I Am Kandy

The Kandyan Drummer

Panchanaada

Hailing from generations of Kandyan drummers, Panchanaada reflects on the challenges of continuing the family tradition and how he got his name.

Interview language: සිංහල

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He named me Panchanaada, meaning the five types of instruments

Although there were other fields of work to go into, I didn’t have the education to get into them. I wanted to go into traditional dance and especially playing drums.

My skill was in drumming so my father wanted me to do that. That’s what my father did, especially the daula and other drums.

Among the Sinhala people there is a tradition of making a horoscope when a child is born. According to my horoscope my father was given a list of letters, and he named me according to those letters. He was told to pick a name using the letters in the list.

So he gave me the name Panchanaada. This tradition of naming a child according to the horoscope still prevails. My name is suited to my vocation. Panchanaada stands for the pancha thuruya naada, meaning the five types of instruments. So it is a name suited to this vocation.

About this portrait

Photographer: Kannan Arunasalam

Interviewer: Kannan Arunasalam

Assistant : Menika van der Poorten

Editor: Kannan Arunasalam

Recorded: October 25, 2010

First published: August 1, 2023

Last edited: November 7, 2023

Comments

Kannan Arunasalam

October 27, 2010 at 01:20 pm

If you are looking for an evening's entertainment, there's not a great deal to do in Kandy. Our guest house owner suggested we take in a bit of Kandyan culture. I was anyway looking for an elder who could talk to me about the more artistic traditions of Kandy and so a performance of drum and dance seemed like a good place to start. At the back, behind the younger, colourful dancers, stood Panchanaada, playing his "daula" proudly and with passion. After the performance, as the other tourists headed for the fire walking spectacle, we spoke to Panchanaada to arrange to meet him the next day. It was so noisy with the early evening traffic and the other artists rehearsing backstage, that we had no choice but to do the interview in the van. Panchanaada told us he could spare twenty minutes today. We hardly had any time to go into the other things I wanted to find out about him, like continuing his family tradition, before he had to dash back, get quickly dressed and get up on stage. Panchanaada had told me how difficult it was to make a living solely from dancing and drumming these days, yet after his day as a farmer, almost every evening, without fail Panchanaada returns to perform. Why did he put himself through this? But watching him drumming with the same energy as the evening before, I realised something: it was because this was his "calling". Same time, same place, we met Panchanaada again the next day, and after our conversation, he went out on stage to do what he's being doing since childhood.
Erandhi

October 29, 2010 at 09:37 am

Absolutely amazing... :)
Helga De Silva Blow Perera

October 30, 2010 at 05:13 pm

Inspiring. Thank you.
Kajendrakumar

November 14, 2010 at 06:03 pm

Excellent initiative...!!!