Folk Music in the Caste System of Nepal

Author(s): Felix Hoerburger

Source: Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 2 (1970), pp. 142-147
Published by: International Council for Traditional Music
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 FOLK MUSIC IN THE CASTE SYSTEM OF NEPAL

by Felix Hoerburger

TWELVE YEARS AGO during the IFMC conferenceat Copenhagen,

Arnold Bake gave an excellentpaper on Nepalese folkmusic, which
unfortunately appeared in the Journalof the IFMC only as a short
summary.'But even this briefsummaryshows the very complicated
situation arisingfrom the fact that in Nepal two communities,the
Nevari and the Nepali, have lived togetherfortwo hundredyears,each
preservingmore or less intact its own language and separate musical
traditionas well as its own hierarchyof castes. These castes,because
of theirsocial separation,continueto keep pure theirseparate tradi-
tions. Hence, one cannot understandthe different stylesof Nepalese
music in theirculturalcontextwithouttakinginto account the caste
systemand its effecton the music.
Arnold Bake stressedquite correctlythat thereare, generallyspeak-
ing, two characteristicmusical stylesin the Kathmandu Valley: that
of professionalbards and that of the so-called Guthi organizations,
performedat innumerableNevari feasts.These two entirelydifferent
but typicalmusicalstylesare heard all over the Nepal Valley and will
in all probabilityyield but slightlyand only gradually to intrusions
froman increasingnumberof tourists.
The professionalbards of the Gaine caste have been discussedby
M. Helfferand A. W. MacDonald.2 The Gaine is the onlycaste exclu-
sivelyengaged in music, except for begging,which is combined with
music-making. Withtheirubiquitoussarangi (fromthe Indian sarinda,
not sarangi!), a kind of violinwith fourstrings,these people wander
1 Arnold Bak6, "Nepalese Folk Music," Journal of the International Folk Music
Council, X (1958), 50.
2 M. Helffer and A. W. Macdonald, "Sur un Sarangi de Gaine," Revue de
Musde de l'Homme, VI, no. 2 (Summer, 1966), 133ff.

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 FOLK MUSIC IN NEPAL / 143

throughoutthe valley and appear whereverthere is hope of making

money.In recentyearstheyhave begun to sell theirfiddlesto tourists,
who buy them as souvenirs.It is true that this has somewhataltered
the traditionalmeaning and purpose of music of the Gaine, whose
originaljob it was to spread the news of the world. Alert at all times
to the latestpoliticalevents,theyused theirown medium as a kind of
oral newspaper.
Anotherchange thathas takenplace in recenttimesconcernsthe use
of the old folkragas largelyforgottentoday. Nowadays, the repertoire
of the Gaine songs comprisestwo quite distinctstyles.Most of the
youngerpeople sing the Gaine jhyaure in a stylethat bears littlerela-
tion to the old folk rdgas. It is probably influencedby the modern
Indian entertainment music heard on the Nepalese radio. If one asks
the youngerGaine musicianswhy theyavoid the old folkrdgas,they
give the plausible explanationthat "people" no longer enjoy hearing
them. I am sure that, speaking of "people," they refernot only to
touristsbut also to the native audiences,who hire them regularlyfor
festiveoccasions.
There are two other castes professionallyengaged in music: the
Nevari of the Kusle or Jogi,and the Nepali-speakingDamai. Unlike
the Gaine caste, the membersof Kusle and Damai have, besidestheir
musicianship,a secondprofessionas tailors.It is not quite clear whether
they are tailorsfirstand musicianssecond, or vice versa. But whether
as tailorsor musicians,these people, like the Gaine, rank verylow in
the caste hierarchy;theybelong among the unclean.
This fact is not withoutinterestfor comparativeethnomusicology.
In Nepal the Kusle and the Damai are the only musicianswho play
different kindsof orientalfolkshawms.These shawms,whereverthey
occur, fromnorthwestAfrica to the Balkans and down to southern
Asia, are always played by outcasts of one sort or another: in the
Balkan states and in Turkey only by gypsies;in Arabic countriesby
Negroes; in Afghanistanby Jats (a kind of gypsy) or by the socially
low membersof the barber profession.Yet veryimportantsocial tasks
are associatedwith the playingof shawms. In Nepal theyare consid-
ered indispensableat certain folk festivals,especiallywedding cere-
monies,and can onlybe playedby membersof the Damai or the Kusle.
Some religiousmusical performancesof the highercastes also call for
shawms. But it is unthinkablefor a memberof a highercaste to play

