“Alan Walker’s coming to Sri Lanka!” is probably an exclamation you’ve overheard, or even made yourself by now. The first international edition of GLOBAL SOUND Festival will feature this Norwegian record producer and DJ whose window to fame was with the song ‘Faded’ in 2015, when he was just 18 years old. Walker is one of few musicians who has surpassed one billion plays on YouTube, managing to keep the party going with his unique brand of EDM and House music. His hits such as ‘Alone’, ‘Sing me to Sleep’ and recent collaboration with artistes Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals - “All Falls Down”, among others, have contributed to his success and hence make his imminent performance in Sri Lanka quite the euphoric news, especially for his fans, whom he calls ‘The Walkers’. Walker is ranked 17 on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list of 2017. During this year, Walker became the top YouTuber in Norway with 15 million subscribers. Taking the stage on 16 September at the Royal College Sports Complex, he leaves us with little time to prepare for “The World of Walker” tour which can only be expected to be an effervescent experience. More details pertaining to the event can be found on alanwalker.tickets.lk   A closer look into the World of Walker The story behind the mask : Like him, his 'Walkers' follow suit quite literally by pairing a black hoodie with black trousers and hiding the lower half of their faces with a black mask; a tool he uses to symbolise equality and uniformity. As implied in his music video for "Alone" in which Walker conveys his journey from producing music in his bedroom to becoming an established global artiste, Walker stresses on the idea that "it's us against the world" and that this very idea counters the feeling of isolation and serves as a catalyst for unity. Masked movie magic : Besides producing electronic music, Alan Walker also exhibits his knack for cinematography through his music videos. The picturesque quality and melancholic undertones his videos possess reaffirm his talents in the field and justifies his acclamation that his "music is pretty much a movie soundtrack...and like[s] to work on songs that can easily be used in movies". He's a blend of British and Norwegian : While Walker's mother stems from Norway, his father is British. Two years after his birth in Northampton England, he moved to Bergen, Norway where he was raised. Nonetheless, he considers himself a mix of both nationalities -"I rather consider myself Norwegian but at the same time I'm British. So it's definitely both for me." On or off stage, his name persists : On stage, Alan Walker uses his real name. Early on in his career however, he used the pseudonym "DJ Walkzz" until he was told that his real name was stage name enough. His Logo on the other hand is a creative intermingling of his initials 'A' and 'W' which he designed himself back in 2013, thus uncovering another hidden talent of his: graphic designing.   By Shenali Jayasinghe