In Place of War with Kiran Nepali
Kiran Nepali, the Sarangi player for the distinguished Nepali folk instrumental band Kutumba, recently participated in a project called In Place of War, an extension of a research conducted by Manchester University, UK. The ongoing research examines creativity in areas around the world that have been through armed conflict, unrest and disaster. 7 years of its operation has led to a vast international network of artists from troubled places including, but not limited to, street artists from Libya, theatre makers from DR of Congo, dance groups in Sri Lanka, musicians from Sierra Leone as well as refugee art projects in the UK. It is an investigation into how art and its development is affected by war.
Kiran’s participation, in particular, was in events organized by Manchester University with the collaboration of Un-convention. Along with musicians from India, Brazil, Uganda and the UK, Kiran has spent the last several months playing at leading festivals in the UK: Shambala festival, Bestival, Festival number 6 and even at the Etihad stadium before the match that was broadcast on television. He stayed and jammed with these musicians throughout that time and tells us of his experience.
He observed that musicians seemed to respond to war in different ways. Some were passionately angry while others wanted to create something beautiful out of the rubble left by war. Sometimes they expressed revolutionary ideas and at other instances used music simply to cope with the changes around them. But what they did have in common was that creativity flourished during and after the experience of war.
The project supports these artists and showcases their work. An online platform at inplaceofwar.net allows artists to share their artwork and anybody to learn from them. It lets people discover the unseen aspects of war: the human faces and experiences behind the political, philosophical debates. More than anything, the site is a digital archive of artworks that would otherwise be lost. The purpose for their preservation is to enable artists to reshape and resist the ugliness of war.
Kiran Nepali is no stranger to such potential in music. His band Kutumba, in their many years of travelling to nooks and corners of Nepal while promoting Nepali folk music and supporting numerous charities and initiatives, have garnered an extensive knowledge of the country and its people. “Freedom”, the seventh track from their album Utsarga, in particular, is their illustration of the general experience of the Nepalis during the 10 year insurgency. The track starts with a tense rhythm played on the tungnaa accompanied by the chilling pulsation of the ghunguru. Nepali’s Sarangi pierces through the rhythm on an unbelievably mournful note, progressing relentlessly only to be caught up by the flute’s melody, so potent in its sadness that its almost cruel to the listener. It conjures up visions of dying fellow citizens and the destruction of our land. The track builds up a gloomy crescendo up until this grief-stricken music falls apart into an upbeat, celebratory movement. Kiran explains that this movement represents the joy of people at the end of the civil war. “A politician can deliver an hour long speech to make a point. Music and art have the potential to make that impact in seconds”, he adds.
During the course of his participation in the In Place of War project, Kiran was most excited about the cultural exchange. His pride and belief in Nepali folk instruments was invigorated by numerous non-Nepali musicians curiously asking him about the Sarangi, impressed by its unique tone and versatility. “It was another great opportunity to introduce Nepali music to the world”, he shares, beaming.
Kiran’s agenda, as it is with his band members, has always been the promotion of indigenous Nepali instruments. Although Kiran plays the guitar and his band members used to play western influenced music before Kutumba, they have found folk music to have a wide appeal, not only among Nepali citizens but abroad as well. Kiran thinks it important to offer our own culture to the world, and to younger generations, to maintain that pride in our identity. Besides promoting tourism for a country whose economy largely depends on it, music is a channel through which we can pass on all the good values and wisdom our rich culture has to offer.
In addition to his impressive efforts to follow on these ideals with Kutumba by touring to different parts of the world, the UK last year for example where they received deep appreciation from a cosmopolitan audience, he has already taken steps to establish an institute to teach Sarangi. This is an exciting venture for the country at this time as young people, after their experiments with western music, are becoming more curious about their roots. We have seen the efforts of young fusion musicians to accommodate Nepali elements into a variety of different genres. Kiran aims to promote the Sarangi through formal teaching, a workshop to manufacture the instrument and even online tutorials inviting people from all over the world to learn.
Is it true that creativity has flourished in the context of Nepal’s political instability? We can’t be sure. But with initiatives like these, people still believing in human effort, planning, collaborating, working, making art, hope is kept alive amongst the society in chaos. Projects like these stand against the homogeneous mainstream media that preys on the attention of the masses. These are efforts to bring societal reality to light amidst the haziness of irrelevant celebrity news and sensationalist journalism. In Place of War, and the musical, artistic initiatives in Nepal itself is to be supported as they bring us face to face with actual people and experiences that have been distanced from us by relentless intellectual debates; a reminder that this is not just a political, social cause, but that these are human beings.
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Text by: Jerusha Rai
Image Source: Kiran Nepali
Tags: Kiran Nepali, Sarangi
Categorised in: Arts