Sri Lanka Faculty

Sumudi Suraweera obtained his PhD in the discipline of ethnomusicology in 2010 from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is a Founding Director of the Musicmatters School in Colombo. His PhD. research focused on Sri Lankan Low-Country traditional drumming. Prior to this, he completed a Bachelor of Music in jazz, majoring in drums, with first-class honors. Suraweera has been a performing jazz musician in New Zealand for ten years and has performed in some of the major Arts and Jazz Festivals around New Zealand. Ensembles led by Suraweera such as Baliphonics, Serendib Sorcerers and Musicmatters Transcoastal Collective tend to draw upon Sri Lankan traditional music, placing it in a contemporary setting.