Kathmandu:

At one point of time, anything and everything traditional were placed in museums for the sole purpose of being preserved. They were removed from our everyday lives and relegated to some obscure corner of our social sphere that we probably forgot about things traditional. However, traditional is making a comeback. People have started to wake to up to importance and beauty of our traditional heritage.

And one step towards this is the Sarangi Sangeet that is being organised by Kaal Bhairav Events and Management in association with the Embassy of India and BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation with the intention of promoting traditional musical instruments.

The Sarangi Sangeet featuring maestros from Nepal and India has already charmed the residents of Bandipur, with a show scheduled for the music lovers of Pokhara on June 7. The residents of the Capital will get to enjoy an evening of blissful music on June 8 at a special gathering organised by the Indian embassy, while the musicians will perform on June 9 at the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

Renowned sarangi players of Nepal Hari Sharan Nepali and Shyam Sharan Nepali will be sharing the stage with sarangi maestro Ghulam Waris from India. The programme will also feature launching of new sarangis developed by Hari Sharan Nepali.

The aim of the programme is to show that sarangi music is not just limited to its traditional tunes, but that today music is being improvised to fusion.

In the past, the sarangi was related to folk music in Nepal, but today it has been used in classical and modern musical creations.

The event also aims to bring out the distinctive features of sarangi in both the countries and highlight the rich innovations done in Nepal.

This is Waris’ first visit to Nepal. He comes from a family of sarangi players that has been involved in the musical world for seven generations. Waris has been involved in making music (sarangi) popular among the youth.

Their performances will accompanied by musicians like Babu Raja Maharjan, Raman Maharjan, Gaurav Bomjan, Ramesh Maharjan, Kul Prasad Maharjan and Ambika Prasad Mishra, India.