Browsing by Author "Munasinghe, T."

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Aural mementoes: memories of Sri Lankan migrants in Melbourne,
(Journal of Aesthetic and Fine Arts, University of Kelaniya, 2016) Munasinghe, T.
Memory is an integral part of our character and individuality wherever we live. Sound memories provide a diverse path through which migrants can preserve cognition and reconstruct past practices, usually for present purposes. Our communal roots build the social identity, with both geographical and psychological memory offering insights into the very core of our identity. This research focuses on the sound and music memories that Sri Lankan emigrants carry from their mother country and how they are integrated into the Australian sound environment. Ten members of five Sri Lankan families were engaged in recorded conversations regarding their memories of environmental sounds, music, and language, both form their motherland and from contemporary Melbourne. These memories of Sri Lankan emigrants in contemporary Melbourne help to explore the connection between a person’s past sound and music memories and their experiences of sound and music in their displaced location. This paper delineates the connection of place with memories and how these effects upon their lives, irrespective of where they live.
Inside and outside: The variable nature of a Sri Lankan low-country drummer
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Munasinghe, T.
This paper will focus on how a Sri Lankan low-country drummer’s performance will vary according to place, occasion, and the drummer’s own sensibilities. Three disciplinary areas of ethnomusicology, anthropology, and performance studies will be used to investigate the low country drummer’s performance in two different performative contexts and how that variation is evident in the drum sound. Musicologist Frank Desmet (2012) explains the musicianship is a high-level skill, which involves different characteristics of mental processing and corporeal control. Predominantly, he focuses on the musician’s mental focus on musical targets or intentions and the expressive body movements. The key factor in a ritual drummer’s performance is his own interpretation, which, in term may vary according to space, perception, and selfawareness. Merleau-Ponty (1968) argues that our perception makes the performer both the object and the subject simultaneously. In addition, the dual state of mind and its reversibility enhances the quality of musical expression develops the nature of the traditional drummer’s performance. He expresses his idea in terms of vision, that is, in terms of the performer. However, his argument extended to include sound, which is the result of both hearing and being heard.
New Paradigms in Sound Design: As an Effective Medium for Story Telling in Visual Media
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Munasinghe, T.