Sarangi player for 55 years, Gandharba worries about a ‘dying’ art form

Gandaki, Aug. 9: Sixty-year-old Sarangi player Ram Bahadur Gandharba is worried that the Sarangi playing will be extinct if young generations do not uphold and pursue this dying art form of music.

The resident of Chhuchi of Pokhara Metropolitan City-32 shared that he has been playing Sarangi, a traditional stringed Nepali folk musical instrument, for nearly 55 years. 

Ram Bahadur first learned to play the Sarangi from his father and further honed his skill by practising it regularly. Since the first memory of walking behind his father Dhan Bahadur learning Sarangi at the age of five, the old man has been continuing with this near-extinct profession to date. 

The musical instrument is particularly played by the ‘Gaine’ or ‘Gandharba’ community to which Ram Bahadur belongs. Committed to playing the Sarangi till he breaths last, he is, however, worried that the new generation of his community would not pursue this age-old profession. 

His ancestors earned a living out of playing the Sarangi and singing folk songs travelling from village to village. “I too raised and educated three daughters and a son and ran the house with this profession,” he proudly admitted.

For the community who regard the Sarangi as a ‘good luck charm’, he recalled that his forefathers migrated from Badahare of Kaski district to Chhuchi in the same district and adopted the same profession. 

“The ancient traditions and cultures of Gandharba community have disappeared in most places,” he observed, grieving over the essence of traditional music facing extinction in recent times. 

According to him, the Gandharbas worked as minstrels and messengers in the past. “Since time immemorial, Gandharbas used to go house to house conveying messages and information about major developments and incidents of society in the lyrical form. It is a unique folk culture of Gandharba community,” he chimed in. 

Apart from the lack of interest among young generation, lack of preservation and promotion of this art form on the part of the State is also posing a threat of extinction to this profession, he pointed out. 

When there were no modern communication tools and modern road networks, Gandharbas used to walk from one village to another, disseminating messages in the form of songs. 

They would also entertain people with songs and music. In return, people would pay them in cash and kind such as salt, rice, pulses and vegetables, he recollected.

According to him, the elderly in the Gandharba community advise their younger generations to keep the Sarangi instrument as the main pillar of their house even if they do not follow this profession.

“This profession has been in existence since the time of God,” Ram Bahadur expressed. He cited that our ancient scriptures have mentioned Gandharbas singing while Apsaras (celestial nymphs) danced to the beats of their music to entertain the deities, God and Goddesses in the Vedic era.