Song H005 Recorded
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා
The Whole World's Drumming
Lokema Bera Gahanawa
A visitor builds a drum with Thaththa all morning, lifts her hand, and the very first beat lands true. By night the whole village is in the yard and the new drum plays among the old ones.
Lyrics
Chorus
හවස හදපු බෙරේ, නෝනාම ගහනවා!Hawasa hadapu bere, nonama gahanawa!The drum she made this afternoon, she's playing it herself!
අපේ මිදුලේ, තාත්තගේ අතින් ඉගෙනගෙනApe midule, Thaththage athin igenagenaIn our yard, taught by Thaththa's own hand
පරණ බෙර වලට අලුත් බෙරේ උත්තර දෙනවාParana bera walata aluth bere uththara denawaThe new drum answers the old drums
ගමම ඇවිත්, මිදුල පිරිලාGamama awith, midula pirilaThe whole village came, the yard is full
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවාLokema bera gahanawa, lokema bera gahanawaThe whole world's drumming, the whole world's drumming
අපේ මිදුලේ, අද රෑ, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා!Ape midule, ada ra, lokema bera gahanawa!In our yard, tonight, the whole world's drumming!
Verse 1
දවල් වෙලාවේ, මිදුලේ තාත්තා හම ඇදලාDawal welawe, midule Thaththa hama adalaAt noon in the yard, Thaththa stretching the skin
නෝනා බෙරේ උකුලේ තියාගෙන, අත උස්සලාNona bere ukule thiyagena, atha ussalaShe puts the drum on her lap and lifts her hand
පළවෙනි පාර ගැහුවා, සද්දේ හරියටම වැටුණාPalaweni para gahuwa, sadde hariyatama watunaThe first beat, and the sound landed exactly right
තාත්තා වැඩේ නවත්තලා හයියෙන් හිනා වුණාThaththa wade nawaththala hayiyen hina wunaThaththa stopped what he was doing and laughed out loud
Before the chorus
අම්මා කුස්සියේ දොරකඩ, ඉණ වනලා නටනවාAmma kussiye dorakada, ina wanala natanawaAmma in the kitchen doorway, dancing with her hips swinging
මල්ලි දුවගෙන ආවා, "ආයෙත් ගහන්න!"Malli duwagena aawa, "Ayeth gahanna!"Malli came running: "Play it again!"
තාත්තගේ බෙරේ ගැහුවා, නෝනාගේ බෙරේ උත්තර දුන්නාThaththage bere gahuwa, nonage bere uththara dunnaThaththa's drum spoke, her drum answered
මිදුලම බෙර සද්දේMidulama bera saddeThe whole yard was drum sound
Chorus
හවස හදපු බෙරේ, නෝනාම ගහනවා!Hawasa hadapu bere, nonama gahanawa!The drum she made this afternoon, she's playing it herself!
අපේ මිදුලේ, තාත්තගේ අතින් ඉගෙනගෙනApe midule, Thaththage athin igenagenaIn our yard, taught by Thaththa's own hand
පරණ බෙර වලට අලුත් බෙරේ උත්තර දෙනවාParana bera walata aluth bere uththara denawaThe new drum answers the old drums
ගමම ඇවිත්, මිදුල පිරිලාGamama awith, midula pirilaThe whole village came, the yard is full
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවාLokema bera gahanawa, lokema bera gahanawaThe whole world's drumming, the whole world's drumming
අපේ මිදුලේ, අද රෑ, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා!Ape midule, ada ra, lokema bera gahanawa!In our yard, tonight, the whole world's drumming!
Chant
ගහන්න!Gahanna!Play it!
බෙරේ!Bere!The drum!
තව!Thawa!More!
ලෝකෙම!Lokema!The whole world!
Verse 2
රෑ වෙද්දී මිදුල පිරුණා, ගමේ හැමෝම ආවාRa weddi midula piruna, game hamoma aawaBy night the yard was full, everyone in the village came
පරණ බෙරකාරයෝ පේළියට, මැද්දේ නෝනාParana berakarayo peliyata, madde nonaThe old drummers in a row, and her in the middle
තාත්තා ඉස්සරහම, අත් දෙකෙන් තාලේ අල්ලන්Thaththa issarahama, ath deken thale allanThaththa right at the front, keeping time with both hands
අම්මා ෆෝන් එකෙන් වීඩියෝ, "මේක අපේ මිදුල!"Amma phone eken video, "Meka ape midula!"Amma filming on the phone: "This is our yard!"
