On the Sonic Materialization of Buddhist History: Drum Speech in Southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

In two conjoined articles, I argue that Sri Lanka—long passed over in ethnomusicology classes as one proceeds from India to Indonesia or vice-versa—is worthy of gaining a strong foothold in our field. This is due in part to the unique approach to rhythm and meter found in the rituals of a caste called the Beravā, members of the island’s Sinhala Buddhist ethnic majority. The genre’s rhythms are generated by drum syllables (aksaras) of long and short duration (guru and laghu) set in lines of drum poetry (padas). Sometimes the drumming resembles unmetered speech; other times, a pulse or beat cycle sounds present. However, there is no word for “meter” or “beat cycle” in the tradition (the pan-South Asian term tala is not used). In any given padaya (the singular), several aksaras will not match up with a beat, its seeming subdivisions, or the pulse. Even when a seemingly straightforward beat cycle is performed, it may be stretched to match the duration of the drum word. All this gives Sinhala drumming a unique feel: to outsiders, many rhythms appear uncountable. Sri Lankan musicologists have long been aware of the genre’s metric ambiguity, but they are not in agreement on how to understand it. This second article provides an analysis of drumming in three low-country (southern coastal) Sinhala Buddhist rituals. I argue that because of Buddhism’s Seventh Precept—which prohibits reveling sensuously in music and dance—Sinhala drumming was constructed as speech rather than music so that it would be acceptable as an offering to the Buddha and deities. Drum offerings for the Buddha and deities more closely approximate unmetered speech than drum offerings for demons (yakku). I also contend that modern Indian and Western notions of meter are nowadays often mapped onto Sinhala drumming by non-Beravā, the result being that a tradition of sacred speech is slowly being transformed into music—thus threatening the acceptability of drum offerings in the ritual context.

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