Nadeeka Guruge is a Sri Lankan composer, singer-songwriter, film scorer, and ethnomusicologist whose work bridges artistic creation, research, and cultural reform. Over a career spanning twenty-five years, Guruge has transformed the sonic landscape of Sri Lanka through cinema, theatre, television, and scholarly inquiry. His oeuvre—spanning over fifty films, numerous stage productions, and a prolific body of research and writing—reflects a rare synthesis of artistry and academic depth.

Guruge’s cinematic career began with Vimukthi Jayasundara’s Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land, 2005), which won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Since then, he has composed for many of the most critically acclaimed films in Sri Lankan cinema, including Aba (2008), Sankara (2007), Ira Handa Yata (2009), Gamani (2011), August Drizzle (2011), Sakkarang (2015), Maharaja Gemunu (2015), Cinderella (2016), Patibana (2018), The Frozen Fire (2018), Dada Ima – End of the Hunt (2019), Seeds (2022), and My Red Comrade (2024). His scores traverse genres—from orchestral and folk-classical hybrids to minimalism and experimental sound design—marking a continuous redefinition of what “Sri Lankan film music” can mean.

Beyond cinema, Guruge has composed extensively for musical theatre, television, and political folk music, producing concerts and recordings that have become milestones in contemporary Sri Lankan sound culture. His long-running engagement with public musical education, social activism, and experimental composition has positioned him as one of the most influential and multifaceted figures in the island’s modern music history.

As an academic and researcher, Guruge’s work investigates the intersections of caste, class, and musical memory in Sri Lankan society. His forthcoming book, The Unmusical Nation: Caste, Class, and the Collapse of Musical Memory in Sinhalese Society (1681–1893), argues that the island’s fragmented musical tradition is not a sign of lack, but an outcome of caste-based restrictions that confined musical labour to hereditary service groups. Drawing from colonial sources—from Robert Knox (1681) and João Ribeiro (1689) to Bryce Ryan (1953)—the book reconstructs how music, ritual, and social hierarchy intertwined to produce what Guruge calls “aesthetic discontinuity.”

Parallel to this major research work, he is developing an interconnected series of scholarly books to articulate a new framework he terms Trans-Cultural Diffusion Theory, exploring the historical mechanisms that enabled or blocked the transmission of musical knowledge across castes and classes. These include Music of the Sinhalese, The Baila Mythology, Music from Monarchs to Peasants, and The Music of the Veddas.

Guruge’s interdisciplinary research draws from ethnomusicology, social anthropology, and historical sociology, blending textual translation with theoretical innovation. He has translated and critically analysed numerous colonial writings—including Louis Nell (1856), François Valentijn, John Davy (1821), and Bryce Ryan (1953)—revealing the epistemic gaps and cultural hierarchies embedded in European accounts of Ceylonese music. His ongoing research on The Singing Balangodensis explores the prehistoric origins of musical behaviour in Sri Lanka through an ethnomusicological and palaeo-anthropological lens.

As an educator, Guruge designed and launched the first-ever special honours Bachelor’s degree in Music for the non-state university sector in Sri Lanka at SLTC Research University, securing full approval from the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Higher Education. As the Founder Head of the School of Music, he not only built the academic structure but also redefined the national discourse on tertiary music education. His concert Naada Dhyaana marked this innovation, blending fusion, Sri Lankan folk, and world music to express the program’s interdisciplinary ethos.

Guruge’s intellectual and artistic curiosity extends into philosophy, sound studies, and postcolonial cultural analysis. His recent works include Ravana the Demon Maestro, a book that deconstructs modern myths around Ravana’s supposed musicality, and Empire of Blind Capital, which critiques the profit-driven manipulation of Sri Lanka’s postcolonial sound industry and introduces concepts such as trans-melodic hibernation and aesthetic gatekeeping. He is also the author of children’s and literary works such as The Dancing Parrot and Other Village Folk Tales from Sri Lanka for Children and A Well-Balanced Music Diet, aimed at nurturing musical literacy and cultural appreciation among younger generations.

Over the years, Guruge has received numerous local and international awards, including recognition for film scoring, theatre music, and songwriting. He has also served as a judge and mentor on Sri Lanka’s most popular reality music competitions, shaping generations of emerging musicians. His work often merges political and social awareness with sound aesthetics, exploring how music can act as both resistance and healing.

In 2025, Guruge marks 20 years of original film scores and 25 years of active contribution to Sri Lankan music with Score-Lore: Celebrating 20 Years of Original Film Scores, a gala concert at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre accompanied by a commemorative publication highlighting his multifaceted career.