ගැට බෙරය ( මඟුල් බෙරය – උඩරට බෙරය )

Geta Beraya – (Wedding Drum)

Sri Lanka has been having many types of drums in use from ancient times, and reference to these are found in some of the classical literature e.g. “Pujawaliya”, “Thupawansaya”, “Dalada Siritha” etc.

Although there had been about 33 types of drums, today we find only about ten and the rest are confined only to names. The Sri Lankan Drum Tradition is believed to go as far back as 2500 years.


This is the main drum used to accompany dances in the Kandyan or the Hill Country tradition. This drum is turned out of wood from Ehela, Kohomba or Kos tree. The drum tapers towards the ends and on the right side, the opening is covered with the skin of a monkey while the opening on the other side is covered with a cattle skin. The strings that are used tighten the sides are from a deer skin. A student who begins his training in the use of the Geta Bera has to practice twelve elementary exercises.