Music of Sri Lanka

[2] They brought with them traditional cantiga ballads, ukuleles and guitars, as well as conscripted Africans (referred to, historically, as kaffrinhas), who spread their own style of music known as baila.

Caste-based folk poems, Jana Kavi, originated as communal song shared within individual groups as they engaged in daily work.

The Portuguese influenced baila has been a popular folk tradition along the coastal districts in the past five hundred years and is now part of the mainstream music culture.

Kolam music is a low country folk tradition of the south-west coast and its use was both in exorcism rituals as a form of healing and in masked comedy and drama.

Don Bastian of Dehiwala introduced Nurti firstly by looking at Indian dramas and then John De Silva developed it and performed Ramayanaya in 1886.

Most of the musician in Sri Lanka have come out with their own creations The temple paintings and carvings used birds, elephants, wild animals, flowers and trees.

This drum beat may seem simple on the first hearing but it takes a long time to master the intricate rhythms and variations, which the drummer sometimes can bring to a crescendo of intensity.

According to the historical record available today, it is believed that several instruments originated within the tribal groups that once inhabited the island presently known as Sri Lanka.

The foundation of the National Youth Orchestra has helped increase interest and participation more widely in society and among young people outside Colombo.

The earliest stars of Sri Lankan recorded music came from the theater at a time when the traditional open-air drama (referred to in Sinhala as kolam, sokari or nadagam) remained the most popular form of entertainment.

Another artist Devar Surya Sena with his Western education was pivotal in popularising folk songs of Sri Lanka to the English elite that bore higher status in the country at the time.

This was evident when he was later banned from Radio Ceylon after refusing to audition for Indian musician Ratanjankar, whom the corporation had brought from South India to oversee the direction of music on their stations.

Pandit Amaradeva, trained at Bhatkhande Vidyapith, Lucknow, India, took up the "Sarala Gee" tradition along with experimentation of raaga forms and folk music.

Musicians such as Victor Ratnayake, Sanath Nandasiri, T. Shelton Perera, Gunadasa Kapuge, Rohana Weerasinghe, Stanley Peiris, Austin Munasinghe, Sunil Edirisinghe, Edward Jayakody, Amarasiri Peiris and Rookantha Gunathilake brought the system forward the Shelton Premaratne and Lionel Algama are two musicians, who added new dimensions to Sinhalese music.

The mid-1960s, saw the introduction of pop groups such as Los Cabelleros led by Neville Fernando, La Ceylonians led by Noel Ranasinghe (widely known as "King of Sri Lankan Calypso"), The La Bambas, The Humming Birds and Los Muchachos; all of whom played calypso-style baila borrowing their style from Caribbean folk-singer Harry Belafonte.

This mixture of Caribbean calypso with native baila was dominated by two groups: The Moonstones, and The Golden Chimes led by musicians Annesley Malewana and Clarence Wijewardena.

After 2000, young musicians like Kasun Kalhara, Bathiya and Santhush and Shihan Mihiranga continued the pop song stream introducing new features into it.

After 2008 Darshana Ruwan Disanayaka, Nadeeka Guruge, Dinesh Subasinghe has done some inspiring works & become the most influential composers in Sri Lankan cinema after achieving many awards in film festivals.

Kumar Navaratnam and Gabo Peiris staged the first Rock Festivals at the Havelock Park in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

College students acquired guitars, drum kits, keyboards, hired rudimentary sound systems and began to attempt to recreate artists they admired.

[27][28] The first Rock events in Sri Lanka centered on bands such as "The Unwanted Generation", "Graveyard" and "Coffin Nail, " which introduced Colombo's youth culture to the underground music of the UK and the US.

These featured such musicians as Prins Jayaratnam, Chris Dhasan, Nimal Gunawardena, Ramesh Weeratunga, Imtiaz Hameed and Kumar Navaratnam who were inspired by "Wall Band and Gun Chorus".

[27] "Cancer," led by Prasanna Abeysekera and his brother Ranil, was the first Sri Lankan band to compose and play original music in the genre.

[29] Sri Lanka now has a significant underground metal and hard rock community, which is growing in popularity among upper-middle-class teenagers and young adults.

[citation needed] In September 2019, Sri Lanka's first Metal album by a female – Fountain of Memory was released by Shehara Jayatilaka Napoleon.