සුභ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා!
Today is the Sinhala New Year, so I thought I would share this fun little thing my mom, sister, and I made. Here, we are reciting and playing a raban padayak, which is a rhythm for the banku rabanaya, a large frame drum played by a group of people sitting around it on banku (benches). The spoken rhythm you hear is a goofy verse which acts as an auditory mnemonic device, making the pattern and tones of the pada easy to remember.
The banku rabanaya is a fixture of traditional/folk Sinhalese New Year celebrations. Typically played by older women who will also teach the rhythms to children, the drum, its silly verses, and the manner of playing which sometimes imitates games of pattycake, all make me think of playfulness and community. I’ve only seen a live playing of the banku rabanaya once or twice in my life, at annual awurudu celebrations in Toronto – but I think this playful spirit has a life beyond the instrument as well, carried along in the versification/prosody and style of engagement.
Watching this video today, I got interested in raban pada and decided to broaden my knowledge a tiny bit. Below are some fun verses and other interesting things I found online. Please do check out the linked sources to get a sense of the rhythm!
- Bolan podi nangi tikak hitapan / Bulath vita kanna tikak hitapan
- This artist, Billy Fernando, has a whole album based on raban pada, which was great to come across. A lot of these verses are very familiar to my ears – I think they’re probably some of the most popular ones. (Not everything on the album is ‘traditional’ or ‘folk’ but even the modern/pop/fusion/experimental stuff is rooted in raban rhythms.) Here’s one verse I enjoy:
Jambu malai, mal wadamai, don tharikita dom
Nelum malai, mal wadamai, don tharikita dom
Jambu malai mal wadamai, nelum malai mal wadamai
don tharikita, don tharikita, don tharikita dom. - I love the use of “thakadom” in the verse below. “Thakadom” is a drum phrase (doesn’t usually signify meaning beyond its sound), but here it is also delightfully used as an interjection to convey surprise.
Sandun kaelee api yanakota, rilaw paninanawa
Eka rilawek bada bandagena pilum gahanawa
Thakadom! Pilum gahanawa!
(The “thakadom” here makes me think of a areas of performance culture where drum phrases like this have strong connotations or meanings, almost like the drum is actually talking or conveying info, for example in certain comedic folk drama contexts.) - Lastly, this awesome lady. She is reeling off verses I’ve never heard before, just all contained in her memory. I love how the younger members in her family chime in, riffing off and punning on the verses. While the video in #3 is a stylization of folk life, this video to me better captures how this music lives and evolves.
Gaman Thaale 