Live Events & Entertainment industry in Sri Lanka

 DJ"S & Live Events & Entertainment industry in Sri Lanka

Djs play a prominent role in live entertainment industry, with out a shadow of a doubt their role as a live entertainer is pivotal in any kind of event, be it a birthday party, wedding Dinner Dance or a mega music Festival.

Especially after the war ended in 2009 we saw enormous amount of events taking place right around the island, we Lankans love to party, that's for sure.for the first time we saw themed events,3 day long festivals, day time parties and silent parties, night races so on and so forth, its not only djs who benefited from these, This paved the way to new employment and new skills, we saw many sounds, lighting equipment providers coming to the front of the industry, with the exposure from the internet we improved our skills and brought down the latest technology to the island and many event management companies sprung up in every corner.

in the midst of all these we started seeing beach events on all most every weekend for years, Once again Thanks to VanLuup and Shiyam from Colombo house mafia, we saw the birth of booka booka back in 2016, the first day time musical themed event which happened on the last or the first Sunday of the month,(i stand corrected for the dates) which focused totally on underground house music spun by the best in the business, it is sort of responsible for creating a new wave and a new breed of djs around the country, Aria mirisa,fantasy events followed the trend and exposed a very talented pool of djs in the country.

we were fortunate to see many international djs and artists coming to our shores and playing their music to our audiences, also we can be proud that our djs and artists have received many compliments and appreciation from them while sharing the same stage with them, we saw international event brands coming to the island, sun burn, IIFA, surfing festivals just to name a few ,which exposed our country even more on a global scale

With the tourist arrivals soaring to record heights it was a frolic time for many hotels and wedding planners, we started seeing individuals and companies coming in to the industry and establishing them selves in the market. We were nicely set for the destination wedding venues around the world, Which again opened up new job opportunities from planning, hiring sounds and lighting items to decorating and more. We saw loads more djs taking up to mobile djing and amongst the competition the quality and the standard of the whole industry improved by leaps and bounds. Which in turn helped improve and highlight sri lanka for MICE Tourism.

As 2019 April the Easter bombings, slowed the entire countries economy so many events were pushed back or cancelled, tourists arrivals decreased, but we got up strongly in a short period of time but only to be hit by the covid 19 pandemic in a couple of months an its adverse effects are felt around the globe in almost all the industries.

The full time Djs, event managers, planners, decorators, florists, sounds and lighting providers so on and so forth are left stranded due to the pandemic, more than the covid 19 virus people are not sure of ways to keep food on the table for the families, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be leaving us anytime soon either, in the backdrop of all these people are starting to sell their equipment's and dj gears in order to support the families and their dependents ,they are finding it hard to obtain loans or credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions, because they have no other choice as these are people who don't receive a monthly pay check, they don't have Epf/ETF,when the banks ask for guarantors and documents they are left with no answers.

Even though We saw the Events management Association and Ceylon Djs Associations and western musicians Association and etc. being formed up to help and negotiate issues with the officials on be half of all involved in the entertainment industry, its sad to see no fruitful actions have resulted so far. I would like to see all these associations coming forward and discussing with the relevant authorities to make loans available at an affordable rate for the people involved in the entertainment industry or to make it an easy process to obtain credit facilities,,(I'm not sure if it is already happening, if so, its a good start) So that it will provide the financial aid for them to tide over this bad patch,

believe that good times are ahead, till then lets all climb this hill coz its a smooth slide that awaits us on the flip side!!!

If you missed the first episode :

https://minoldee.blogspot.com/2023/03/djing-is-art-entertainment-events.html