A rare collection of Nepali musical history faces imminent threat
The rather obscure premises of the Tripureshwor Mahadev Temple on the banks of the Bagmati River at Tripureshwor has been home to the Music Museum of Nepal for the past eight years. The ancient brick-and-mortar building being run by the guthi in the temple courtyard is almost in ruins after the 2015 earthquake. The main temple is also being reconstructed at the moment and the two-storey historic houses that host the museum of Nepali folk instruments is in a shambles. A creaky wooden staircase leads to the second floor of the dilapidated house where a collection of endangered, rare and extinct Nepali folk instruments are displayed, attached to the walls and in wooded cabinets. In the dim light one can witness the rich cultural diversity in music of the country from these instruments that are hundreds of years old. The museum now boasts of the largest and most comprehensive collection of traditional folk instruments collected over 23 years, from the high Himalayas to the Tarai plains.
“But it could all be lost,” says Ram Prasad Kandel, the founder and curator of the museum who in 1995 started the long process of collecting and saving the music instruments. “It could be a matter of weeks before we pack all these invaluable pieces of history into a box and shut down.” The Music Museum of Nepal, previously known as the Nepali Folk Musical Instrument Museum, has gotten a notice to vacate its premises and without any support from the government or the private sector, the non-profit institution has no option but to shut its doors—perhaps forever.
“But I will not stop my research and will continue collecting and archiving Nepali instruments,” says Kandel, who is now in the UK to raise funds and prepare for the Eighth International Folk Music Festival the museum organizes annually, and which will this year be held in Kathmandu on November 22-24. “I hope if not this generation, at least future generations will show more interest in the musical history of Nepal.”
Nepali folk instruments like the sarangi and madal have been able to survive through their incorporation into the larger pop culture but around 1,300 other ethnic Nepali instruments have not been as fortunate. Although culturally rich, rapid modernization and an apathy to history has made most of Nepal’s musical heritage vulnerable to extinction.
Professional musician castes like Gaine, Damai, Badi and Kapali passed on their skills down many generations. Over 100 different ethnic groups and castes had their own musical traditions and cultures that sustained their livelihood and enriched the society. “Yet we fight for bare sustenance,” says Kandel. “We are a long way from collecting and conserving all Nepali folk instruments and at this rate some might be extinct before we finish our work.”
Some instruments at the museum like the Panha Mukha Baja, Haade Bansuri, Yaba Mridanga, Rudra Mridanga and Jor Murali have already become extinct, with the remaining specimens available only at the museum. But even at the low entry tickets of Rs 20 for students and Rs 50 for adults, the museum rarely sees visitors, and it does not make anywhere close to the kind of money it needs for its long-term survival. The temple guthi has now asked the museum to move because it has given out the premises to a university on a long-term lease. The only hope for the museum is to win the legal battle against their tenant, the hearing for which is on August 29.
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Quick questions with Raymon Das Shrestha
Q. Most mis-understood thing about you?
A. I am not calm. Therefore I have just lowered my expectation.
Q. A question you hate to answer?
A. Every question :)
Q. The thing people would be surprised to know about you?
A. I am coming up with some surprises, wait for it.
Q. Celebrity Crush?
A. Hmm... I adore every person who wants to do good for the country.
Q. The quote you live by?
A. Go with the flow but do what you gotta do.
Q. Best purchase you've ever made?
A. My Royal Enfield and my ST guitar.
Q. What do you look for in women?
A. They should be easy going, bold, understanding, loving, a little bit crazy and much more.
Kabita Nepali stands tall on the biggest stage of them all
Of the 3,000 participants in Nepal’s first International franchise dance reality show Boogie Woogie, which premiered on March 29 on AP1 HD channel, only 18 could make it to the on-air rounds. Among them, 18-year-old Kabita Nepali of Kathmandu emerged the winner in the live grand finale on August 4.
The Boogie Woogie production team had to work mighty hard to make this first-of-its-kind show in Nepal a success.
“Dance reality shows are comparatively more challenging than other reality shows,” says Aleen Shrestha, the director of Boogie Woogie. “We have to take care of every small aspect, from matching make-up with dress to stage props.” Shrestha describes his experience of producing the first Boogie Woogie show as bit of a ‘mixed bag’.
“No one had tried this in Nepal before. So, we made mistakes but at the same time we also learned so much in the process,” says Suresh Paudel, project head for Boogie Woogie. “It was also a process that gave us Kabita Nepali, the deserved winner.”
On the day of the grand finale itself, Nepali, along with two other finalists, stood on the stage with great anticipation, and dread, their hearts thumping against their chests. With only moments left for the final announcement she started preparing herself for the worst. “I kept telling myself whatever happens will happen for the good,” says Nepali. “I wasn’t expecting to win. In fact, I was willing to settle for the third runners-up prize.”
