Welcome to 'On Air'

Buddhism, Indian classical music and the Portuguese colonizers were the three biggest influences on Sri Lanka’s music scenario. While Buddhism arrived in 300 BC, after the visit of Gautama Buddha, the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. The African slaves who came along with the Portuguese added further harmony to the music of the island. As the Portuguese brought cantiga ballads, ukuleles and guitars, the slaves brought their dance music called baila. As seen today, the music of Sri Lanka can be categorised into the following-

Traditional folk music of Sri Lanka
Traditional folk music existed from the very beginning of its race and it under the Buddhist environment. The ordinary people.wre the one to use this form of music
Local drama music (Kolam/Nadagam/Noorthy)
Kolam is based on low country tunes and it is not a well developed form of music. Limited to very few notes about 3~4 and It is used by the ordinary people for pleasure and entertainment and is limited to very few notes, about 3~4.



Nadagam is a much more developed form of drama evolving under the influence of South Indian street plays, introduced by some South Indian Artists.

Noorthy was first introduced by C. Don Bastian of Dehiwala, taking the cue from Indian dramas. It was John De Silva who developed it and did Ramayanaya in 1886.

Hindustani classical music (Ragadari Music)
In 1934 Ravindranath Tagore visited Sri Lanka with a group of artists and performed a drama. He also laid the foundation stone for “Sri Pali” at Horana and later introduced music, art and dancing. His visit brought drastic changes into the Sri Lankan music scene.

South Indian classical music (Karnataka Music)
This type of Music can be seen in South India and northern part of Sri Lanka and used by the Tamil community.

Tamil and Hindustani Film music
During the early years film production was not in vogue in Sri Lanka and films were imported from India. Film music was copied from the Indian counterparts.“Rekhawa” produced by Sir Lester James Peiris was the first Sri Lankan film produced using Sri Lankan music. “Nurthi" is the first recorded music to come out of Sri Lanka

Western classical music
The British introduced western music to Sri Lanka during their period of rule from 1815 to when the country gained freedom in 1948. Thus, the Sri Lankans learned the art of playing the piano too.

Sinhala light music
Some artists visited India to learn music and later started to introduce light music.Ananda Samarakone who composed the national anthem was the pioneer in this field.

Baila:
Originally, Baila consisted of vocals with a guitar and handclaps or otherwise improvised percussion, but now electric guitars, synthesizers and other modern developments have been incorporated. However, it is at the roots of modern Sri Lankan music.