KATHMANDU: With various eastern and western musical and dance performances by the students of Nepal Music Centre (NMC) and Nepal Sangeet Vidhyalaya (NSV), the premises of NMC on January 20 was totally reigned by melodious songs and captivating dances throughout the day. The fourth annual function of NMC and NSV was a mosaic of treats for the audience as they were served with different genres of music and dance.

Sharing experiences of the centre, chairman of NMC Santosh Sharma stressed that music has to be included in academic curriculum from the school level. “Having diversified culture and ethnicity, Nepal is rich at its typical music patterns,” said Sharma emphasising the need for research to give recognition to traditional Nepali music from every part of the country.

Presenting the progress report of NMC and NSV, Principal of NSV Lochan Rijal expressed similar idea and urged the government to pay due attention to discovery of typical Nepali music patterns.

As the function was coincided with Saraswoti Puja, it was commenced with a devotional song Saraswoti Bandhana performed by a group of students playing tabala, madal and keyboard while their teacher Svein accompanied them on murchunga.

To everyone’s delight, a fusion of eastern and western music led the musical journey generating a soulful melody from sarangi, tabala, djimbe and flute while Pradeep Basel and friends lend their fabulous voice to the piece. The musical aura took a shift when Krishna BK and friends sang Sagarmatha ko phedima, filled with patriotic feelings originally sung by late Gopal Yonjan.

Jyapu Diwas Dhun was yet another impressive instrumental which pleased the audience with a typical Newari flavour. Latin dance performance to live fusion music of Samba and Maracatu by Anisha Shrestha and Pratik Shrestha was also appreciated by the audience. Similarly, Priyanka and friends rocked the crowd by singing With a little help from my friends, originally by The Beatles. Manjushree Dance performed by teacher Sabitri Acharya received a hugh round of applauds while another dance performance by Shreeya and friends also impressed the audience. Playing sarangi and singing a Nepali folk song, Pyaro lagchha gaun, Hemanta Kanchha pleased the audience while Ajar Jangum enthralled the crowd with his unplugged self composed song Timi chhau ni. The solo instrumentals on madal, tabala and flute were also fabulous.

Secretary of Ministry of Education Dipendra Bikram Thapa handed over certificates to different faculty members of the NMC and NSV while Sashi Raj Pandey Director of Shree Finance provided Rs 50,000 to the centre for scholarship.