Doing it in Qatar …with success

Source:Island

It’s heartening to note, despite the pandemic, local artistes, based abroad, are still making an effort to be in the spotlight.

We have Sal Salgado, in Germany, Sujeeva Nivunhella (London), and now news has come our way of Rubeena Shabnam.

In fact, Rubeena was a part of our scene, not too long ago, and she is back, in the spotlight, again…with her latest single, ‘Surali,’ a song that talks about the freedom of a young girl.

This is also the first time where she raps, on her own track, made in collaboration with music producer, Dinesh Hemantha. The lyrics were penned by Jananga Vishwajith, and recorded by Dileepa Liyanage.

Says Rubeena: “The rap was added to bring in a different flavour for the song, and it was also a new challenge for me as singing is my most comfort zone.”

‘Surali’ was released on all streaming platforms and the music video, directed by Mohamed Shanas, and produced in Qatar (where she is based), is scheduled to be released in December.

Rubeena, has been active in the music industry, in Doha, Qatar, as a singer, since 2017, and her spoken voice is heard on radio, as well – Radio Suno Lanka, which is a popular radio station with the Sri Lankan community in Qatar. Rubeena operates as RJ Ruby, on Radio Suno Lanka.

By profession, she works as a Nursery School Teacher at Little Montessori Nursery and, she says, she loves to be in the company of kids.

Rubeena’s first Sinhala original release was ‘Ma Dase,’ featuring Lucky Lakmina, and it was a successful start to her music career, she says.

Her second track was ‘Mile Ho Tum Humko,’ a combined effort with Dileepa Liyanage, where they created a newer version of a popular Bollywood hit, originally sung by Neha Kakkar and Tony Kakkar.

Her third Sinhala original release ‘Santhose,’ features Murshad Huvais from Funky Dirt.

Rubeena is heard on several other songs, in Sinhala and Tamil, and has been doing voice overs, too.