Africa in South Asia: hybridity in Sri Lankan Kaffrinha

ABSTRACT

As public spaces become arenas to display cultural memories, Afrodescendants in South Asia become more visible. Emerging local histories further complement the trajectories of Africans and facilitate recognition of Afrodescendants. This paper explores the connections of Africa and Asia through a genre of music and dance called kaffrinha which enriched the colonial Sri Lankan musicscape and continues in the postcolonial period. Song texts, music scores, dance movements and paintings enhance the dynamics of kaffrinha and signify the African contribution to the Sri Lankan cultural and social life and plays out the political and economic significance of Africans in the country. Narratives on kaffrinha enrich our understanding of cultural heritage.

KEY WORDS:

• Kaffrinha
• hybridity
• music
• dance
• local histories

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Pankhurst, “The Ethiopian Diaspora to India,” 189.

2. Gibb, Ibn Battuta, 260.

3. Ali, Omar Hamid, Malik Ambar; Ali, Shanti Sadiq, African Dispersal in Deccan; Chauhan, Africans in India; De Silva Jayasuriya, African Identity in Asia; De Silva Jayasuriya, African Diaspora; De Silva Jayasuriya, “Recruiting Africans,” 15–31; Minda, An African Indian Community in Hyderabad; and Robbins and McLeod, Africans Elites in India.

4. Kooria, “African Jurists in Asia.”

5. Barthes, “An Introduction,” 237.

6. Ariyaratne, Baila Kapirinha Vimarshanayak.

7. Baptiste, McLeod and Robbins. African Elites in India, 20–21.

8. Fernando, “The Music of Ceylon.”

9. Suryasena, “Sinhalese Music.”

10. De Silva Jayasuriya, “Postcolonial Innovations.”

11. Stewart, Creolization.

12. King-Dorset, Black Dance in London.

13. Ibid, 81.

14. Herskovits, The Myth of the Negro Past.

15. De Silva Jayasuriya. “Trading on a Thalassic Network”.

16. Obeng, “Siddi Street Theatre and Dance in North Karnataka, South India.”

17. Ibid.

18. De Silva Jayasuriya, “African Roots of South Asians.”

19. Catlin-Jairazhabhoy. “From Sufi Shrines,” 19.

20. Jeychandran. “Navigating African Sacred Geography,” 32.

21. De Butts, Rambles in Ceylon, 206–207.

22. Raffe and Purdon, Dictionary of the Dance, 175.

23. Tinhorão, Música Popular, 120–121.

24. Twiss. Travels through Portugal and Spain, 18.

25. Vaughan, “Notes on the Malays,” 135.

26. Van Dort, Ceylon, the Near Past.

27. Ibid.

28. Nevill, Portuguese Songs [BL MS 37538L].

29. De Silva Jayasuriya, “Correspondence.”

30. De Silva Jayasuriya, An Anthology of Indo-Portuguese Verse.

31. De Silva Jayasuriya, “A Hybrid Performance.”

32. De Silva Jayasuriya, “Impact of Multilingualism on Sri Lanka Portuguese.”

33. See note 8 above.

34. De Silva Jayasuriya, “Recruiting Africans.”

35. See note 8 above.

36. Fernando, “The Music of Ceylon,” 187.

37. Ibid. 186.

38. Ariyaratne, An Enquiry into Baila and Kaffirinna.

39. Craine and Mackrell, The Oxford Dictionary of Dance.

40. Raffe and Purdon, Dictionary of the Dance.

41. See note 8 above.

42. See note 6 above.

43. Irving. “Hybridity and Harmony.” 4.

44. See note 8 above.

45. De Silva, Pictorial Impressions.

46. Brohier, Discovering Ceylon, 27.

47. Colin-Thome, “The Portuguese Burghers,” 176.

48. See note 10 above.

49. Muller, Jam Fruit Tree. 58.

50. Suryasena. “Sinhalese Music.” 65.

51. De Silva, Pictorial Impressions, 87, 91.

52. De Silva, Pictorial Impressions, 79.

53. See note 45 above.

54. De Silva, Pictorial Impressions, 77.

55. Sarachchandra, Folk Drama in Ceylon, 131.

56. Rockwamy, Kaffirinna Instrumentals.

57. Dias, “Idiosyncratic and Mutual Features.”

58. See note 10 above.

59. Chasteen, Africans in India, 13.

60. De Silva Jayasuriya, “A Hybrid Performance”.

61. De Silva Jayasuriya, “O português do Seri Lanca”.

62. De Silva Jayasuriya, “The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka”.

63. De Silva Jayasuriya, The Portuguese in the East.

64. De Silva Jayasuriya, “Postcolonial Innovation.”