KATHMANDU, Feb 4: In the picture, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and two senior leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal are seen playing tunes with their flute and sarangi.

Bukund Gandharva is 49. He is a musician- a Sarangi player. He first held the instrument as a kid. He then got keenly interested and finally learnt how to playing Sarangi. “I have played the Sarangi since I was a kid.

The song ‘Despacito’ (meaning slowly) by Puerto Rican artist Luis Fonsi received many praises, accolades, and awards including three Grammy Award nominations. It wasn’t a surprise then that YouTube was suddenly flooded with many covers and renditions of the song. But one version that stands out is definitely the one where Manice Gandharva reproduces the tunes on his sarangi accompanied by Tunna Bell Thapa on the guitar.

Music has forever been an important part of the Nepali culture. From the day a baby takes his first breath to the moment he breathes his last, music will be around him. Its presence is undeniable through the various courses in his life, in marriage and festivities, in life and in death.

Sarangi players as well as father-son duo Chitra Bahadur and Govinda Gandarva have been traveling around various parts of Lamjung and singing songs about the earthquakes of April 2015 and the miseries they caused.

Souls of My City

GHAYMPESAL, Dec 13: Playing the sarangi is passion and also a living for Lal Bahadur Gandharba, 71, from Gorkha.