http://repository.lib.vpa.ac.lk/handle/123456789/77 2026-06-08T15:38:01Z http://repository.lib.vpa.ac.lk/handle/123456789/2474 A Biographical Study of William Banda Makulloluwa's Contributions Samarasinghe, K William Banda Makulloluwa (1922–1984) was a musician in Sri Lanka who made a significant con tribution to preserving Sinhalese music. He dedicated his scholarly pursuits to the investigation of Sinhalese music and the cultural intricacies of Sri Lanka. Undertaking extensive fieldwork from the 1960s to the 1980s, he methodically documented and studied traditional music, with a particular emphasis on various communities in Sri Lanka. The objective of this study is to investigate the con tribution of Makulloluwa’s musical style, expectations, and ideologies to elevate Sri Lankan tradi tional music. The study is based on the narrative method of qualitative research. Interviews, records, autobiographies, various reports, and books written by Makulloluwa were used to collect data. Seven in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in November and December 2022 and January 2023 to gain a better understanding of his musical style, expectations, and ideologies. Non-probabil ity purposive and snowball sampling were used as the sampling method. Content analysis was used to evaluate the data. Research revealed that he used techniques such as recording, documenting, rearranging, and educating to safeguard the distinct Sinhalese musical melodies. He established a formal framework for community singing, which helped to establish the foundation for Sinhalese traditional music. He assumed the task in a proactive manner as a musician, showing genuine interest in recording and conserving Sinhala traditional tunes. He worked very hard to locate, preserve, and share these tunes with the next generation. This study emphasizes Makulloluwa's unwavering com mitment to the growth and preservation of Sri Lankan folk dance and music. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repository.lib.vpa.ac.lk/handle/123456789/2385 Safeguarding Sri Lanka's Musical Heritage: Restoration and Digitization of W. B. Makulloluwa's Historical Field Recordings Samarasinghe, K Renowned musicologist William Banda (W. B.) Makulloluwa (1922–1984) played a pivotal role in safeguarding Sri Lanka's rich folk music traditions. Recognizing the intrinsic value of village songs and the traditional Sinhalese singing style embedded within local communities, Makulloluwa traversed villages, meticulously documenting captivating melodic patterns that resonated with the hearts of the inhabitants. This paper focuses on the restoration and preservation efforts directed towards an obscure collection of Makulloluwa's field recordings. Collaborating with the National Archives Sri Lanka, the author meticulously restored spool tape recordings and digitized the soundtracks. Each tape underwent thorough examination, cleaning, and documentation, accompanied by the photographing of tape containers and associated notes. Upon successful digitization, the recordings were systematically catalogued, encapsulating a diverse array of songs and music. The collection includes Veddas' Music, lullabies, songs from the Catholic population, instrumental music, and compositions from folk rituals. 2024-09-23T00:00:00Z http://repository.lib.vpa.ac.lk/handle/123456789/2384 Music Emotion Classification: A Literature Review Dhanapala, Samadara; Samarasinghe, K Music, as an art form, combines rhythm and sound to form a functional melodic structure, uniquely capable of conveying emotions non-verbally. Within the domain of Music Information Retrieval (MIR), Music Emotion Classification (MEC) represents a specialized subset dedicated to the identification and labeling of emotional attributes in songs. This is achieved by extracting and comparing features from musical compositions. This research aims to discern the contemporary landscape of research and its associated research gaps in this domain. The study comprised a collection of publications found through searches conducted on Google Scholar between the years 2006 and 2023, with the search terms: Music Emotion Classification, Music Emotion Classification in Sri Lanka, Music Emotion Recognition, and Emotion Classification in Music. This study was narrowed down to the research that utilized audio files for classification. Among the initial set of 42 studies, 20 were selected for detailed analysis using the purposive sampling method. The review encompassed essential aspects, including acoustic feature analysis, emotional modeling, classification methodologies, and performance evaluation. The findings highlighted a paucity of research considering cultural, regional, and linguistic variations. The most often used acoustic features encompassed rhythm, pitch, timbre, spectral, and harmony whereas the most frequently used emotion categories for the classification were happiness, anger, sadness, and relaxation. Support Vector Machine (SVM) was the most used machine learning algorithm for classification, although regression methods, neural network-based approaches, and fuzzy classifications were also explored. Notably, the adoption of multi-modal approaches for emotion classification, as well as multi-labeled emotion classification, remained limited. These insights underscore the need for future research to address the cultural and language diversity of datasets, explore innovative classification techniques, and embrace multi-modal and multi-labeled emotional classification methodologies in the context of music emotion classification within MIR. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repository.lib.vpa.ac.lk/handle/123456789/2383 Conservation and Preservation of Traditional Folk Music in Sri Lanka Samarasinghe, K Folk music traditions are appreciated across the world for their capacity to maintain and convey cultural identities while exhibiting the different manifestations of communities. This research aims to examine the folk music archiving, preservation, and conservation practices in Sri Lanka. The objective is to understand the practices related to the preservation and conservation of folk music. The methodology used in this study is a qualitative case study, and data were gathered using a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and observations. Snowball sampling was used as the sampling method, and the collected data were analyzed using content analysis. The study identified conservation practices employed by organizations and individual practitioners. Even though the country has many folk music items, none of the musical items are inscribed on the UNESCO Sri Lankan national list. It is evident from the results that no specific attention has been devoted to identifying endangered musical genres or preparing inventories. It was also identified that there is a lack of attention to digitizing techniques, which can preserve sound qualities in early recordings. In addition to the poor facilities in the respective centers in Sri Lanka, there is a tendency for recorded tapes to be damaged. These challenges necessitate the exploration of innovative approaches, community engagement, and policy support to ensure the continued conservation and promotion of folk music in Sri Lanka. 2024-06-01T00:00:00Z