Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

II. Indo-Nepalese music

Indo-Nepalese society is organized according to a strict hierarchy of castes. The caste system is thought to have been introduced to Nepal by high-caste immigrants from north India who, fleeing from Muslim oppression, made their homes in the Himalayan foothills and soon became the dominant group. With them came low-caste artisans, including musicians. Indo-Nepalese professional musicians comprise the lowest strata of society, together with other low castes. Among them number the damāī tailor-musicians, gāine minstrels, hudkī hour-glass drummers and bādi (ex-)prostitute-musicians. These groups have affinities with professional musician castes in north India.

Damāī, meaning ‘kettledrum player’ are tailors and musicians (fig.1). The kettledrums (damāhā) are usually played in pairs, with paired shawms (śahanāī), small kettledrum (tyāmko), cymbals (jhyālī), barrel drum (dholakī) and paired c- or s-shaped horns (narsinga). This ensemble, known as pañcai bājā, has a ritual function and is an essential accompaniment to any Indo-Nepalese procession, life-cycle rite, festival or sacrifice. Its broad repertory includes ritual and seasonal items, wedding tunes, folksongs and modern songs. Western band instruments are popular and may complement a traditional pañcai bājā.

In far west Nepal damāī play in large orchestras of kettledrums led by a master drummer and accompanied by shawm (śahanāī), cymbals (jhyālī) and horn (narsinga). The musicians wear ceremonial white robes and turbans and perform circle dances as they drum. The repertory includes a number of responsorial drumming pieces, the master drummer sounding a call to which the other kettledrums respond.

Damāī are employed at temples to sound a large kettledrum (nagarā) during daily rituals. The kettledrum may be accompanied by shawms and a variety of trumpets and horns, notably one in the shape of a serpent (nāgbelī bājā). In far west Nepal the kettledrum has retained its ancient function of signaller.

Far west Nepal is the home of the hudki(ya), a damāī sub-caste whose members play the pitched hourglass drum, hudkā, to accompany ballads, songs and dances, in addition to playing kettledrums. The hudkā is used as a mirliton during unaccompanied passages of song, the musician holding the drum to his cheek so that the skin vibrates in sympathy with his voice. A metal tray (thālī), played with two sticks, is sometimes used as an accompanying instrument. Hudkī are particularly important as singers of ritual ballads (bhārat, jāgar) during trance-inducing ceremonies and heroic ballads (bharau) at life-cycle rites.

Gāine are itinerant singer-musicians. Traditionally they serve their patrons by singing their blessings or devotional songs on their behalf, receiving foodstuffs in return. Prior to the advent of Radio Nepal, gāine also had the duty of disseminating news and government messages. Their vocal style combines declamation and singing. The main accompanying instrument is the sārangī, a bowed fiddle with four strings (see India, §III, 6(i)(c)). Their other instrument, a long-necked plucked lute called ārbājo, is all but obsolete. Both instruments are carved from single pieces of wood and have four strings, tuned upper fifth–tonic–tonic–lower fifth. The rhythmic articulation achieved through bowing the sārangī is heightened by little bells attached to the bow. The ārbājo is held horizontally, both hands plucking the strings to produce a rhythmic drone. Today ārbājo may occasionally be heard at gāine weddings, played in ensemble with a sārangī.

The gāine repertory comprises heroic ballads (karkhā), sacred and auspicious songs (mangal gīt), wedding songs, patriotic songs and ‘sung messages’ for the army (lāhureko sandeś), social commentaries and folk songs (jhyāure gīt). Some of the songs they sing pertain to particular festivals or seasons and are played by the damāī too. The gāine tradition is in decline, many gāine now making instruments for sale to tourists rather than performing.

Most bādi have abandoned their traditional professions of musical performance and the prostitution of their women. Formerly, bādi women (bādinī) sang and danced for money, accompanied by their men on small barrel drums (dholakī, mādal), sometimes with harmonium. These days bādi earn a living from drum-making, tanning and labouring rather than music-making. In far west Nepal bādi substitute for gāine, singing and playing a Rajasthani-style sārangī, called a maśak sārangī, with a rectangular body, four melody strings and a variable number of sympathetic strings.

In addition to the music of the musician castes, other Indo-Nepalese castes enjoy recreational and devotional music-making. Playing the small barrel drum (mādal) is not caste restricted, and it is used across the country to accompany traditional songs and dances. Blacksmiths (kāmī) make instruments for the damāī, but they have their own musical tradition. They make iron jew’s harps and entertain themselves with traditional, film and radio songs.

The Nepalese court employs 16 pure-caste women as ritual singers (mangalinī). It is their duty to sing during daily rituals, royal life-cycle rites and festivals. The mangalinī (‘auspicious women’) have a repertory of nine sacred songs, each of which has a specific ritual function. They accompany themselves on harmonium and tablā. Brahmin priests sound conch (śankha) and bell (ghantā) during temple rites. During festivals they sing responsorial invocations of a deity’s name (bālan gan) and other devotional songs (bhajan), accompanying themselves with a small frame drum and finger cymbals.

Indo-Nepalese traditional music is characterized by two metres, 4/4 (khyālī) and 6/8 (jhyāure), and by melodies based on a pentatonic scale, sometimes with additional notes in descent. The seasonal and ritual repertories of the professional musician castes employ a variety of metrical structures, including rhythmic cycles of five, seven and nine beats. Similarly the melodies of these repertories are based on a range of scales, including several heptatonic scales with third, fourth and/or seventh degree raised in ascent and flattened in descent. Much of this musical tradition is in a state of decline, however, due to the influence of radio and film music.

A genre of national light music is broadcast by Radio Nepal to promote national integration. This music combines Indo-Nepalese elements, such as pentatonic melodies and traditional instrument accompaniments, with Western and South Asian pop elements, including orchestral backings, tablā and synthesized sound effects. The songs, sung in Nepali and concerned with love themes, are widely popular.

Nepal