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144 / 1970 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

thisinstrument himself.Hence, a shawm playerfromthe Kusle caste

is broughtin, who, in this special case, plays with an instrumental
ensembleformoney.
The Kusle and Damai casteshave certaincharacteristics in common.
Both are tailorsas well as musicians.Both have as a main musical in-
strumentthe orientalfolkshawm, and both have the task of playing
for the whole communityduring feasts of the year and for family
occasions. But there is also an importantdifferencebetween them.
The so-callednarsinga,a copper hornmorethan two metersin length,
is characteristic
of the music of the Damai caste. In Nepal it is curved
like a half-circle,while in India it is called a ranasringaand has the
shape of an S.3 Among the Damai it is used mostlyin pairs. These
horns give the music a marvelous sonorous background,while the
music itself,with its folkrdgas and talas, is played by the shawms to-
getherwith drumsand cymbals.
During the second halfof the sixteenthcentury,the Mogul Emperor
Akbar had a court orchestrawhose descriptionhas come down to us.
Althoughthis orchestrawas much biggerthan the Damai band, the
participatinginstruments verymuch resembledthose we can still see
played by the Damai. Thus, the old Indian court orchestraand that
of the Damai might well be related. But the question whetherthe
latterrepresentsa stuntedversionof the formeror the courtorchestra
was a sophisticatedversionof an old folkorchestramustremain open.
The Kusle orchestraof the Nevari caste has no horns.It is restricted
to shawms,drums,and cymbals.Even so, the varietyof theirinstru-
ments,as among the Damai, is considerable.No less than fivedifferent
kinds of shawms are used in various combinations.Among these are
two kindsthatare shaped like the European cor anglais.
Even afterthe conquestof the Kathmandu Valley by the Gurkhas,
the Nevari formedthe biggestand most importantethnic group of
the population. It also remained a closed communitywith its own
caste hierarchy,fromBrahminsdown to untouchables.These castes
have preservedold Nevari customsin which music plays a most im-
portantpart.
The role of musicin the caste systemof the Nevari is so complicated
that it can scarcelybe comprehended.From the great concern with
details in these musical traditionswe gain the impressionthat there
3 Curt Sachs, Reallexikon der Musikinstrumente(Hildesheim, 1964), P. 315.

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 FOLK MUSIC IN NEPAL / 145

must be a whole code of rules and prescriptions.Thus the question

why just one particulardrum, and not any other,belongs to a given
feastseemsridiculousto people who simplycan't conceive of an alter-
native.Yet thissystemhas no writtentradition,onlyan oral one.
In the body of Nevari musical traditions,the music of the Kusle
representsonly a single aspect. The Guthis,to whom the familiesof
the castessend representatives,also have importantsocial tasks.There
is a Guthi,forexample,who takescare of the entirefuneralceremony
when a memberof the caste dies. The musical Guthis provide music
for every religiousoccasion. There are seasons when religiouscere-
monies take place daily in frontof a temple, and Guthis make the
appropriatemusic.
Some of the Guthis,especiallythoseof the biggercastes,have groups
called ghalas,equipped withdifferent instruments. The Jyapucaste,for
example, has a dapa ghala with vertical flutes (bae) and a group of
to
singers sing the properhymns, a bansuri ghala withtransverseflutes
(bansuri) and a dhimeghala with a big drum (dhime) as the leading
instrument. Each of theseghalas has itsspecial function.
The middle Nevari castes have large musical Guthis. The most
importantis the Jyapu (peasant) caste, which has the most highly
developed music of all Nevari castes. Besides drumsand cymbalsthey
play verticaland transverseflutes,while the lower Saimi caste has only
verticalflutes(a kind of recorder). Other castes have no flutesat all.
One of the strangestphenomena in the music of the Nevari Guthi
is the ponga, a shortcopper tuba limitedto a singletone. The ponga
tones,scarcely"music" in the propersense,exceptin combinationwith
tala instruments (drumsand cymbals), have a special place in religious
feastsand processions,providingdivineinvocations.
Once again, I would propose a possiblerelationshipwith the court
music of Emperor Akbar, also with the strangelamaistic temple or-
chestrasof Tibet and theirNepalese parallelsas, forexample,the Lama
orchestrasof the Tamang communitiesin the Himalayas. Perhaps the
ponga is a stuntedform of the big tubas of the Tibetan orchestra,
unlesstheselong tubas are actuallymore highlydeveloped variantsof
the ponga.
At any rate,the intentionin eithercase is not to make "music" but
ratherto appeal to the deity.The "Dyo Lahegu," whichis played with
the ponga and percussionas an introductionto everymusical perfor-

