Who introduced Baila in Sri Lanka?
Wally Bastian
Wally Bastian is generally accepted as the pioneer of Baila in Sri Lanka. A Police officer in service in the 1940s, he was a musician who played several instruments.
What is Sri Lankan Baila?
Baila (also known as bayila; from the Portuguese verb bailar, meaning to dance) is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka and among Goan Catholics. The genre originated centuries ago among the Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan Kaffirs.
Who introduced Baila?
composer Wally Bastiansz
The most popular form of baila today was pioneered in the 1940s by singer and composer Wally Bastiansz, whose songs can be heard on tracks 2, 4, and 9 of this recording. Baila music in a wide range of styles is now heard across the island and in Sri Lankan communities around the world.
What is Baila in Sri Lanka?
Music, song and dance are closely knit forms of art and unsurprisingly, Baila refers to music, song and dance in Sri Lanka. This article concerns Baila in Sri Lanka.
What is baila music?
Baila is a popular Sri Lankan music and dance genre whose roots probably lie in the island’s Afro-Portuguese performance traditions, which flourished from the late sixteenth to early twentieth century. Baila songs are in a 6/8 meter—that is, two beats, each divided into three beats, a meter that lends itself easily to syncopation.
Where is modern Baila played today?
Modern baila is now popular in Sri Lankan communities around the world, played at parties, weddings, and dance clubs. This concert was recorded on the Freer Gallery’s plaza, facing the National Mall, in conjunction with the exhibition Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
What is kaffrinha and Baila?
In 1974, the Swasangeetha (‘Our Songs’) programme sponsored by the Associated Motorways Group of Companies (Colombo), televised by Rupavāhini in Sri Lanka, reported Batticaloa Burgher (Sri Lankans with European ancestry) music and songs as Kaffrinha and their dance as Baila. But the dances of the Batticaloa Burghers are Kaffrinha and Lancers.