Newa music, also spelled Newar music, is traditional music developed in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

by the

Newar Newar (; new, नेवार, endonym: Newa; new, नेवा, Pracalit script:) or Nepami, are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisat ...

s. The music has its roots in classic Hindu and Buddhist music. It evolved with incorporation of folk music of the Kathmandu valley and its peripheries. Musical instruments mainly consist of percussion and wind instruments.

Traditional music

Traditional music refers to the music from the 16th century during the rule of King Mahendra Malla to the first decade of the 20th century. Traditional songs consist of hymns that describe various deities, songs about love and marriage, ballads, rice transplantation and historical songs in the form of narratives. The traditional musicians worship the Newar god of music and dance Nasah Dyah. Traditional Newar music has been arranged into a particular schedule. One of the dominant forms of traditional Newar music is

Dapha music Dapha music (Nepal Bhasa: दाफा) is a Newa artform in which singers and musicians perform devotional music, based on classical raga and taal system. The music is performed by a group of musicians called Dapha khalah in places called dabu. ...

. Dapha music is classical Newar music that probably originated during late Lichhavi period and flourished in the Malla period. Basically, the songs of Dapha music are devotional songs based on classical ragas. Dapha music is played by bands known as Dapha Khalah that may be associated with traditional groups called Guthi. According to the ragas, certain songs are played at certain seasons or times of the day. The songs generally narrate or depict the mood of a particular season. Besides the seasonal and scheduled ragas, various ragas are played during specific events, such as Deepak raga (played when a monarch passes away). Seasons, their festivals and music accompanying them are as follows The schedule of different ragas played by Dapa on different times of day are as follows-

Modern music

Apart from traditional music, there also exists popular music. One of them being

Rajamati ''Rājamati'' () is a 1995 film be made in Nepal Bhasa. The first Nepal Bhasa movie is '' Silu'', released in 1987. ''Rajamati'' is about a luckless Newar girl named Rajamati from Kathmandu who gets involved in a series of failed relationships. Th ...

. Maestro Seturam Shrestha recorded the song first on a

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

disc in Kolkata in 1908. At the end of 2005, The Lakhey (First Newa Metal Band)(Navras Shrestha) Recorded their First Newari Metal Dhampa tacha. In contemporary culture, there are numerous pop musicians, lyricists and singers, namely

Prem Dhoj Pradhan Prem Dhoj Pradhan (6 June 1938 – 6 May 2021) was a Nepalese musician. He was a singer, composer, and regional playback singer. He sang in the two major languages of Nepal: Newari and Nepali. He was also known as the Golden Voice and King of R ...

Madan Krishna Shrestha Madan Krishna Shrestha ( ne, मदन कृष्ण श्रेष्ठ; ) is a Nepali actor, comedian, writer, singer, song writer, director and producer. He is one of the most successful and respected comedians in the Nepali entertainm ...

and

Durga Lal Shrestha Durga Lal Shrestha (born July 1935) is a Nepalese poet of Nepal Bhasa and Nepali. He was conferred with the title of ''Janakavi'' ( lit. people's poet) by Nepal Bhasha Parishad in 2003. He is considered as a progressive litterateur. He was award ...

History

According to mythology, Manjushree taught music to his disciples Shantikaracharya and Gunakaracharya. Shantikaracharya taught it to Vandhudatta Vajracharya and Shree Gunadattacharya, who wrote down the teachings to form the basis of classical music of Newars. Also, according to traditional stories, the instrument Paschima was handed down by Lord

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

and

Dhime Dhime is a former village development committee in Jajarkot District in the Karnali Province of Nepal. According to the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. ...

invented by Lord Mahadeva. These stories infer that Newa music is primarily derived from the classic Hindu and Buddhist music. Music accompanied most of the traditional epics and plays written in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

and

Nepal Bhasa Newar (), or Newari and known officially in Nepal as Nepal Bhasa, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nep ...

. This music is based on

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...

and taal system. The earliest discovered treatise on Newa music is a manuscript called Sangit Chandra Grantha. It was written by King Jagatjyoti Malla of

Bhaktapur , motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture , image_map ...

and his minister Vanshamani Ojha.Book: Nepalbhasa sahitya ya itihaas, Author: Prof. Premshanti Tuladhar, Publication: Nepalbhasa Academy, The manuscript primarily deals with dance, drama and stage play. The text was written in Sanskrit with translations and explanation in Nepal Bhasa. This was followed by another manuscript called Gayanlochan, written by King Jitamitra Malla. Various manuscripts on musical instruments have been found as well. The most famous ones of these are Taal anukaranam, Mridanga Anukaranam, Panchataal baaja.

Instruments

The instruments can be categorized as: *Membranophones:

Dhimay Dhimay, Dhimaya ( new, धिमय्) or Dhime is a traditional Nepalese drum of the Newar people. According to the Hornbostel–Sachs classification, it belongs to the category of double-headed cylindrical membranophone A membranophone is an ...

, Paschima, Khin, Kwonchakhin, Damakhin,

Dhaa The Dhaa (or Dhah) is a two-headed drum, "slightly smaller than the Dhimay." It belong to the membranophone group of Newar traditional musical instruments. It is a kind of drum specially played during the month of Gunlaa, the ninth month of Newar ...

, Nayekhin,

Dholak The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The instrument is about 45 cm in length and 27 cm in breadth and is widely used in '' qawwali'', '' kirtan'', ''lavani'' and '' bhangra''. The drum has two differ ...

, Nagara, Kantan dab dab *Chordophones: Piwancha,

Sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

*Aerophones:

Bansuri A bansuri is an ancient side blown flute originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal like material used in Hindustani classical music. It is referred to as ''nadi'' and ''tunava'' in the ''Ri ...

, Baye, Mwaali, Ponga, Kaahan *Idiophones: Taa, Babhu, Chhusyaa, Kaynpin, Bhusyaa

References

{{Newar Nepalese musical genres Newar Cultural history of Nepal

Traditional music

Modern music

History

Instruments

See also

References