Devotional singing (dapha) in the Kathmandu Valley: text, performance and meaning
Lead Research Organisation:
School of Oriental and African Studies
Department Name: Music
Abstract
Dapha is religious music performed by groups of Newar men in the principal cities of the Kathmandu Valley, namely Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. These ancient cities have been the political, social and cultural centres of Newar civilization since the 13th century: a civilization reflected in rich traditions of architecture, painting, sculpture, literature and music. Despite the pressure of economic conditions and modernization, Newars still perform many genres of music that are rooted in historical tradition and articulate important dimensions of social and cultural life. In Bhaktapur, where my research is focused, music and dance are still integrated with the ritual and agricultural calendar, social organization, urban geography, and Hindu/Buddhist concepts of sacred time and space. Performance provides opportunities for religious devotion, expressive fulfilment, and entertainment for its participants and onlookers, and performance groups offer various kinds of social, economic and emotional support to their members.
In dapha we find a musical performance practice in which complex musical structures are embedded in a rich context of cultural meanings. The transmission and performance of this repertory is literate with respect to the song-texts, which are sung from written manuscripts, but oral with respect to the melody, rhythm and instrumental accompaniment. This tradition therefore offers the possibility of research into the cognitive processes of transmission and performance, which in turn link the structures or processes of musical performance with those of society, religion, architecture, agriculture etc.
The research is based primarily on my own ongoing fieldwork, but will also draw earlier work by Wegner and Tingey. The first stage of the present project comprised a three-month stay in Bhaktapur during 2003, during which I learned and transcribed 30 dapha songs, observed and recorded dapha singing in context, and studied the basics of the Newari language as spoken in Bhaktapur. This was followed by a two-month field trip in 2004 (funded by the British Academy), in which, in addition to learning a further 17 songs from a different group, and further participant observation, I carried out a re-study of a 1984 Wegner survey, and compiled the results, together with a 1992 re-survey carried out by Tingey, into a database that now provides useful quantitative and comparative data representing a period of 23 years. In 2007 I revisited Bhaktapur during the month of Buddhist observances (Gunla) in order to record and study a special category of songs, gvara, sung only at that season.
The aim of the research is to complete a monograph with audio CD recording, provisionally entitled 'Dapha: devotional songs of the Kathmandu Valley/text, performance and meaning.'. This will include recordings, notations and translations of a representative selection of songs, which will serve as a resource not only for scholars interested in sacred music of the South Asian region, but also for the local community, as a documented repertoire of traditional Newar vocal music. The text of the monograph will show how this repertoire relates to Newar history, culture and society.
In dapha we find a musical performance practice in which complex musical structures are embedded in a rich context of cultural meanings. The transmission and performance of this repertory is literate with respect to the song-texts, which are sung from written manuscripts, but oral with respect to the melody, rhythm and instrumental accompaniment. This tradition therefore offers the possibility of research into the cognitive processes of transmission and performance, which in turn link the structures or processes of musical performance with those of society, religion, architecture, agriculture etc.
The research is based primarily on my own ongoing fieldwork, but will also draw earlier work by Wegner and Tingey. The first stage of the present project comprised a three-month stay in Bhaktapur during 2003, during which I learned and transcribed 30 dapha songs, observed and recorded dapha singing in context, and studied the basics of the Newari language as spoken in Bhaktapur. This was followed by a two-month field trip in 2004 (funded by the British Academy), in which, in addition to learning a further 17 songs from a different group, and further participant observation, I carried out a re-study of a 1984 Wegner survey, and compiled the results, together with a 1992 re-survey carried out by Tingey, into a database that now provides useful quantitative and comparative data representing a period of 23 years. In 2007 I revisited Bhaktapur during the month of Buddhist observances (Gunla) in order to record and study a special category of songs, gvara, sung only at that season.
The aim of the research is to complete a monograph with audio CD recording, provisionally entitled 'Dapha: devotional songs of the Kathmandu Valley/text, performance and meaning.'. This will include recordings, notations and translations of a representative selection of songs, which will serve as a resource not only for scholars interested in sacred music of the South Asian region, but also for the local community, as a documented repertoire of traditional Newar vocal music. The text of the monograph will show how this repertoire relates to Newar history, culture and society.
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ORCID iD |
| Richard Widdess (Principal Investigator) |
