Kolam – Lanka Ragga Lyrics by JayaSri

Kolam, kolam, are you coming to dance it now, right now?
Lanka Ragga, we’re about to sing it, right now,
kolam, kolam, are you coming to dance it now, right now?
Lanka Ragga, Jayasri, we’re singing it now, right now

Dance it right, breaking a sweat, sway it right, making the rounds,
let’s whirl all around, shaking the head, domikita taka domi taka taka

Let’s dance, let’s sing, let’s play, don don don don tharikita don,
sing it, play it, dance it, and leap right up, come on!

In Sri Lanka full of every glory, in the old days they danced kolam,
putting on colourful masks, to the drum-beat, the ancients performed

Leaping up and up they danced kolam, they set the whole world at play,
Jayasri, yeah, Lanka Ragga we sing,
Jayasri, yeah, we dance the kolam, yeah

Today the young ones, dancing this disco, forget the doings of old,
so we take the kolam dance too, and give it to you as Jayasri, yeah

Jayasri, yeah…..

A joyful, foot-tapping fusion song from Jayasri that revives Kolam, Sri Lanka’s traditional masked folk-dance, on a reggae beat they call Lanka Ragga. The opening is an invitation to the floor: kolam, kolam, are you coming to dance it now? and Lanka Ragga, we’re singing it now. It is a party and a cultural revival at once.

The middle is pure dance-instruction and rhythm. Dance it right, breaking a sweat, sway it right, making the rounds, whirl around shaking the head, to a mouth-drummed beat, domikita taka domi taka. Let’s dance, let’s sing, let’s play… and leap right up, come on! The song simply wants bodies moving.

The close carries the point under the fun. In Sri Lanka full of every glory, in the old days they danced kolam, in colourful masks to the drum; but today the young ones, dancing this disco, forget the doings of old. So Jayasri, playfully, takes the old kolam and gives it to you set to their new beat, keeping tradition alive by making it danceable again. Sung by Jayasri to words by Rohitha Jayalath, it is a spirited cultural-fusion song that brings the ancient Kolam masked dance back to life on a modern reggae groove.