Growing up, Nepali learnt early to move her body to the rhythm of music. Her parents would play songs on television for her to dance. So passionate was she that once, as a toddler, she broke the television screen at home, trying to get inside the screen to dance. Her parents, who were not home at the time, found her dancing with half of her body inside the television when they got home.
Even though she was fond of dancing, the art form was only a medium for her to express her inner feelings till she came across the Boogie Woogie audition announcement. She was instantly hooked but her parents were not convinced.
“Our society still frowns upon a woman choosing dancing as her career,” says Nepali. “So, at first my family did not approve of my decision to participate and I had to convince them to let me pursue my dream.”
The self-taught Nepali feels her versatility helped her progress in the competition and says the eight-month-journey of Boogie Woogie was a learning curve she will forever remember. “Day or night, my focus was only on dancing. I even used to dream about dancing,” she says. “In the competition itself, it was all about hard work. I had many injuries but the Boogie Woogie team took care of them. The good part is that I got to learn many dance forms that I had seen only on television.”
As the grand finale night progressed and nervousness filled the air, Nepali felt her rationale for competing in Boogie Woogie had already been justified. “For me it wasn’t about winning. I came here to learn,” she says. Nepali spent the whole finale evening preparing for the worst and when she heard her name announced as the winner, she was shocked. “My mind went blank,” says Nepali. “I didn’t know how to react.” Nepali had won the competition by getting 30 percent more votes compared to the first runners-up in SMS voting.
Nepali bagged Rs 2.5 million in cash with which she wants to build a home for her family. And now that she has won the competition, she also wants to get back to studying and completing her high-school, from which she had to drop out because of the show. “I will first complete my studies and will then explore my career in the film industry,” says Nepali. “Until then, I will be doing programs and music videos for pocket money,” she smiles.
Photos by Pritam Chhetri
Edinburgh hosts largest cultural event in the world
It’s not often I find myself in Scotland at the right time—festival time that is! August is the main festival month in Edinburgh and a time when the majority of the city’s residents like to head out of town and out of the path of the thousands of descending tourists. As a previous resident, however, I loved the festive atmosphere and attended as many events as possible. Now that I find myself back in Scotland for the summer, it’s time to reconnect with both the city and festival...The name is itself a bit of a misnomer, as what we call the Edinburgh Festival is in fact a collective term for many festivals which take place in the summer. These festivals are unrelated to each other, and put together by different organizers. Yet to us visitors they are many sides of what is the largest annual cultural event in the world.
You may ask, what are these different festivals? The largest are the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But there is also the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Edinburgh Art Festival, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo; plus a host of smaller event that take place during the period June to September.
The ‘main’ Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe—which is sort of the scruffy little brother with affordable prices and street events, and which has over the decades become a career starting point for many performers—run from August 3 to 27. It is for these two festivals that the majority of visitors flock to Edinburgh at this time of year. The other festival, which is guaranteed to be sold out and is a huge tourist attraction, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, runs from August 3 to 25. This year the Tattoo has the slogan ‘The Sky’s the Limit’, embracing Scotland’s Year of Young People. This is, as the name suggests, a spectacular show of military talent. Not a demonstration of military force a.k.a Pyongyang or Beijing, but a display of the talents of military bands, military animals (dogs, horses), and all things military from around the world. The sight and sounds of Scottish bagpipes and the nightly colorful fireworks displays are regular and much loved features of the Tattoo.
The Edinburgh International Festival is not a recent affair. It was first held in 1947 with the idea of providing ‘a platform for the flowering human spirit’ by bringing people and artists together from different countries. Rudolf Bing, an Austrian impresario who had fled Nazi Germany, was supported by Henry Harvey Wood of the British Council, and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir John Falconer, and thus Edinburgh became home to this unique event. During the first festival, eight uninvited theater groups turned up, which spawned the Festival Fringe, which has now in turn developed its own unique footprint and followers. The same year, the forerunner of the International Film Festival was born, followed shortly by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Today audiences can see theater, music, comedy, acrobatics, mime, opera performances, and much, much more (in 2017 the Fringe alone saw 53,232 performances of 3,398 shows in 300 venues). Shows run from early morning to late at night. But be warned—the later the hour the more raunchy the performance. Think Pussy Riot and the like! But there is also plenty for children during the day time.
For example, free street performances have always been a major feature of the festival, adding to the carnival like atmosphere prevailing through the Old Town, Royal Mile and around university buildings. The finale of the festival is an impressive 30-minute fireworks display lightening up the imposing vista of the castle which looks down, like a custodian, on the city below. This is Edinburgh at its best. For further information https://www.eif.co.uk
