Sri Lanka

Buddhist chants, kettledrum-and-oboe ensembles, verses sung to Hindu guardian spirits, Sinhala drum music, masked theater, temple processions, popular Afro-Portuguese-influenced dance music, and Sinhala pop all contribute to the musical soundscape of present-day Sri Lanka. The island’s population is composed largely of the Sinhala people —descendants of Indo-Aryans who emigrated from India in the fifth century b.c.—and Tamils, whose ancestors emigrated from South India from the third century...