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146 / 1970 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

mance in honor of the god, can only be understoodin the contextof

the crucial and intrinsicconnectionsbetweenmusic and religiousfunc-
tion. When I was invitedto a musical Guthi of the Jyapucaste for a
recordingsession,the programbegan with the "Dyo Lahegu." After
the playing and singing,rice brandy was served, but the firstglass
was not offered,as one mightexpect,to the guestbut to the figureof
Nasadeo (dancing Siva), the protectinggod of the musical Guthi.
It is interesting
to note that,on the one hand, special instruments of
given castes are reservedforspecial feasts,and that these relationships
cannot be changed at all, while, on the other hand, the boundaries
between the castes seem to dissolve more or less. One can see this
duringone of those big feastsof holy masked dancers,mentionedby
Arnold Bake, which I had an opportunityto observe.Here the main
music was made by a Guthi of the Gubaju caste (one of the highest
Nevari castes), togetherwith some Jyapu people who played the
pongas. Since the feast was an affairof the Nevari communityas a
whole, even the lowest Nevari castes participatedactively; two men
of the Pore caste performeda kind of parody comparable to those of
European sworddances.
Finally,the makingand repairingof musical instruments is also in
the hands of special castes,high as well as low. For example, copper
horns,bells, and cymbals are made by artisansof high castes. The
drum-makersof the Kullu caste, on the other hand, belong to the
untouchables,even thoughtheyhave a close relationshipto the musical
Guthis of all the Nevari castes. Every year the Guthis pay them a
certainsum of moneyin returnforwhichtheyhave to take care of the
drums,repairthem,or even make new ones.
The organizationof music withinthe frameworkof the castes is,
I believe,of generalinterestto musical folklore.Folk music always has
a certain relationshipto art music. And folk music is, in the highly
developed culturesof this world, not only a possessionof one social
stratumbut an aggregateof the musical expressionsof different strata.
This is whythe studyof social organizationis so importantin a society
in which the strata are, because of the caste system,so strictlysep-
arated fromone another. And it is due to these strata that socially
conditionedmusical characteristics can be discernedmore easily here
than in otherhigh cultures.
Even so, some elementsare sharedby different castes,and the music

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 FOLK MUSIC IN NEPAL / 147

of one caste is influencedby the music of another,even by art music.

Certain ragas are common to differentcaste organizationsbecause
theybelong to a special feastratherthan a special caste. Generally,it
can be said that ragas, which are elementsof art music,extend down
to the lowest strata. The professionalmusiciansof the Gaine, Kusle,
and Damai like to referto them,althoughit mustbe said that among
the lower castesthe idea of rdga becomesquite nebulous.
The observationsmade herewill hopefullyservetwo purposes: make
possible a betterunderstandingof the music of Nepal, and point spe-
cificallyto the importanceof folk music in Asia, a domain that has
oftenbeen neglectedin favor of art music. May futurestudy of this
music in turn shed furtherlight on the broader aspects of folk
expression.

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