Iraj Weeraratne

Iraj Weerarathne
Iraj Weerarathne
Born	21 February 1981 (age 43); Colombo, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Education	Royal College, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Alma mater	Northumbria University, UK[citation needed]
Occupations	Rapper; Music Producer; DJ;
	Musical career
Genres	Hiphop; Pop; RnB; Electronic; Indian Pop; [citation needed]
Instruments	Piano; Synthesizer; Drum Machine; DJ;
Years active	2003-present
Labels	MEntertainment; Ill Noize Records;

Iraj Weeraratne (born 21 February 1981) known by the stage-name IRAJ, is a Sri Lankan rapper, music producer and DJ. Weeraratne had a television show on Derana TV called Iraj Show. He was the first person to introduce Sinhala rap as well as Tamil rap to Sri Lanka in 2004.^[1]

Career

He won the best keyboardist title which was awarded by Guildhall Music School at the age of 16. He later teamed up with his schoolmates Ranidu Lankage and Yauwana Wigneswaran to form a band titled Zealots while still studying at the Royal College, Colombo.^[2] He owns the Bongohd firm in Bangladesh.^[3]

His first South Indian composition together with Vijay Anthony featured in the 2009 Tamil film, Vettaikaaran, starring Kollywood star Vijay and was ranked number one in the Chennai Charts.^[4]^{[citation needed]}

In August 2020, he was appointed as the board member of National Youth Service Council by Namal Rajapaksa and he was supposed to serve in the relevant position for a period of three years.^[5] However, a year later after his appointment he resigned from the position citing unavoidable poor work-related commitments.^[6]^[7]

Political activities

During several election periods in Sri Lanka, Iraj engaged in activism on social media platforms in support of the Rajapaksa family.^[8] Iraj has been accused of participating in propaganda campaigns to promote the party he supports to the public.^[9]^[10]^[11] He has been more involved in the media and acts as a public figure that has exacerbated these allegations.^[12]

In 2023, Iraj has been sitting under heavy backlash and calls for boycotts due to his affiliation with Namal Rajapaksa and Yoshitha Rajapaksa.^[13]^[14] His public support for the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government during the Galle Face 2022 Sri Lankan protests met with criticism.^[15] Critics highlighted his social media posts condemning the protestors and saw his work in countering their efforts to breed discontent among activists and citizens.^[16]^[17] It was fed by numerous incidents, including last May when a group of protestors stoned his family home, a moment of escalating tensions between the government and citizens during Sri Lankan economic crisis.^[18]