By Mahika Panditha  I have said this before, and I will happily say it again – music is such an important part of our daily lives. I spoke to someone the other day who was explaining to me how they go about their day with various playlists – so much so that it feels like they are living in a movie and that is the soundtrack of their life. The whole concept of it blew me away because it pretty much put into words how I feel when I listen to various types of music throughout my day.  Our island is bursting at the seams with talent. Meet Yuki Navaratne; a full-time music producer who absolutely loves to compose music. Yuki and I had the chance to have a chat earlier last week where we spoke about all things music. He hopes to become an internationally recognised music composer and we cannot wait to see where his journey takes him.  You may have heard of some of his work, and if you haven’t, go check it out – most recently, he released ‘Manabandu Karanawak’ alongside other pieces of beautiful music such as ‘Boho De,’ ‘Rasthafari,’ ‘Api Nam Thawei,’ ‘Aadari,’ and much more. You can check out Yuki’s work on YouTube and also SoundCloud.  Before we get into it, I do have to give you all a fun fact – Yuki worked at a call centre for two years as an agent and now as a result, he absolutely despises phone calls! I am right there with you, Yuki. I mean – why can’t you text? I will only accept phone calls from a very few people, but honestly, my friends would say otherwise.  Aside from working on his music, Yuki spends his time in the gym – which I should probably be doing more of, but oh well. I do not want to give too much away, so have a read and get to know Yuki Navaratne!    What inspired you to pursue a career in music?    When I was in grade 7 or 8, my brother bought FL Studio software (which I didn’t know how to put to work at that time, of course), and he was making music. Watching him for days, it got me interested in it too. So I kept learning the software and one day my brother admired a beat I made. Since then I have been making music.   What has been your favourite memory thus far?    The best memory so far was the very first day my family admired my music, like after 10 years of my journey.   Share your thoughts with us on Sri Lanka’s music industry.    Our music industry is growing more and more. We have so many young talents here. We have the potential to go global. But on the other hand, we don’t have a good royalty system to encourage them yet. They are doing it because they love what they do no matter what.   What has been one of your biggest challenges to date and how did you overcome it?    The biggest challenge in my time was to make hit music. But in the end, I just abandoned the thought of making hit music and started adding my emotions and vibe into the music I made. I just stopped thinking about what others might like. People didn’t latch onto it much at first and weren’t even listening to me much, but today people have accepted it. So I have overcome it but it took so many years.   Any words of wisdom for aspiring artists or musicians?    Don’t create something that has already been created, make something of your own and that will definitely be unique.   Are there any new projects of yours that we can look forward to?   Yes! There are many to come. I’m trying to finish my album and release it somehow this year but before that, I have a solo song coming and a song with Ravi Jay!   PHOTOS © MIGARA WIJAYANGA, MUDRIQ AHAMED