Four Raban Beats To Play During Avurudu

Sri Lankan avurudu celebrations are incomplete without music. The traditional banku (bench) rabana is a wide-topped drum with a membrane stretched tightly on top of a wooden cylinder, mounted on wooden trunks a few inches off the ground. The drum can be up to 48 inches in diameter and can be played by several people seated around it.

The drum is played to a particular type of beat associated with a special system of poetry or raban pada. The leader recites the pada loudly and then plays the beat to match the pada in collaboration with the other players seated around the drum. The beats are often played out by hand, though you may see the use of elbows, ekels, and various other objects used to add a bit of flair to the folk music.

The beats are simple and catchy and typically played by women, though it’s not uncommon to have the men folk joining in. The rhythmic recitation of the pada followed closely by the matching beat is a sound very closely associated with avurudu. Some of the beats are very simple to learn, and HSBC Sri Lanka has put together four simple video tutorials for four basic beats you can play to celebrate avurudu in style.

Beat 1

Beat 2

https://www.facebook.com/hsbcsrilanka/videos/239552999844359/

Beat 3

Beat 4