Gäwula: The Invention of a Hybrid Drum in Sri Lanka

In the late 1990s, the Sri Lankan drummer Piyasara Shilpadhipathi invented a new drum that he named ‘gäwula’ The gäwula was conceived of as a hybrid between two traditional Sri Lankan drums, namely the double-conical-shaped gäṭa beraya and the barrel-shaped dawula, which are associated with two different regional ritual traditions. A double-headed drum that is tied around the drummer’s waist, the gäwula features the timbres of the gäṭa beraya on one drumhead and those of the dawula on the other drumhead. As prescribed by the drum’s inventor, the gäwula can be played either with two bare heads or with one bare hand and a stick in the other hand, similar to the dawula. Shilpadhipathi also composed a vocabulary of drum-patterns that can be played on the gäwula and created a systematic method for learning to play it. This article discusses the production of the gäwula, the ideologies behind its invention, and the contexts within which it has been practised and performed. Using the history of the gäwula as a case study, this paper explores how cultural discourses and individual agency can influence the invention of new musical instruments.