Music and Healing Rituals of Sri Lanka
Their Relevance for Community Music Therapy and Medical Ethnomusicology

The book focuses on extraordinarily rich Sri Lankan ritual practices, points to the roles of music in them, and addresses their potential in promoting health and efficiency in curing illnesses. Besides the presentation of the intricate connections between ritualistic and musical essentials, it relates this specific realm of traditional life to the modern theoretical frameworks of community music therapy and medical ethnomusicology. Despite the accelerated loss of traditional cultural values due to the ongoing urbanization, modernization and globalization processes, the rituals still serve their functions in the contemporary Sri Lankan society. Based on ethnomusicological methodologies, this book speaks not only to scholars and disciplinary specialists, but also to the broad international readership interested in various aspects of music and healing.

Dr. Lasanthi Manaranjaine Kalinga Done was lecturer at the University of Colombo and certified artist in Indian classical music at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), while currently she serves as a visiting professor in music therapy at the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo, and in ethnomusicology at the Universities of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Split, Croatia. She earned her B.A degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, M.Mus (Master of Music) degree in North Indian classical music (violin) from the Banaras Hindu University, India, and the Ph.D. in musicology (with focus on medical ethnomusicology and music therapy) from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She represents Sri Lanka in the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM). She also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, and as a member of the advisory board at the State Musical Review of Children with Special Needs in Slovenia.