Gihan Liyanage, best known by his stage name “Dj Shaggy” in Down South, was born and bred in Galle, Sri Lanka. It has been 18 years for his service… He was named as “Shaggy” during his school days when he was biggest fan of Jamaican Singer Shaggy. He used to sing Shaggy’s songs at school classroom & school carnival so that he became “DJ Shaggy” among his school friends. He recognized his great pas
sion for music at an early age and started exposing himself to a large variety of genres, widening his perspectives and nurturing his knowledge of music. He understood that this wasn’t simply a hobby, but something that he wanted to pursue professionally. He started with combine the different types of melodies and beats that stimulate his senses and comes up with his own unique style, growing with the passion of music in his soul spinning music and Djing since 2002. He started with road promotions, weddings, house parties & specially beach parties to reach most beach restaurants in down south. As time passed, he started to reach most clubbers/ravers in Sri Lanka through his flaming music and his awesome bond with the crowd. He also kept his study on a perfect level at university majoring Business Management/Marketing. The way he playing and spinning the decks around the region is well known and respected. He plays a variety of international music, which pumps the blood in your veins. His beats and unique style gives the crowd the chance to reach the level of music contamination. After awarded as the best DJ in down south, Sri Lanka in 2007 he started the new era which made shining his career. Shaggy's aim is to travel more countries to perform his talents, his main goal now is to present something different & unique to his loving fans & get in to the international plane. DJ Shaggy is always seeking more knowledge and experience. He always loved & still loves Retro music 60s, 70s, 80s & he has a good collection of wide range of genres for the dances such as Waltz, Cha Cha, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Samba, Jive…etc. He is a music composer too. In 2008 he got an opportunity to play as the resident DJ of Club Rannalhi, Adaaran Resorts in Maldives. From December 2009 to end of January 2010 he performed his music in several resorts around Maldives islands. They are Eriyadu island resort, Medhufushi island resort, Chaya Island Dhonveli, Chaaya Lagoon Hakurahuraa, Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo. For the Christmas of 2010 & New year 2011 he performed at Eriyadu island resort Maldives. He was the in-house Dj of Adaran Meedhuppaaru island resort Maldives in 2011. Further heading back to Sri Lanka in 2009, he successfully completed an advanced dj course about Turntablism, Scratching & Time code Dj systems at the DJ academy of Sri Lanka. Then he started his own entertainment industry. As the proud proprietor of Music Zone Entertainers so far, he has been playing more than 1000 weddings, Gatherings, Birthday parties, Cooperate events as well as Destination weddings. He had chosen to play as the resident Dj of Hotel Hikkatranz by cinnamon at Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka since 2016 to present. He is the first dj in Srilanka who started to play HandSonic Electronic Percussion while Djing. It’s a unique instrument that’s ideal for live music performers. As an Instrument lover while he watches YouTube videos, he saw an international Dj plays this handSonic instrument. So, he started to follow this instrument and decided to add this to his gear. This instrument added more color & uniqueness for his DJ sessions and people also started to request it whenever he booked. His fans are his drive, as he persistently seeks variety and chances for improvement within his work to keep them satisfied on the dance floor. We all are aware of the ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The COVID 19 pandemic has spread with alarming speed, infecting millions and the economy damaged is already evident and represents the largest economics shock the world has experienced in decades. Shaggy noted that various employers how they affect with this pandemic through social media and main news telecasting. Receiving many customers booking cancellation, postponing weddings, get-together… etc., Coronavirus related event cancellations seem to be unbearable by the hour. Several sources across the booking, management and venues sectors either declined to comment to rolling stone on the subject because of the uncertainty around the matter, or say they do not yet have them in place. Government entities have not given a solid timeline estimate for how long the outbreak will remain a health crisis. Shaggy’s main lost was the termination of his resident dj contract due to this pandemic. All of us know this pandemic made a great lost in the field of tourism. When they have been ordered by the government to close their businesses and their employees can no longer work. He was very proud of his services that he rendered to the people, and despite these frustrations will continue to remain dedicated to his profession. However, the administration wants to get things under control, he obeyed them. Always he was a positive thinker especially in this lockdown. He thought this is the perfect time to develop his musical knowledge & best time to do some musical experiments. He used the lockdown period to learn & practice more musical skills such as Dj scratching, Live looping, Electronic music production, & some guitar skills too. Although it was not mention previously, he loves playing lots of instruments and tried his level best to play any instrument whatever come across. Daily he kept in touch with them and plays as much as he could. Besides, playing instruments he sings local & international songs too. During this pandemic especially in the lockdown he uploads various videos in his YouTube channel named “Shaggy’s Fusion”. His newest addition to his instruments collection is RC505 loop-station. You can see how he improved his skills with it on above-mentioned YouTube channel. He fond of researching new things through Internet and get lots of ideas for his music career. This made to keep him more occupied. He advices his new DJs over the phone to do the same. Meanwhile he gave his full support whenever necessary at household work. He never forgets his customers to keep in touch discuss, encouraging and updating the venues that can be done in future. His message to all other dj s is to do new musical experiments and always try to do something new to enrich your value & self-satisfaction on your musical career. ( June 2022 )
In 2024 He was awarded as the MOST POPULAR WEDDING DJ OF THE YEAR 2023.
