BHAKTAPUR, Oct 15: It’s Dashain and Dashain is incomplete without music. And music has its own language that is captivating to all age group. Likewise, the teenagers from Bhaktapur are also drawn to traditional music that is played during Dashain. The traditional music which was once ignored, have gained its popularity again.
The musical session for Dashain began on Wednesday along with the beginning of Navaratri Mela. The Newar community of the Valley has their own way of celebrating Navaratri Mela. And during this festival, there is the tradition where musicians of various Guthis along with devotees pay homage to mother goddesses at different temples. And this year, the number of youngsters playing the music has increased. These youths play Dhime, Basuri, and Jhyali—traditional musical instruments—during their pilgrimage.
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The pilgrims visit different shrines of Astamatrika, having eight different manifestation of the mother Goddess Durga. They are Bhramayani, Rudrayani, Barahi, Indrayani, Kumari, Baishnavi, Chamunda and Maha Laxmi. The pilgrimage begins from Gatasthapana to Nawami. And they visit the shrines with the musical groups adding flavor to the festival.
About the involvement of youngsters, during Navaratri Mela, Chairperson of Kala, Sankriti and Bhajan Mahaguthi, Jannani Prasad Mul shared, “Involvement of youths in traditional musical instruments has been increased in past few years. Due to which entire Bhaktapur remains buzzed with the musical sound of tradition. This generation is keen on learning skills as well as they are aware about conserving their age old tradition.”
Moreover, the temples remain crowded in morning and evening due to influx of people gathered to attend the ritual performances. The number of women playing the traditional music is also increasing. And they are breaking the stereotypical belief, that only men should play the traditional music during the festival. About this Shrejina Mushyakha, who was playing Jhayli on the first day of Navaratri Mela at Bhramayani expressed, “I learned to play traditional musical instrument from a local musical institution at Bhaktapur. These days there are plenty of institutions that are teaching to play various musical instruments.”
These youths are aware about the need of preserving the culture. Along with that, the fun they get while playing these instruments are also attracting them. Kiran Machamasi one of the youngsters, who was playing Dhime shared, “I feel a different pleasure while playing this musical instrument. And I am gaining a perspective that I’m into playing traditional musical instruments more than modern ones.”
