DrTharupathi Munasinghe

Dr Tharupathi Munasinghe is an award-winning sound anthropologist, sound designer, composer, and researcher whose work bridges creative practice, ethnographic research, and higher education. With more than two decades of professional experience across film, television, theatre, multimedia arts, and academia, he has developed an interdisciplinary practice exploring how sound shapes culture, memory, migration, identity, and civic life. He is the recipient of multiple Best Music Director awards at Sri Lanka's State Festivals, the BUNKA Japan–Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Award, the State Literary Award for Best Publication (Film & Television); and a Vice-Chancellor's Award for educational innovation.

As a creative practitioner, Tharupathi has composed music and designed sound for more than 35 television series, feature films, documentaries, theatre productions, and multimedia projects. His creative work spans internationally recognised productions including Machan, The Invisible Moon, and Memories That Make Us, for which his sound design contributed to the film receiving the Best Ethnographic Film award at the New York International Film Awards. His practice is recognised for integrating traditional Sri Lankan low-country drumming with contemporary digital sound design, creating innovative sonic approaches to storytelling.

Alongside his professional creative practice, Dr Munasinghe has taught and developed curricula at Deakin University, the University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, and previously served as Senior Lecturer at the University of Kelaniya, where he helped establish the Department of Theatre, Film and Television and led curriculum innovation in media education. His teaching integrates professional studio practice, sonic ethnography, and industry engagement to prepare students for contemporary creative and research environments.

His research sits at the intersection of sound anthropology, sound studies, digital media, migration, and platform cultures, investigating how listening mediates identity, belonging, and civic participation in increasingly digital societies. His work has introduced theoretical concepts including corporeal simulation, trans-contextualisation, algorithmic audibility, sonic capture, counter-listening, and sonic counter-memory, contributing new perspectives to sound studies and media anthropology.

His publications include the Routledge monograph Digital Media, Soundscapes, and Civic Engagement in a Globalised World: Listening Beyond the Borders (2026), with forthcoming books Sound Studies: The Basics (Routledge, 2028) and Algorithmic Listening (Bloomsbury, 2028). His research has also appeared in Memory Studies, Mobile Media & Communication, Media, Culture & Society, and other leading international publications, alongside numerous books and chapters on sound, media, migration, ritual, and political listening.

Through an integrated pracademic approach, Tharupathi combines creative production, ethnographic research, and higher education to demonstrate how sound functions as both an artistic medium and a powerful way of understanding contemporary social, cultural, and political life.