Before the chorus
අම්මා කුස්සියේ දොරකඩ, ඉණ වනලා නටනවාAmma kussiye dorakada, ina wanala natanawaAmma in the kitchen doorway, dancing with her hips swinging
මල්ලි දුවගෙන ආවා, "ආයෙත් ගහන්න!"Malli duwagena aawa, "Ayeth gahanna!"Malli came running: "Play it again!"
තාත්තගේ බෙරේ ගැහුවා, නෝනාගේ බෙරේ උත්තර දුන්නාThaththage bere gahuwa, nonage bere uththara dunnaThaththa's drum spoke, her drum answered
මිදුලම බෙර සද්දේMidulama bera saddeThe whole yard was drum sound
Chorus
හවස හදපු බෙරේ, නෝනාම ගහනවා!Hawasa hadapu bere, nonama gahanawa!The drum she made this afternoon, she's playing it herself!
අපේ මිදුලේ, තාත්තගේ අතින් ඉගෙනගෙනApe midule, Thaththage athin igenagenaIn our yard, taught by Thaththa's own hand
පරණ බෙර වලට අලුත් බෙරේ උත්තර දෙනවාParana bera walata aluth bere uththara denawaThe new drum answers the old drums
ගමම ඇවිත්, මිදුල පිරිලාGamama awith, midula pirilaThe whole village came, the yard is full
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවාLokema bera gahanawa, lokema bera gahanawaThe whole world's drumming, the whole world's drumming
අපේ මිදුලේ, අද රෑ, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා!Ape midule, ada ra, lokema bera gahanawa!In our yard, tonight, the whole world's drumming!
Bridge
දවල් තාත්තා ඇදපු හම, මිදුලේ කොනේ හිස් බෙරේDawal Thaththa adapu hama, midule kone his bereThe skin Thaththa stretched at noon, on an empty drum in the corner of the yard
සද්දයක් නෑ, ගහන්න කවුරුත් නෑSaddayak na, gahanna kawuruth naNo sound, nobody to play it
අද රෑ ඒ හමේ නෝනාගේ අත, තාලේ අපේAda ra e hame nonage atha, thale apeTonight her hand is on that skin, and the rhythm is ours
තාත්තා කිව්වා, "මගේ බෙරේ, ලෝකෙ අතින්"Thaththa kiwwa, "Mage bere, loke athin"Thaththa said, "My drum, played by the world"
Chorus
හවස හදපු බෙරේ, නෝනාම ගහනවා! (නෝනාම ගහනවා!)Hawasa hadapu bere, nonama gahanawa! (nonama gahanawa!)The drum she made this afternoon, she's playing it herself!
අපේ මිදුලේ, තාත්තගේ අතින් ඉගෙනගෙනApe midule, Thaththage athin igenagenaIn our yard, taught by Thaththa's own hand
පරණ බෙර වලට අලුත් බෙරේ උත්තර දෙනවාParana bera walata aluth bere uththara denawaThe new drum answers the old drums
ගමම ඇවිත්, මිදුල පිරිලාGamama awith, midula pirilaThe whole village came, the yard is full
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා (ගහන්න!)Lokema bera gahanawa, lokema bera gahanawa (gahanna!)The whole world's drumming, the whole world's drumming
අපේ මිදුලේ, අද රෑ, ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවා!Ape midule, ada ra, lokema bera gahanawa!In our yard, tonight, the whole world's drumming!
Outro
ලෝකෙම බෙර ගහනවාLokema bera gahanawaThe whole world's drumming
අපේ මිදුලේ, නෝනාම ගහනවා.Ape midule, nonama gahanawa.in our yard, she's playing it herself
From the book
The book behind the songs
Every song here is sung from inside one moment: the day someone in Sri Lanka has already done one of the book's 500 ideas, and the family is celebrating.
This song is a story about one idea from the book Why Not Sri Lanka. It promises nothing. No real person or business is shown in it. The book's ideas belong to whoever builds them. Music and vocals created with Suno from original lyrics written for this channel. The pictures in the songs are made with AI too.
© 2026 Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. Lyrics, music recordings, films and pictures. All rights reserved. Please do not re-upload or reuse these songs; to use one, get in touch through whynotsrilanka.com.