රන්වල බලකාය
5 songs performed
Ranwala Balakaya (රන්වල බළකාය, also written Ranwala Balakaaya) is a Sri Lankan folk music ensemble devoted to the country’s traditional jana gee, the folk songs that carry village rituals, work chants, and oral history. The group was founded by the folk maestro Lionel Ranwala (1939 to 2002) and has since been carried on by his son Sahan Ranwala, keeping authentic Sinhala folk forms alive on the concert stage and in recordings.
Lionel Ranwala spent his life collecting and reviving Sinhala folk melodies, bringing village tunes that were fading from memory back into popular performance. He built the Ranwala Balakaya around drums such as the geta bera and the thammattama and around layered group singing, organising both an adult ensemble and a children’s group so the tradition would pass to a new generation. The ensemble carried the music abroad, winning the Best Performing Folk Song trophy at the International Folk Song Festival in China in 2001.
After Lionel Ranwala’s death in 2002, Sahan Ranwala took over the leadership and continued staging folk programmes across Sri Lanka and for diaspora audiences. The themed concert Yuddetath Awith was presented in his father’s memory, and the ensemble has toured productions of folk material at home and overseas. The group’s stage work treats each song as a small piece of theatre, weaving narration and movement through the singing.
Several Ranwala Balakaya recordings are featured on the site, including the well known Yuddetath Awith (යුද්දෙටත් ඇවිත්), sung with Athma Liyanage, and Kele Paninne (කැලේ පනින්නේ).
Through the founder Lionel Ranwala and the ongoing direction of Sahan Ranwala, the Ranwala Balakaya remains one of the principal custodians of Sinhala folk song. For listeners who grew up with these rhythms, the ensemble’s recordings preserve a sound rooted in village life and ritual that little else in modern Sri Lankan music captures.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Ranwala Balakaya.