Preserving the Historical Field Recordings of C. de S. Kulatillake

Abstract

Cyril de Silva Kulatillake was a pioneering Sri Lankan ethnomusicologist. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he embarked on a journey to document Sri Lankan music using reel-to-reel audio tapes, travelling to numerous villages. This paper concerns the restoration and preservation of a part of the Kulatillake field recordings. The study restored the open reel tape recordings and carefully digitized the soundtracks. Each tape was meticulously examined and cleaned; and the tape containers and accompanying notes were documented and photographed. Once digitized, the recordings, which represent various ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, were catalogued. The collection captures a rich tapestry of Sinhala and Tamil songs, Portuguese Burghers’ baila songs and Veddas’ ancestral tunes, offering a soundscape of Sri Lanka’s immaterial cultural heritage.