Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Sri Lanka

South Asia Across the Disciplines

by Garrett Field

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.   The study of South Asian music falls under the purview of ethnomusicology, whereas that of South Asian literature falls under South Asian studies. As a consequence of this academic separation, scholars rarely take notice of connections between South Asian song and poetry. Modernizing Composition overcomes this disciplinary fragmentation by examining the history of Sinhala-language song and poetry in twentieth-century Sri Lanka. Garrett Field describes how songwriters and poets modernized song and poetry in response to colonial and postcolonial formations. The story of this modernization is significant in that it shifts focus from India’s relationship to the West to little-studied connections between Sri Lanka and North India.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 22, 2017

Reviews

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music development in Sri lanka

Well, this is basically more on musicology, how music and artists in Sri Lanka shifting from ethnic to modern music in the 1950s.