Marrying her unique blend of music with Tamil culture, Swiss Singer of Sri Lankan Heritage Priya Ragu is defying the stereotypes and breaking cultural barriers with her new genre of Ragu Wavy Music.
Making waves in the European music scene, Swiss singer Priya Ragu is riding the crest of her wave of success. Fiercely proud of her Tamil identity and heritage, Priya whose parents hail from Sri Lanka is not afraid to wear her identity with unbridled pride. Due to the turbulent times Sri Lanka once experienced, her parents were forced to flee Sri Lanka in the 1980s. After an arduous journey in search of safer climes, Priya, her brother Japhna and her parents settled finally in the Swiss city of St Gallen, Switzerland. It is very rare for female singers especially of South Asian origin to make it big in the music industry, particularly in the European market. Controversial rapper M.I.A, the other singer of Sri Lankan origin is the exception. Therefore, it is especially encouraging to see Priya Ragu break barriers with her unique genre so that her voice reverberates in the music world. Priya is currently in London and although we are both in the same vibrant city, the mecca of culture and music, her busy schedule does not allow a face to face meeting so we settle instead for a meeting on Zoom.
The diminutive singer’s South Asian influenced R&B music has undoubtedly made her one of 2021’s breakout pop singers. Various magazines including Rolling Stone India hailed her as one of the rising stars of music to watch out for, while Network Asia plays her tunes regularly. Celebrated magazine Vogue UK deemed Priya Ragu as one of the six young music voices “to take off into the stratosphere in 2021” while the New Musical Express, long considered an almanac of the music industry in the UK included Priya Ragu in their list of ‘100 Essential New Artists for 2021’.
Words: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
