Nasah Shristi Kala is a Musical Organization that provides Newa music training and Newa music for various cultural events.
as early as 2000 AD (2057 BS). It's striving to achieve its goals by training traditional Newah music instruments like Basuri (बाँसुरी), Pachhima (पछिमा), Khin (खिं), Dhimey (धिमे), Bay (बय्), Madal (मादल), and so on to the youths and involving them in various programs such as Wedding Ceremony, Bratabandha, Parties, Program inauguration, Rallies, Stage programs, Orchestras and many other cultural programs. It has trained 37 groups till now and prepared more than 1100 musical artists all over the valley. It is one of the biggest organizations in promoting traditional Newah music.
[History]
Due to complete ignorance of Government and strong domination of other foreign cultures, the traditional Newah music was gradually declining and was on the verge of extinction. Very few people knew how to play the traditional instruments and even fewer had the theoretical knowledge about them. Few youngsters were trained in their own community (खल: पुच:) but mostly only practically, without enough theoretical knowledge, without any notation. Trainer would play and the students tried to copy him. So obviously, many of the students couldn't get it. Dharma Munikar, who also learned the traditional instruments in his own community, was unsatisfied with the training methodology. So he started a musical revolution of systematic training with proper theoretical knowledge. He first took Basuri training class at Community Learning Center (CLC), Tamsipakha, and with his notation (Swor-lipi & bol-lipi) methodology, most of his students were able to learn it more easily and quickly. Then, after having enough students, he collaborated with his senior students to form Nasah Shristi Kala, to organize their activities and achieve their goals. Also, in a society where women were deprived of traditional music, Nasah Shristi Kala is a pioneer in teaching traditional music to women and we can proudly say that Nasah Shristi Kala has taught traditional music to more women than any other institution.
[Current Activities]
Nasah Shristi Kala has been teaching various Newah music instruments such as Basuri (बाँसुरी), Pachhima (पछिमा), Khin (खिं), Dhimey (धिमे), Bay (बय्), Madal (मादल), and so on to 37 groups all over Kathmandu valley and has produced more than 1100 traditional music artists in course of over a decade, and the training is still going on. Now, there are Basuri players in most of the places of Kathmandu valley. So the Newah music is a little bit safer from extinction now. Nasah Shristi Kala engages its students in various programs such as Wedding Ceremony, Bratabandha, Parties, Program inauguration, Rallies, Stage programs and many other cultural programs to keep them practicing. It also performs some big orchestras of about 100 artists and a variety of instruments. Music of Nasah Shristi Kala is gradually becoming more and more popular all over Nepal, but specifically in Kathmandu valley. Nasah Shristi Kala has been a Grand Cultural Program at least once a year to honor some special contributors in Newah music, to felicitate its students on their success and to provide a platform for artists to show their talent. With an aim to improve the quality of Newah music, from 2013 AD (2070 BS), Nasah Shristi Kala is going to organize a yearly music competition 'Nasah Sirpa' (Nepal Bhasa: नास: सिरपा) on the occasion of Nepal Sambat New Year (न्हूदँ) with very attractive prizes to the winners. The series of Nasah Shirpa will kick off with a Group Flute Competition (बाँसुरी खल: धेँ धेँ बल्ला कासा - ११३४) on the occasion of Nepal Sambat 1134 New Year (9th November, 2013 or Kartik 23, 2070) at Rastriya Sabha Griha, Exhibition Road, Kathmandu.