A throng had gathered in front of the golden window of Patan Durbar on August 31. Pwo... pwo... pwo... eight brown horns decorated in thin aluminium sheets coiled around the body of one metre long horn each and tints of vibrant red and golden clothes, blew from time to time to the accompaniment of dha (musical instrument) beats. This went on for a few hours. In between the blaring of horns, different instruments of Nau Baja — dhime, dha, nya khin, koncha khin, dholak among others of 16 instruments — adorned in colourful decoration performed one after another amidst the crowd. But it was the horns’ sound coming from the entrance of the Patan Museum that added a different flair to the whole affair. The instruments were special and so was the festival — Matya Jatra or the Festival of Lights. The ancient Durbar Square was filled with people who were out for the revelry. This is also known as the Neku Jatra or Sringa Bheri Jatra meaning Festival of Horns. And it is during this over 1,400-year-old festival where you get listen to the performance of ‘real’ horns. The horns are played and performed with Nau Baja. This performance first took at Baglamukhi on August 28 followed by August 31 at the Patan Durbar Square. Moreover, on the day of Matya parade, it makes a parikrama (round) of different localities of Patan awakening all with their loud music teaming with several dha following three da mokhins (musical instruments) with the idols of three deities on them. And the musicians of Hakha tole (locality) just did that on August 31 under the guidance of their teacher 67-year-old Santaman Shakya from 12:00 noon to 1:30 am. When Mangal Bazaar got to play Nau Baja after 10 years this year, Hakha was responsible for dha, nya khin and horns. With two kinds of horns, the musicians catered the right sound to the festival. “Three types of horns — hoo hoo, neku and tigli — are usually played in this festival and they produce different sounds,” shared the talented Shakya who also teaches dha. “A big and heavy hoo hoo is made from our arna (wild buffalo) horns, while neku — after which the festival is named — is made from the horns of buffaloes. And the tigli are made of goats’ horns.” Since they couldn’t get tigli, they couldn’t play that in the festival and managed with hoo hoo and neku. Hoo hoo are short and produce a thick sound, while neku, which are longer, produce a thinner sound than hoo hoo. Playing Tri Ratna Sarana (Buddha Dharma Sanga), the horns were played in seven different taals like Chen Chikida Hoo Hoo Garjaka Chikida Hoo Hoo. As per Shakya, producing the perfect sound depends on the making of the horns for which the horns are cut, peeled, waxed and fitted to proper lengths of bamboo pipes (in the case of neku). For a good sound, the more curved the horns, the better, and more horns in number, the better it is. “The horns are thick when it initially comes in their natural state. They are thinned to as thin as possible. The tip has no opening, so they are cut and bamboos are fixed with wax,” he shared about neku. Not everyone can play this instrument and not many are involved in this instrument. So, there are a handful of musicians who play the sing (horn). Musician Suman Shakya, 31, and Birendra Shakya, 42, are two of them. Suman is a musician and has been playing dha for the last 15 years. However, he was playing neku instead of dha during the festival. “What happened was we didn’t find many people interested to play this instrument. We would be weak as a band of horn players. So, I played it believing that I can make a difference because this is our traditional music and we have to promote our traditional art and culture.” For the locals, it is their dear culture that one should preserve and promote it. In addition to this, Birendra says, “Let’s try it and learn it.” And he shares, “It was tough at my first attempt, but it got easier as I practised it. However, you really need strong lung power to blow the instrument. I realised that you will know things ‘if’ you learn things.” Neku baja is “unique a instrument unlike others”, the interest stirred in him and he wanted to learn it. He was enjoying his participation while playing the instrument. The last Nau Baja performance and Neku performance for this year will take place on September 2 at Swoyambhu in the afternoon. It is expected to go for two-three hours.