Rohan Abeygunawardena

Music has been essential to human culture for thousands of years, evolving through different civilisations, technological advancements, and cultural influences. From ancient tribal chants to the digital streaming age, music reflects human emotions, traditions, and innovations.

My attempt to explore the historical development and transformation of Papare music in Sri Lanka takes me back to the day I first witnessed the Royal Thomian cricket match at Colombo Oval in 1961, the year I entered Royal College.

My dad thought I was too young to go for the big match alone and arranged for two of my cousins and their friend (a Chinese guy) to take me to the match. They are much older than me and from Wesley College (Wesleyites). Their eldest brother was the captain of the Wesley cricket team that year. They dropped me at the Boys Tent entrance and proceeded to the visitors’ entrance.

I located and joined my friends and joined the cheering squad chanting, Come on, Nanda” (Senanayake), ball him out! Come on, Darrell” (Lieversz), ball him out, etc., and when the Thomian batsman whacks the ball to the boundary, the cheerleader shouts, Are we worried?” and we shout, No, no.” When a batsman was given out leg before, Thomians shouted Umpire Hora.” (Thank God that problem is not there now because of Senaka Weeraratne’s concept of Decision Review System, or DRS.)

Later my cousins came looking for me and took me to their visitors’ pavilion.

There was a makeshift tent next to their pavilion. I noticed the spectators of this tent were a bunch of old codgers. My cousins whispering to each other identified some of the prominent elites of the time. Some of them, as I understood, were politicians and captains of the business world of the time.

They were enjoying the music played by a Naga Salang Band.” Naga Salang was probably a Sinhala term for the Carnatic music of southern India played in the Sri Lankan Hindu Temples (Kovils). The main instrument of the group was a double-reed wind instrument called Nadaswaram, which was among the world’s loudest non-brass acoustic instruments. The other instruments, as I remember, were the Mridangam (drum), Tabla, and Violin.

Later came to know the tent was called Mustang Tent.”

The Mustang is the oldest exclusive tent at the Royal-Thomian cricket match, which started over 100 years ago. Only the distinguished gentlemen from both schools were allowed to enroll at this tent. One needs to be invited to be part of the Mustangs. During the colonial era, the custom was to invite the governor, who invariably came to watch the match and have a cup of tea at the tent on the second day of the match.

During the lunch interval, some senior students and prefects from both schools invited the Naga Salang Band” members to join a parade going around the ground. They also brought bands that provided music at the boys’ tents of two schools. These bands, generally called funeral bands,” were organised by dedicated senior students, brought from the Jaela Wattala area and paid through hat collections.

When the Naga Salang Band” joined the parade, they immediately changed over to the then-popular song Vanga Machan Vanga” from the MGR movie Madurai Veeran. As a ten-year-old, I was flabbergasted by the way students of both schools danced. There was Baila, rock & roll, Kavadi, and then popular Twist all mixed in their dancing.

I believe this was the beginning of the now-popular Papare music.

The big-match culture of parading around the grounds would have originated from early influences of the colonial era when military bands introduced brass instruments to Sri Lanka and conducted parades to demonstrate the might of the British Empire.

In the early days, big-match bands used to play popular tunes, initially mainly English numbers like Glory, Glory, Hallelujah—popularised during the American Civil War” and Get Me to the Church on Time—from the film My Fair Lady.” Later came Tamil Dingiri Dingale Meenakshi Dingiri Dinkale,” which had a similar Sinhala song sung by Jothipala. In the late sixties, the tunes of songs like Uma Pocha’s Bombay Meri Hai” and C.T. Fernando’s Sihina Love” became very popular at big match bands, not only at Royal Thomian but also at all other school big matches.

The inaugural men’s Cricket World Cup was in 1975, organised by the ICC and officially called the Prudential Cup ’75, and was held in England. Sri Lanka was not a test-playing nation at the time but participated as an associate. The format was a 60-over-day match played with a red ball. At the second World Cup in 1979, Sri Lanka beat India by 47 runs under the leadership of former Nalandian Captain Bandula Warnapura, played at Old Trafford, Manchester, England.

This victory and Sri Lanka being granted test status in 1981 were two of the greatest achievements in Sri Lanka’s cricketing history up to then. As a result, more and more people were interested in the game, but the spectators at the matches were not many. The school’s big matches drew more crowds than Test matches or limited formats because of the amount of entertainment they provided.

Then came Arjuna Ranatunga and his team winning the World Cup in March 1996.

Kumar Sangakkara, in his MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, said, The leadership of Arjuna during this period was critical to our emergence as a global force. It was Arjuna who understood most clearly why we needed to break free from the shackles of our colonial past and forge a new identity, an identity forged exclusively from Sri Lankan values, an identity that fed from the passion, vibrancy, and emotion of normal Sri Lankans. Arjuna was a man hell-bent on making his mark on the game in Sri Lanka, determined to break from foreign tradition and forge a new national brand of cricket.”

Arjuna’s teammate Sanath Jayasuriya was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Sanath together with his opening partner Romesh Kaluwitharana is credited for having revolutionized one-day international cricket with their explosive batting in the 1990s, which initiated the hard-hitting modern-day batting strategy of all nations. The late Tony Greig, former England captain and well-known cricket commentator, called Sanath the Master Blaster” and Romesh Little Kalu.” He used to say, Sanath was a butcher and Aravinda de Silva was a surgeon. For they had two different styles of batting. Sanath had the ability with the bat to brutalize pretty much any attack, and Aravinda, a natural and just gifted with supreme timing, good technique, and skill.

The spectators realised Sanath’s type of attacking batting provided good entertainment and flocked together to see “Ape Kollo” or our boys playing.

They moved in tens and thousands and brought the Big Match Bands” to the venue. Playing popular tunes of Sinhala songs and Baila together with dancing changed the cricketing culture in Sri Lanka. The trumpet and drums were the main instruments used.

Later these bands added cymbals, trombones, saxophones, rabana, etc., which created a unique brand of music. A veteran of the Papare band once said, Even if the song is slow, we can increase the beat and create a fast tempo.”

As kids, we used to imitate the sounds of Trumpet” with our mouths, similar to Papara pan, pan pan.” I believe the name Papare” was derived from this practice.

The Calypso bands from Caribbean islands are now seen playing at West Indian matches.

The Papare, a vibrant and energetic form of street music, has evolved from Naga Salang bands played at Royal-Thomian Mustang Tent to a symbol of national pride. This showcases Sri Lanka’s rich cultural heritage and the genre’s enduring appeal across different contexts.

This signature music of Sri Lanka has now expanded internationally. Sri Lankans living in countries like Australia, the UK, New Zealand, the USA, and Canada have formed their own Papare Bands.

Rohan Abeygunawardena

You may contact the writer on abeyrohan@gmail.com