Music

Traditional folk music of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka had traditional folk music from the beginning of its race, which has been enjoyed and developed under the Buddhist environment. They were used by the ordinary people.

Local drama music (Kolam/Nadagam/Noorthy)
Kolam music based on law country tunes and it is not a developed form of music, as tunes were not developed. Limited to very few notes about 3 or 4 and used by the ordinary people for pleasure and entertainments.

Nadagam music is more developed form of drama influenced from South Indian street drama which was introduced by some South Indian Artists.Phillippu Singho from Negombo in 1824 Performed “Harishchandra Nadagama” in Hnguranketha which was originally written in Telingu language. Later “Maname”, “Sanda kinduru” and few others were introduced. 

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

Hindustani classical music (Ragadari  Music)
Ravindranath Tagor visited Sri Lanka with a group in 1934 and performed a drama and laid the foundation stone for “Sri Pali” at Horana and later introduced music, Art and Dancing. His visit to Sri Lanka made a big change and the awareness in the music scene and lot of Sri Lankan started visiting India for higher education.

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
Sri Lanka did not produced films and had to export from India during the early periods. Music for films such as “Kadawunu Poronduwa”, “Varadunu Kurumanama”, “and Angulimala” and others too copied from Indian film songs. “Rekhawa” produced Sir Lester James Peiris was the first Sri Lankan film produced using Sri Lankan music.

Western classical music
British wanted to introduce western music to Sri Lanka during their period of rule from 1815.It was a success and soon Sri Lankan were able to learn the piano as it was not that difficult to learn as Indian music.

Sinhala light music 
Some artist visited India to learn music and later stared introducing light music.Ananda Samarakone was the pioneer of this attempt and and he composed National Anthem too. Then Sunil Santha who also did not stick to Hindustani music introduced light music of his own.
 Nowadays this is the most popular type of music in Sri Lanka and enriched with the influence of folk music, kolam music, Nadagam music, Noorthy music, Film music, Classical music, Western music and others too. Most of the musician in Sri lanka have come out with their own creations and become success in this category of music.

Arts

Stupas stand architecture, called on the island, dagobas. Can be of different sizes and proportions, but have the characteristics vaults resting on a circular building on them a needle or tower, ramps, stairs and rocks from the moon. Shrines, Deval, and monasteries, viharas, often contain within them a dagoba and an enclosure for the tree of enlightenment besides the common rooms.

In sculpture, the materials used are marble, brick, stucco, limestone and rock. Most representations are of religious subjects. The painting takes place mainly in the form of frescoes that adorn the walls of architectural monuments.

Sri Lanka's theater is magical character. His famous formula is "Natima Kolam" initiation and erotic representations. The players cover their faces with masks while performing the wonderful rhythm of the music and the dance and mime are the most characteristic elements of this drama.

If the theater is an impressive demonstration of popular culture, music and dance are really original and impressive. The sounds vital music, with drums and trumpets as the main instruments produce a continuous rhythm and harmony that transports the soul to places unknown. Both the music and dance are used for magical purposes. The dance that is executed for the exorcism is fascinating as well as breathtaking: its purpose is to neutralize the demons and seek the blessings of the gods. The "sanni Yakumo" is simply stunning, it is intended to ward off the demons that have caused illness and dance all night while offerings are made. In the dance of the devil, a dancer with a creepy mask, dance at a dizzying pace in front of the person to be exorcised. The kandyanas distinguished by the color of the costumes of the dancers and by rapid and vigorous rhythms. Finally, shamanic dances are designed to achieve the trance with slow and repetitive.

As impressive cultural display highlights the pilgrimage of "Skanda" in Kataragama. Faithful of all faiths gladly suffer very cruel penance to gain the favor of Skanda, the destroyer of obstacles for which there are no impossible. You can see people going through different parts of your body, especially the tongue, with sharp objects, set fire to your mouth with camphor tablets, dance in the back with hooks and ropes in the legs or walk on red hot coals. This religious spectacle takes place within two weeks of July, preceding the full moon.

Main Museums of Sri Lanka

* National Muso, Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha in Colombo. With an excellent display of antiques, art object, a section of Natural Sciences, a library with more than 200,000 publications and 4,000 palm leaf manuscripts, sculptures in stone and bronze and china.

* Museum of Buddhism Simamalaka, Sir James Pieris Mawatha in Colombo. It outlines a complete collection of Buddhist objects.

* National Museum of Kandi in Kandi, in which real objects can be seen in the city.

* Jaffna Archaeological Museum, with important archaeological and Buddhist and Hindu sculptures.

* Archaeological Museum and Folk Museum, both in Anuradhapura, where you can see prehistoric and an excellent example of craftsmanship with an interesting collection of objects illustrating the rural life of the region.

* Polonnaruwa Archaeological Museum, with artifacts from the Chola.

* National Museum of Ratnapura, which are exposed and prehistoric fossils.

* Archaeological Museum of Sigiriya.

* Gen Bureau Ratnapura Museum at 10 Anderson Road, Colombo, where you can enjoy the wonderful jewelry and precious stones of Sri Lanka.