FUZZSCAPE - 'HYOLMO'

Kapase Badal - FUZZSCAPE Ep. 1

The city of sweet jeri and even sweeter paan. Here, nothing is static. The Rickshaw's bells are as loud as the colours.  This beautiful chaos coupled with stories of the land is what makes up 'JHIHIYA'.

Jhijhiya

Chija Maya Gandharba talks about her daughter Barta Gandharba and their busking journey around Bhojpur District.

Interview by: Nhooja Tuladhar

Interview date: 17 May, 2018

Chija Maya Gandharba- Barta's Mother.( Fuzzscape Bhojpur)

After the discovery of a copper mine near Bhojpur Bajar, Nepal, the taksar bibhag was established there to mint coins. Tamrakars/Tamots, a caste of coppersmiths from the Newa: community in Patan, situated themselves as experts forming a town now known as Taksar. With them migrated architecture, culture and also music. Dafa, a form of devotional music that flourished during the Malla period in the Kathmandu Valley, is still being practiced by the locals here.

Dafa Bhajan (FUZZSCAPE BHOJPUR)

Dambar Bahadur Gandharba is a veteran sarangi virtuoso and singer, well respected in his own community as well as the larger music sphere.

Dukha Nadieun - Dambar Bahadur Gandarbha(FUZZSCAPE BHOJPUR)

Madhumala and Rewati, mithila artists working in Janakpur Women Development Centre sing a song performed during traditional tattoo ceremonies. Traditionally, women surrounded the tattoo artist and the one being tattooed and sang songs so that the one getting tattooed go distracted from her pain.

Tattoo song - Rewati and Madhumala (FUZZSCAPE JANAKPUR)

Kang Dolma sings Ole, a traditional song performed in Manang during several local festivals.  While the lingua franca of the village is the Neshyang language commonly known as Manange, all of the traditional songs are in Tibetan. This has created a disconnect for the locals who primarily use Neshyang to interact in their daily lives. Kang Dolma is one of the few people in the village who can understand the Tibetan lyrics that are sung during festivals.

Ole - Kang Dolma (FUZZSCAPE MANANG)

Ghatana, literally translating to “incident” is a genre-song retelling news-worthy events. Gandharbas used to be bearers of news before newspapers became popular in Nepal. The travelling musicians used to gather news from villages and towns, and retell them in a song. In this audio clip, Karna Bahadur Gandharba retells the news of the death of the then King Mahendra in the form of a Ghatana.

Ghatana - Karna Bahadur Gandarbha (FUZZSCAPE BHOJPUR)

Ole is a traditional song performed in Manang during several festivals. This particular one was performed for the Yarthung festival atop a roof near the Manang Gumba. Yarthung is a horse-riding festival which has its roots in Tibetan horse festivals, celebrated annually wherein members of the community—the men, mostly—celebrate by riding their horses, eating, drinking and relaxing. Yarthung in Tibetan means “the end of summer,” and sees the community celebrating the end of plantation.

Ole - Yarthung (FUZZSCAPE MANANG)

Rewati, a mithila artist working in JWDC, performs a traditional Maithali song sung when a male child is born. Appropriating this tradition, Poet Ashok Dutta (lyricist for this episode) wrote a song that would be sung after the birth of a female child. The song has been performed by Shiwani Bhagat.

Fuzz Factory Productions

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