The Fascinating History and Development of Kaffrinya Baila Music

The Fascinating History and Development of
 Kaffrinya Baila Music

Author: Adisha Kariyawasam

Introduction

Here is a very brief summary of the history and development of a popular, yet relatively unfamiliar to the west, music form called Kaffrinya (or Kapiriñña) Baila and how it spread throughout the world. It also includes an interactive piece of Sri Lankan Kaffrinya baila music especially arranged for this post.

Kaffrinya Music

Also known as: Kaffringha, Kapirinna, Kaffrigne, Kapiriñña

Kaffrinya is a form of music that is derived from two terms 'Kaffir' + "ingha":

• ‘Kaffir’ - a term which means Negro or African.*

* Important Note: This term must be used with caution as it has over history shifted from neutral designation to one with negative derogatory implications. See this blog post OED Word Stories page for more details.

• ‘ingha’ (pronounced ‘inya’) - which means not of classical form and created by the periphery of society, somewhat akin to folk music.

Essentially, Kaffrinya was was developed by three main groups of people:
Africans (1505) – who in Mozambique made the biggest contribution
Portugese (1638) - whose sailors transported it through their voyages along trade winds
British (1815) - who colonised India and Sri Lanka

Baila Music

The Portuguese brought with them a dance form called Baila which literally means ‘to dance’ in European languages around the world. The hybrid music is Kaffringha Baila and has distinctive 6-8 rhythm. Here is an example in western music notation, created using the open source software MuseScore*:





From the coasts of Sri Lanka, this popular music form spread to other parts of the world in including Philippines, Australia, USA and back across to the United Kingdom where it is to this day enjoyed in cricket festivals, house parties, weddings receptions, stage shows, celebrations and college reunions. It is often played by solo violin (or fiddle) and (particularly in open air venues) with trumpet accompanied by conga drums, acoustic guitar, snare drum with hi-hat and tambourine. 

Here is an updated and expanded version of the previous score, this time with more acoustic instruments and percussion:

Finally, the following short video illustrates the spread of Kaffrinya Baila music throughout the world. 

(Background music excerpt "Irene Josephine" arranged and performed by A.Kariyawasam)

Further reading:

1. "SRI LANKAN BAILA", By Dr Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya ['The Island', May 1, 2018, 8:57 pm] http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=183964 (Live as at 05/04/2020)
2. "The Portuguese Identity of the Afro-Sri Lankans." University of London, King’s College London. Department of Portuguese & Brazilian Studies by Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya https://journals.openedition.org/lusotopie/1164 (Live as at 05/04/2020)
3. "Musescore" This is a very popular open source music, cross platform notation program that was used to create the interactive scores in this article. It can be downloaded from the following website: https://musescore.org/en/download