Ben Subendran (born February 1998) is a Sri Lankan musical composer and guitarist. He was born and brought up as Calistus Subendran Caleb Jerome Benhanan in Mannar, Sri Lanka. Ben started playing the keyboard at the age of ten under the guidance of his mother, who was Sven Peter’s student once. At thirteen, he started playing at the Methodist church every Sunday. After watching his cousin Georgin Rushanthan’s guitar performance, Ben became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 15 years old, Ben started taking lessons from his cousin; therefore, he had to borrow an acoustic guitar from his father’s younger brother and soon became consumed. His next platform was the school events: this is when Ben started trying his hand at the guitar. For his school St. Xavier’s Boys’ College, he got the opportunity to play acoustic & electric guitars. During his A-Levels, He had released his debut gospel album “Redemption” under the Label “HananStems Records” which was wholly compiled, recorded, and sung by himself except for one song “Kani Thedi Vanthen” which was sung by his father, S.C. Subendran. After A-levels, in order to pursue higher studies, Ben came to Colombo. While waiting for A-Level results, he planned to do some crash courses, so he could pursue a diploma course in audio engineering at Hit Factory Audio Institute, which also taught him more about digital music composition. During the course, he got the opportunity to learn from industry experts like Ranga Dasanayake, Chathurangana De Silva, Nishan Daniel, and Denham Hakel. For Sunday services, he attended the Memorial Methodist Church at Wellawatte, where he met Harold Vipulanthamoorthy (Vipul), who has been the choirmaster since the 1980s. Next Sunday, Ben joined as a chorister, and later, he started playing the keyboard for the choir. Under Vipul’s direction, Ben groomed his singing technique and gained in-depth musical knowledge. Consequently, Ben wanted to learn more about western staff notation, so he took piano lessons from Harith Shihan Chamba. His styles include Gospel, Country, Pop, Jazz, Western, and Eastern classical. While studying at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, he got the opportunity to play Guitars and Piano for the faculty orchestra, such as Sisi Arundathee 2019 and Sathsara Dahena 2020. These experiences taught Ben the different nuances of playing as part of a band and laid the foundation for various collaborations that were to come. As the keyboardist of the Reteena - Sri Lanka Technological Campus band, they won 1st runners-up in the best performance category at the Andante - Inter-University Music Competition (2019). Ben has also played at various live shows collaborating with artists like Mahinda Bandara, Visharatha Ratnam Ratnathurai, Sajana Warakagoda, Jerushan Amos, Avineash Amarnath, Hiruni Sanjana, Prakash K., and bands like 3-Githo, Cornerstone, EaddB, i2, SubWar, Nutz, Sajjaya, AshapSL, MMC, Reteena, and Z-Major. Ben drew inspiration from musicians such as A.R. Rahman, Lionel Richie, and Charitha Attalage. Ben believes that God has entrusted him with this gift for a purpose. He uses his talents exclusively to glorify the Lord as a weapon in his music and worship ministries.
