Precious Drops from Nepal's Fountain of Folk Music
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Music Museum of Nepal (MMN) is a non-governmental organization, founded in 1995 with the purpose of collecting, preserving and glorifying Nepali folk music and its related cultural heritage. There are more than 100 ethnic groups in Nepal, and each group has their own culture and traditions of marking every occasion and rite of passage from birth to death with music. MMN has recorded, documented and archived these ICH-related material since many years ago. In 2016, ICHCAP supported the MMN in digitizing around five hundred hours of analogue recordings through the Digitization Project of ICH-related Analogue Audiovisual Materials. Some of materials representative of Nepali traditions were chosen and reproduced as [Precious Drops from Nepal's Fountain of Folk Music], so they can be enjoyed by more people. The Nepali collection consists of eight CDs and two DVDs. The CDs have forty-six tracks of folk music played in religious events and festivals, and the DVDs feature ten videos on folk dances and musical performances of occupational caste musicians. Each CD contains photos and descriptions about folk instruments to provide a better understanding. This project is particularly important as it resulted in restoring analogue recordings at risk of permanent damage and digitizing them to enhance their academic value and public visibility. ICHCAP hopes that this collection will enable not just researchers in the relevant fields but also the general public to learn more about and become familiar with Nepali ICH.
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The indigenous castes of Nepal have a variety of cultural events to mark different life happenings, from birth to death, which are all accompanied by music. These events depend on topography, and may vary even within a caste. Generally, people express their emotions through music in occasions such as Dashain , MagheSakranti , Purnima , or seasonal events, such as rice transplanting, rice harvesting, or millet plucking. In such festivals, each of the indigenous castes exhibits its way of life and culture through traditional attires, instruments, songs, and dances.
Audios
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No. Title Performer Country Manage No Running Time 1 Folk Songs of the Indigenous Castes Nepal AA00000023 Sonam Loshar Song of Tamang Bal Bahadur Yonjan, Sharmila Ghising Nepal AI00000160 0:07:10
Kaura Song of Magar Som Bahadur Rana, Pampha Thapa Magar Nepal AI00000146 0:05:27
Chudka Song of Gurung Lal Shari Gurung, Buddhi Bahadur Gurung Nepal AI00000116 0:07:00
Sakela Melody of Rai Chandra Bahadur Rai, Urmila Rai Nepal AI00000136 0:07:02
Maghauta Song of Tharu Santa Ram Tharu, Ram Bilash Chaudhary, Fulmati Chaudhary Nepal AI00000140 0:07:58