Music and Dances from Central Nepal: The Works of Subi Shah: Volume 1 - cover image

Copyright

Anna Marie Stirr; Mason Brown; Hikmat Khadka; Lochan Rijal, acting as trustees for the members of the Jyamrung and Sankhu Sohraghar communities. Copyright of individual chapters are maintained by the chapter author(s).

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80064-941-5
Hardback978-1-80511-111-5
PDF978-1-80064-051-1
HTML978-1-80064-956-9
EPUB978-1-80064-174-7

Language

  • English

THEMA

  • AVLA
  • AVM
  • AVSD

BIC

  • AVA
  • JHMC
  • AVH

BISAC

  • MUS006000
  • MUS020000
  • MUS007000

Keywords

  • Folklore
  • Ethnomusicology
  • Nepal
  • Himalayan folk music and performance
  • Subi Shah

    Music and Dances from Central Nepal: The Works of Subi Shah

    Volume 1

    FORTHCOMING

    In this book, performer, educator, and writer Subi Shah presents an essential commentary and analysis of Himalayan folk music and performance. Having documented his musical tradition since the 1960s, Shah has created in-depth analyses of song, dance, music, poetry, and drama within their local and spiritual contexts. Shah’s detailed contribution to this field is invaluable reading for students, scholars, and musicians alike.

    Music and Dances from Central Nepal is the first English translation of Shah’s works. This collection includes three published works—Madal, “Pangdure (Maruni) Folk Dances”, and Glimpses of Nepali Folk Songs—and three unpublished manuscripts— Introduction to Nepali Tunes, Sorati, and Basic Theory of Folk Dance.

    This book stays true to Shah’s voice and style, equipping the reader with the translated text, and tools such as audio and video examples, musical scores, and glossaries, which enrich our understanding of Himalayan performance.

    In keeping with Shah’s intentions to make his work available to all, and to keep these traditions of Himalayan folk music and performance alive, these highly accessible translations will be a valuable resource for a larger readership to explore this field. In doing so, this book makes an effort to decolonise ethnomusicology through the promotion of a Nepali artist’s theories and analysis within a Himalayan tradition.

    Contents

    1. Translator’s Introduction

    • Anna Marie Stirr

    2. A Short Account of my Life in Folk Music

    • Anna Marie Stirr
    • Mason Brown
    • Hikmat Khadka
    • Lochan Rijal

    3. Pangdure (Mārunī) Folk Dances

    • Anna Marie Stirr
    • Mason Brown
    • Hikmat Khadka
    • Lochan Rijal

    4. Madal

    • Anna Marie Stirr
    • Mason Brown
    • Hikmat Khadka
    • Lochan Rijal

    5. Introduction to Nepali Tunes

    • Anna Marie Stirr
    • Mason Brown
    • Hikmat Khadka
    • Lochan Rijal

    Contributors

    Anna Marie Stirr

    (editor)
    Associate Professor of Asian Studies at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5845-5652

    Anna Marie Stirr is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa. Her research, publications, and documentary films focus on music, dance, language, intimacy, and politics in Nepal. She holds a BA in Music and Religious Studies from Lawrence University, and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Columbia University. She is the author of Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimate Politics in Nepal (Oxford University Press, 2017), which won the 2019 Bernard S. Cohn Prize for first books on South Asia from the Association for Asian Studies. With Bhakta Syangtan, she made the award-winning film Singing A Great Dream-The Revolutionary Songs and Life of Khusiram Pakhrin (Sukumaya Productions, 2019). She performs Nepali folk music as a singer, flutist, and percussionist.

    Mason Brown

    (editor)

    Mason Brown’s research focuses primarily on Tibetan music and culture in Nepal, with an eye toward overlaps between liturgical music and contemporary popular forms, as well as rural folk traditions. He has received Fulbright and Firebird Fellowships for his research and documentation of the folk songs of the Nubri Valley in Nepal. His other research interests include Japanese Buddhist chant, American and Irish vernacular fiddle music, and violin manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution. Mason holds a double BA in Religious Studies and Music, with a minor in Tibetan language, from Naropa University, and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Mason has been a sign painter, carpenter, recording artist and touring musician, as well as a Zen priest. He continues to record and perform original and traditional folk music.

    Hikmat Khadka

    (editor)

    Hikmat Khadka is a seasoned Nepali-English translator with extensive experience in both translation and interpretation in diplomatic, academic, and international development settings. He has won multiple awards and recognitions for his translation and interpretation abilities.

    Lochan Rijal

    (editor)
    Professor of Music at Kathmandu University

    Lochan Rijal is Professor of Music at Kathmandu University. A multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter with a PhD in ethnomusicology from Kathmandu University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he is passionate about exploring Nepali music and experimenting with new sounds to bring about an innovative approach to sound production that fuses different musical styles. He spent years travelling across Nepal studying different local music traditions and instrument-making techniques. With three albums to his name, he is a recipient of several national and international awards.