Baila

Bayila (also known as baila, from the Portuguese verb bailar, meaning to dance) is a form of music, popular in Sri Lanka. The genre originated centuries ago among the 'Sri Lankan Kaffirs' or Afro-Sri Lankan communities (mixed communities of Portuguese, African and native Tamil and Sinhalese people). It utilises primarily European instruments and rhythms found in Iberia, Sri Lanka, Africa and India. Bayila songs are played during parties and weddings in Sri Lanka and Goa, accompanied by dancing.

Bayila music, as a form of folk art, has been popular for centuries in Sri Lanka. During the early 1960s, it entered into Sri Lanka's mainstream culture, primarily through the work of police officer turned singer Wally Bastian. He began adapting the 6/8 'kaffirhina' rhythms to accommodate Sinhala lyrics. By the 1970s musicians, including MS Fernando and Maxwell Mendis, had helped Bayila grow into a well known and respected style of Sri Lankan popular music. It is primarily considered dance music.

After their arrival in 1505, the Portuguese began to convert the Sinhalese to Roman Catholicism, building their wealth and power through the spice and slave trade. As early as 1630, African Kaffirs were brought to Sri Lanka to work as slaves or soldiers. The Kaffirs were once described as a people 'steeped in opium and witless with drink'. The Kaffirs' carefree spirit inspired two music forms known as chicote and kafrinha infusing them with humour and satire.

In 1894, Advocate C. M. Fernando, the brother of Sir Marcus Fernando wrote that chicote as a 'slow and stately' music, while kafrinha is 'faster and more boisterous' and 'with a peculiar jerky movement'. The word kafrinha itself comes from kaf (Kaffirs) and rinha which means 'local lady'. The Kaffirs and Portuguese Burghers mixed freely, and chicote and kafrinha gradually came to be known as baila, from Portuguese verb 'bailar' meaning 'to dance'.

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