The GOETHE-INSTITUT SRI LANKA brought together a curatorial team representing a diverse range of music scenes in Sri Lanka, as well as an international music curator, to conceptualize this initiative and carefully curate new musical works from exceptional musical talents. Our team worked closely, in the spirit of conversation and collaboration, to realize this initiative. With decolonial perspectives to music journalism and hands-on experience with shaping and caring for music scenes in Sri Lanka, our team brought their insights and ideas together with the aim of sparking a renewed interest in music from the fringes of Sri Lanka.

Imaad Majeed is a multidisciplinary artist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They are Director and Curator of the trilingual performance platform “KACHA KACHA”. They are one part of the artist collective “The Packet” and VJ/DJ of “Packet Radio” (SUPR FM). They enjoy making playlists, and write about musicians from Sri Lanka for the international music blog “beehype”. They are presently working on “KANNOORU”, exploring Sri Lankan Sufi/Muslim identity, community, memory, erasure, ancestry and mysticism through sample-based music, a project supported by a grant from Experimenter’s Generator Co-operative Art Production Fund.

​Sumudi Suraweera obtained his PhD in ethnomusicology in 2010 from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research focused on Sri Lankan Low-Country traditional drumming. Prior to this, he completed a Bachelor of music in jazz, majoring in drums. Sumudi started off his career as a musician in New Zealand where he performed regularly for nearly 10 years in the local jazz scene. Sumudi returned to Sri Lanka in 2010 to set up Musicmatters, a music school offering holistic musical education for children. Sumudi has also been actively involved in organizing festivals and concerts with the aim of developing an experimental and improvised music scene in Colombo.

​Part of the first wave of electronic musicians to emerge from post-war Sri Lanka in the late 2000s, Asvajit’s work as a DJ and producer has been published on record labels worldwide and performed at festivals and nightlife institutions in Europe and Asia. A vocal proponent for the development of non-traditional forms of music in Sri Lanka, Asvajit has helped facillitate workshops, artist residencies and performances on the island since 2011. He is the founder of the Jambutek Recordings imprint and co-founder of the audio-visual experiences platform Sub_Sequence. Asvajit formalized his practice as a graphic designer in 2019 with the formation of Fold Media Collective.

​Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient, the Norient Space (Norient.com), and the founder and strategic director of the Norient Film Festival (NFF). He co- directed documentary films (e.g. Contradict, Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness) and AV/theatre/dance performances, is the author and co-editor of several books, teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. His experimental radio feature, “Gqom Edits – A Durban Visit”, was nominated for Prix Europa in 2017. Currently, he is working on a new music project, and on the experimental podcast series’ Timezones and South Asian Sound Stories with musicians from the UK, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

THATTU PATTU has been made possible by our partners the GOETHE-INSTITUT and FOLD MEDIA. From generously funding and supporting this initiative, to expertly executing its production, our partners have been involved since day one in nurturing this initiative, every step of the way.

The GOETHE-INSTITUT SRI LANKA encourages cultural collaboration with Germany and across the island by organising cultural programmes and collaborating and contributing to many festivals and exhibitions in the areas of film, dance, music, theatre, literature and visual arts.

www.goethe.de/srilanka

FOLD is a multidisciplinary collective of designers, audio-visual artists & filmmakers. Established in 2019 to formalize a network of creative professionals from Sri Lanka, FOLD pairs contemporary tools & frameworks with traditional principles of design & visual communication.

www.foldmedia.net