{"id":6416,"date":"2017-12-27T14:35:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-27T19:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.massfolkarts.org\/?p=6416"},"modified":"2017-12-27T15:48:54","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T20:48:54","slug":"studio-alan-kaufman-local-nepali-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.massfolkarts.org\/index.php\/2017\/12\/studio-alan-kaufman-local-nepali-musicians\/","title":{"rendered":"In studio with Alan Kaufman & local Nepali musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A couple of years ago, Alan Kaufman<\/a> introduced me to Sushil Gautam<\/a>, a Nepali immigrant he’d met at the local Dunkin Donuts in Arlington. It was Alan’s fiddle case that caught Sushil’s eye and the two struck up a conversation. Sushil, who had written a book on the Nepali sarangi (fiddle), was eager to meet an American\u00a0 fiddler.\u00a0 Today, the two have become friends and Sushil has moved on to work in information technology for a local healthcare company.<\/p>\n

Last week, I was delighted that Alan invited me to the filming of In the Tradition<\/a><\/em>, a studio show he writes and hosts at Arlington Community Media, Inc<\/a>.\u00a0 The hour-long broadcast features local and visiting musicians. Recently, Alan has ventured beyond western traditional music. On the December 20, 2017 shoot, the featured guests were three local Nepali musicians: Shyam Nepali on sarangi, Sushil Gautam on jaw harp and madal, and Ranjan Budhathoki on flutes.\u00a0 Of the three, only\u00a0 one, Shyam Nepali, is\u00a0 a member of the Gandharba occupational caste of musicians.\u00a0Historically, the Gandharba traveled from town to town in the mountainous regions of Nepal.\u00a0Much like other hereditary musicians, they played a key role in society, traveling from village to village, spreading news and entertaining.<\/p>\n

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The tradition of playing the sarangi\u00a0 is associated with the Gandharba. Indeed, Shyam comes from a long line of traditional musicians, primarily sarangi players.\u00a0 His instrument was made by his brother and features a carved bird as a scroll. The sound box is covered with goat skin. Shyam explains that the string is played by placing the fingernail (rather than the pad of the finger) on the metal strings. Although he uses a western style violin bow, traditionally, the bow was made from bamboo strung with soaked cactus fiber instead of horse hair.<\/p>\n

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But I’m getting ahead of myself. . .<\/p>\n

We all arrived around 6:00 p.m. at Arlington Community Media, Inc., the local cable television station. It being late December, it was already dark and cold. After unloading musical instruments in “Studio A,” everyone gathered downstairs for pizza while Alan went over production notes.<\/p>\n

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Alan joked with us about how when he picked up the pizza, he mentioned to the take-out staff it was for some Nepali musicians who were going to be performing on his show. “Oh, who?” they responded.\u00a0 Turns out they were from Nepal as well –Greater Boston’s Nepalese version of serial migration.<\/p>\n

Once back up in the studio, it was time to tune up the musical instruments, check mic levels, and go over the script.<\/p>\n

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In addition to the interview-style chat led by Alan, the group performed a number of songs and instrumentals.<\/p>\n