Young people work to revive art and culture of Kathmandu Valley

Published On: March 21, 2017 11:10 PM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


KATHMANDU, March 21: ‘Echoes in the valley’ is a music festival that aims to preserve, promote and witness the changes in diverse traditional performance arts from Kathmandu. This one day music festival is set for March 25.

The festival strives to uncover, revive and make relevant Kathmandu’s intangible heritages and disappearing sounds by showcasing local music, art, and performances of everyday ritual rituals. It will transform small neighborhoods into grand stages for musical conversations between national and international artists.

Live performances from 18 different bands and more than 200 different artists will be held at four different locations: Dagu Baha in Ason, Nasa: Nani in Tachhen Baha, Platan Chhen in Kel Tole and Balkumari Satah. Stages won’t be built for the performances instead ‘dabali’, a raised  platform, found in open space will be used.

The diversity of traditional performance arts in Nepal is dying as people performing folk musical instruments were discriminated in the name of lower caste. As a consequence, the new generation stopped following the traditional art. Some traditional performances are limited to certain ethnic communities and tribes and are not even passed on to the younger generation.

The organizers, who are students of ethnomusicology at the Department of Music at Kathmandu University, came up with an idea of the festival when they realized that all the research on  traditional music were done by foreigners.

“We complain that the new generation doesn’t follow our ethnic culture but we don’t present it to them in an interesting way , so this festival will act as a platform to teach new generation about Nepali traditional  performing art in an interesting way ,” said Bhushan Shilpakar, the coordinator of the event.

The festival will also include workshops for young people to learn about traditional musical instruments, poetry recital, photography exhibition, food and drink stalls and guided tour on history of Jana Baha.

 


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