Nutandhar Sharma
Vitality and Sustainability of Traditional Music: A Survey of Devotional Singing Groups (dāphā khalaḥ) in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Sharma, Nutandhar; Widdess, David
Abstract
Dāphā bhajan is a participatory genre of Hindu–Buddhist devotional music, sung by groups of farmers and other Newar singers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It is deeply integrated with local neighbourhood communities, but owing to recent disasters (the 2015 earthquake, the 2020–2022 Covid-19 pandemic) and ongoing cultural changes, its sustainability is in doubt. In 2022–2023 the authors conducted a survey of selected groups to investigate the performers’ perspectives. In this preliminary report we find that dāphā groups showed resilience in recovering from the recent disasters, the main effect of which was to exacerbate ongoing systemic problems. Chief among these is the difficulty of recruiting and training new members, to which some groups are responding with innovative solutions. But a range of other interconnected issues also emerged. We conclude that although many groups exhibit continuing vitality and an integrated relationship with the local communities in which they are embedded, their dependence on traditional models may be unsustainable without a degree of change.
Citation
Sharma, N., & Widdess, D. (2024). Vitality and Sustainability of Traditional Music: A Survey of Devotional Singing Groups (dāphā khalaḥ) in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Himalaya (Portland, Or.), 43(2), 149-154. https://doi.org/10.2218/himalaya.2024.9012
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jun 5, 2024 |
Publication Date | Oct 4, 2024 |
Deposit Date | Oct 17, 2024 |
Publicly Available Date | Oct 17, 2024 |
Print ISSN | 1935-2212 |
Electronic ISSN | 2471-3716 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 43 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 149-154 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.2218/himalaya.2024.9012 |
Keywords | Newar music; Kathmandu Valley; sustainability; devotional singing; participatory music |
Publisher URL | https://journals.ed.ac.uk/himalaya/article/view/9012/12786 |
Additional Information | References : ReferencesGrant, Catherine. 2014. Music Endanger-ment: How Language Maintenance can Help. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Henry, Edward O. 1988. Chant the Names of God: Music and Culture in Bhojpuri-speaking India. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Hutt, Michael, Mark Liechty and Stefanie Lotter (ed.). 2021. Epicentre to Aftermath: Rebuilding and Remembering in the Wake of Nepal’s Earthquakes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Palanchoke, Pushpa. 2021. “Understanding Dapha: A Sacred Music Tradition in Nepal.” Presentation to conference Music, Spiri-tuality and Wellbeing, Boston University. https://youtu.be/v-lIzgOcPV0 (last accessed 29/08/2023). Pandey, Basu Dev, Mya Myat Ngwe Tun, Kishor Pandey, Shyam Prakash Dumre, Khin Mya Nwe, Yogendra Shah, Richard Culle-ton, Yuki Takamatsu, Anthony Costello, and Kouichi Morita. 2022. “How an Outbreak of COVID-19 Circulated Widely in Nepal: A Chronological Analysis of the National Response to an Unprecedented Pandemic”. Life 12, no. 7: 1087. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12071087. (Last accessed 29/08/2023.) Schippers, Huib and Catherine Grant (ed.). 2016. Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: an Ecological Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press. Titon, J.T. 2020. Toward a Sound Ecology: New and Selected Essays. Bloomington: Indi-ana University Press. Turino, Thomas. 2008. Music as Social Life: the Politics of Participation. Chicago: Univer-sity of Chicago Press. Widdess, Richard. 2013. Ḍāphā: Sacred Sing-ing in a South Asian City. Music, performance and meaning in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Farnham: Ashgate/Routledge. |
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