Brabim specialises in Mundhum songs

Kathmandu, May 7: It was Bhagat Subba who first popularised Limbu songs among music lovers. After him,  Brabim Sherma has emerged to make them popular. Although a young singer, Sherma has already got a special credit for professionalising Limbu songs.

Sherma is recognised as a Mundhum singer, a model and an identitarian musician. Whenever and whereever a Limbu cultural function is organised, everyone wants Sherma’s presence there. When Sherma begins to sing, the surroundings get lively all of a sudden.

An activist and trainer of Limbu mother tongue, he is now busy recording Mundhum songs in the Hakapare rythm which will have twenty parts. "It will run for at least three hours. The album will be titled Mundhum-2," he announced. 

He had brought up an album of the same title 15 years back. Mundhum is a mythology of Kirat and Limbu communities. It tells the story of the birth of the world, the creation of human beings and chronicles of human development and civilisation. “It is a musical creation but it tells the history of our civilisation,” Sherma said. “In a real sense, it is a matter of sociological studies of the Limbu community.”

Born in Mangjabung of Panchthar in 1984, he spent his childhood in a Limbu village. Then, most people of the Limbu community did not speak Nepali nor did they understand it. Just because of being unknown to the Nepali language, Mangjabung was isolated and ignored by the then government institutions. His father Nara Bahadur Sherma was the deputy-pradhanpancha of Mangjabung Village Panchyat. He left no stone unturned to make his siblings educated. It was the first time, Brabim was in touch with Brahmin and Kshetriya friends at the school and had a chance to learn Nepali very soon.

“Then only a few had radio sets at Mangjabung. I was fortunate that we had a set of radio and I was mesmerised by the melodious songs by Narayan Gopal and Bhaktaraj Acharya,'” he disclosed. Songs like Aljhechha Kya Re Pachhyauri Timro Chiyako Buttama, E Kanchha Thattaima Yo Bains Jana Lagyo and so on were his favourites. 

“I used to hum the songs while I was alone,” he said.

FM radios began to air throughout the country around 1998. Taking a set of radio, he used to go to the jungle for grazing cattle and listened to the songs sung by Swarup Raj Acharya, Ram Krishna Dhakal, Rajesh Payal Rai and Yam Baral.

“For me, those days are unforgettable. I was inspired by their rich vocals and used to sing myself,” he recalled. “Admired by friends, I was encouraged to sing more and more.”

Brabim's parents wanted him to study engineering. But he was inseparably connected to music and could not think else except it. He learned classical music with Om Prakash Rai at China Chowk in Dharan in 1999. After a year, he gave a marvellous presentation at Kirat Religion Cultural Forum which made him famous among Limbu community. “My musical career began from that very point, and later on, I was associated with the Forum as a central singer from 2002-2008,” he said. 

He said he was a great fan of Bhagat Subba alias Lajesa Yakthumba, a famous singer of Limbu tongue at that time and his songs were aired in every cultural programme and indigenous movements in Mangjabung.'

Brabim came up with his first album Chesung (The Gift) in 2003. Songs like Panthare Lungase (Brothers Of Five Types Of Surname), Chhathare Lungase became popular among FM radios. Published in 2007, his album Ingghang (The Message) gave him wider recognition as a proficient singer. Mundhum, an album published in 2009, gave him a new identity as the Mundhum singer. He proved that one could become professional even by singing in Limbu tongue with his album Sewaro Namaste in 2019.

More than 100 Limbu and 36 Nepali songs sung by him have been recorded. He has directed music to more than 50 Limbu songs.

He has presented Limbu songs among Nepali music lovers abroad including Korea, Qatar, Malaysia, England, Singapore, Israel, and Hong Kong. Now his popularity is beyond Limbu community. 

"My days are hectic to prepare to present my songs abroad," he said.