In Nepal, traditional folk music still sells the best. Post-modern genres like pop, rock and hip-hop are fast catching up. In this climate, Western classical music seems to have limited scope. There are enough students learning to play violins, violas and pianos yet the opportunities for them to showcase their skills are few and far between. They are limited to performing on small stages and quiet venues in duos, trios, quartets or even quintets but a concert for a full-fledged chamber orchestra is a rare occasion.
The Annapurna Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble of talented and experienced musicians playing different instruments that is trying to change the orchestra scene of Nepal by organizing shows and giving platforms to young musicians. Led by Rajkumar Shrestha, a veteran musician and music instructor who is also the director and conductor of the orchestra, the orchestra has around 40 members in its senior team and 30 in its junior ensemble.
Internationally, a chamber orchestra is considered a small orchestra with from 30-40 instrumentalists playing together, but in Nepal, seeing so many musicians perform on stage at the same time is a unique sight. Founded in 2014, the orchestra has been performing at different venues in the country and is in the final phase of its registration as a non-profit.
“Our goal is to give our students a platform to perform on stage and at the same time create a written archive of Nepali music”
Rajkumar Shrestha, Director and conductor, The Annapurna Chamber Orchestra
“Our goal is to give our students a platform to perform on stage and at the same time create a written archive of Nepali music,” informs Shrestha, 59, who has been a musician and music instructor for over three decades now. Shrestha adds that the orchestration of old Nepali music will create a timeless history and the scores produced in the process can in the future be performed by all musicians who can sight-read and play music.
Shrestha’s students and also the founding members of the orchestra—Yogesh Dagoriya, 33, and Sudhakar Wosti, 37—agree. “Our students are thrilled when we give them the opportunity to perform for an audience as it helps them enhance their skills,” says Dagoriya. Adds Wosti: “We can also create more interest in the audience by orchestrating Nepali music and showing them that Nepali music can also be performed on classical Western instruments.”
The orchestra, its members inform, is an ensemble of three divisions of violin, as well as cello, double bass, woodwind section, brass section, along with the traditional sitar and madal. More than limiting itself to paying classical canons as orchestras abroad do, the Annapurna Chamber Orchestra looks to blend a bit of Eastern music to create interesting music for Nepali audiences and foreigners alike.
The senior orchestra consists of prolific musicians aged 10-50 (skill has got nothing to do with age here) while the junior orchestra has students aged 7-15 years perform together. All the orchestra performers learn and practice their parts on their own and meet occasionally to rehearse the whole set.
“Lack of proper space is our biggest problem,” Shrestha says. “We sometimes have to practice in a group of 40 and finding a hall big enough to accommodate us is difficult.” The orchestra, being a non-profit, also suffers from lack of funds. “But we have been able to get along with the help of our friends and well-wishers,” he adds. “My friend Jayadev Krishna Shrestha has been our biggest patron yet and with his support, we have been able to organize rehearsal sessions and concerts.”
The orchestra is all set to perform at the Rastriya Nacchghar, Jamal on April 14 which is the Nepali New Year’s day. The free concert will have both the junior and senior ensembles performing orchestrated arrangements of classic Nepali patriotic songs. (We have a short video with the article to give our audience a feel of what to expect.)
