Nepalese Sarangi

Featuring Sarangi . Nepal . Lok Geet . Nepalese Folk Song . Raju Pariyar . Bima Kumari Dura . Sunkochora . Gaine . The Mountain Music Project . AdalatPkr . Guransa Fulyo . Barta Gandharva . The Three Young Gandharvas .

Wikipedia : Unlike Classical Indian Sarangi, Nepalese Sarangi has four strings and all of them are played. Traditionally, in Nepal, Sarangi was only played by people of Gandarva or Gaine cast, who sings narrative tales and folk song. However, in present days, its widely used and played by many.

HimalayanMart.com : Different Himalayan Musical Instruments are used in different purposes, like singing bowls are used for healing the diseases, Damaru, Tingshaw and Vajra Ghanta are used for ritual ceremony, Pancha Baja, Nau Baja, Shehnai, Dholak, Damaha, Trumpets etc. are used mostly for marriage ceremony and other ceremonies, Sarangi is used to tell the historic events, Madal, Ankle Bells, Tabla, Sitar, etc. are mostly used for entertaining purposes.

mundane musings : Gandharvas, since time immemorial, have been recognised as the musician caste of Nepalese society. Long before television and radio came into existence, these people would travel around the villages playing music and spreading news, much in common to Europe’s wandering minstrels.

Darjeeling Forum : Rohini, a hamlet around 10 km from here, is home to a Gandharva family that is among the last to cling to its traditional occupation of playing the sarangi. Prem Gandharva, in his mid-thirties, and his father, B.B. Gandharva,both play the instrument “handed to us by our forefathersâ€.

Nepali Times : When Barta Gandharva sings, her voice carries a startling note of struggle that stands at odds with her stature and youthfulness. Her toes barely reach the ground when she sits at the edge of a chair, concentrating on tuning her sarangi.

Parashuram Bhandari : Parashuram (pronounced pa-ra-shu-ram) is a Nepali master of the sarangi, an artist known for his brilliant form and rhythmic power. The sarangi, whose name means “hundred-colored,” is a strange and ancient relative of the violin.

The Telegraph : An amateur wood sculptor, Lok Bahadur Pradhan, has carved a two-in-one instrument that can be played both as a sarangi and a tuna, two traditional Nepali musical instruments.

Nepal Music Center : Nepal Sangeet Vidhyalaya, a music school established in the year 2062, by Music Nepal aims to provide formal education in music from the primary level. It is probably the first ever school established with due permission from Ministry of Education, with the given responsibility of developing curriculum for formal music education.