from child artiste to youth icon, Sajjad has taken Sri Lanka’s music industry by storm with his entrancing voice , soulful melodies and his own style of music.