Kathmandu

Up one flight of steps and what you see is quite unexpected in this building. The place looks abandoned but not completely. There is not much light in the room except some rays from the few windows on the right. As you walk towards the dark end, you feel something gritty under your feet. Sand particles. Your eyes rather wander around the dark hall-like room. Unique and traditional Nepali instruments veiled under dust and those in glass boxes placed in the room’s mid-section catch your eyes. The sight of those instruments is barred by broken brick pieces in several places. The left side of the structure is tilted a little and the left walls have several cracks. As you scan the room, you will heed the holes on the roof.

These are the results of the earthquake of April 25 and its aftershocks to the Music Museum of Nepal, Tripureshwor, which has a collection of Nepali folk music instruments which include recorded 200-year-old nagada. The quake had damaged 55 rare instruments along with the structure, and the monsoon poses more danger to the remaining instruments still lying in the vulnerable building.

“We have worked hard to preserve these instruments. They are an investment of 21 years. Their significance is more than our lives. These instruments are important because they are the treasure and creativity of our ancestors. One can feel that these instruments have certain vibes,” expresses Ram Prasad Kandel, Founder and Director of the Museum.

Kandel has been collecting the instruments since 1995. The museum has 600 different types of rare and authentic Nepali instruments and only 200 instruments were on display. The museum was registered with the Government of Nepal in 1997 and it was opened to visitors in 2002.

Shringinad, Kangling, Dhwani Paatra (singing bowl) are some of them. Shringinad  is a blowing instrument made from the horn of Krishnasar deer. It is the instrument of Nath heritage. As per Kandel, “Kaan cheereko jogi (sage) play the instrument at night in the month of Chaitra and Kartik in four directions of a house to protect that house from various kinds of diseases.” It is about 300-400-year-old instrument and he got it from Gorkha’s Gor-akhnath pujari khalak.

Another such instrument is Kangling. It is a horn made out of the femur of special Bon gurus. And “it is used to treat sick people who are on the verge of death”.

And “these instruments had healing power. It is gone due to the destruction caused by the quake which is a great loss for us. You won’t find such instruments easily. They need to be identified as well as their healing powers. You might find similar kind of instruments but without the magic”.

However, drums can be made again. “We can make them but we have to get to the places from where we got them. We have to go to Bhojpur or Karnali or Dolpa. It is not possible for us to call the experts here and make the instruments because they need materials of that particular place or particular snake skin or frog skin. It will take time but it can be done.”

The sad part is that the museum has not started restoration and preservation works of such instruments. Kandel cites, “We don’t have the energy. We don’t know what to do and what not to do. Our main concern is to protect the instruments from immediate dangers (rains) as much as possible for now.”