Instruments of the State Music Ensemble of Sri Lanka and the Ambiguities of Cultural Identity

The State Music Ensemble (SME) of Sri Lanka was founded in 1976, during the tenure of a socialist-oriented government led by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake. The purpose of establishing the SME and the State Dancing Ensemble was to maintain standards in performances at national and international cultural events. At the inception, it was guided by William Banda Makuloluwa, who was a keen Sri Lankan folk music enthusiast cum scholar. At the commencement of the SME, the ensemble typically included indigenous musical instruments, Indian instruments, and a few Western string and percussion instruments. The addition of the non-indigenous instruments has been occasional and has depended on the particular musical presentation. Later, the permanent composition of instruments in the SME has changed more widely into synthetic instruments. In the 1980s, Sri Lanka experienced a trend of utilizing synthetic musical instruments by music bands, which is examined as if the trend has had an impact on the changes in repertoire and composition of instruments in the SME in this work. One other concern of the study is that, since the establishment of the SME, no instruments that represent minor ethnicities such as Tamils and Muslims have been included. The author also proposes a structure on how the SME can advocate better inclusive compositions of instruments and repertoires of national identity.