Masterdrummers of Nepal

The Kathmandu University Navabaja and Dhimay Ensemble

The Kathmandu University Department of Music at Bhaktapur, Nepal presents concert tours of the famous MASTERDRUMMERS OF NEPAL. This ensemble consists of ten musicians including teachers and students at the Department of Music. The group performs two vibrant forms of Newar drumming, a ritual ensemble of nine drums (navabaja) accompanied by shawms, flutes, trumpets, and cymbals, and an ensemble of processional drumming (dhimay drums and cymbals) with spectacular dances. This ensemble toured Western Europe with great success during the 1990 'Festival of Traditional Music DHIN DHA TUM TAK', Italy during 1999 and 2000 ('La notte di San Lorenzo' and 'Festival Musicale del Mediterraneo') and Germany and the Czech Republik (Festival Mitte Europa) during 2001.

Sponsors inviting the 'Masterdrummers of Nepal' are requested to provide the following:

Newar civilization climaxed under the Malla kings (13th -18th centuries), whose rival kingdoms of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur competed in architectural, artistic and cultural splendour; several rulers themselves excelled as musicians, dancers, composers, poets and art patrons. Until today, the Newars maintain many aspects of their culture, including an elaborate round of urban rituals in which music and dance play a large part. Performance in Newar culture serves a variety of ritual and entertainment functions, establishing intimate connections between ritual, space, time, and society, and between the material and spiritual realms. Contemporary pressures inevitably ensure that Newar culture is undergoing rapid change and decline. The large, middle-caste, Hindu community of farmers (Jyapu) constitutes a veritable repository of Newar musical and other traditions. Several types of devotional music are performed in temples, of which the oldest, dapha, is believed to date from the 17th century heyday of Newar civilization. In Bhaktapur there remain some sixty dapha groups attached to different shrines and deities. Eight of the ritually most important dapha groups were expanded (beginning with two royal donations in the early 18th century) to include sets of nine different drums (navabaja). These are played at festival times by a master-drummer, in a three-hour sequence of contrasting drum solos, accompanied by the shawms of the Jugi tailor-musicians and interspersed with dapha songs. Unfortunately most of these 'navadapha' groups ceased playing or perform only once or twice a year (earlier: approx. 22 times per year). As the musicians do not get frequent practice, they forget the complex repertory. The younger generation is mostly interested in commercial music. Processional music of the farmers, bricklayers and potters is played during civic and family rituals. Among all the instrumental ensembles of Bhaktapur, only one single genre of processional music of the farmers (dhimaybaja) is still really popular among young men; one reason may be that they can attract the attention of the girls while playing their drums.

The Kathmandu University Department of Music is unique in South Asia. Established in 1996, the department does not only promote the study of Nepalese and other South Asian musical traditions, but also introduces students to other musical traditions of the world and to the academic discipline of ethnomusicology (3 years B.A. and 2 years M.A.). Practical instruction in Nepalese local music traditions and in North Indian Classical Music are given, and there are courses in anthropology and in the use of audio and video technology. Courses are open to both Nepalese and foreign students