The story of playing and making folk baja

Kathmandu. Many young people have the idea of ​​going abroad and earning money. However, Raj Bishwakarma did not try to go abroad, but stayed in Nepal and started playing with the folk bajas here. It is his childhood desire to make instruments. Gradually, passion became his business.

Raj and Manoj Bishwakarma were busy making Damaha in the shutter next to the Mhaipi temple in Kathmandu. Raj said that at other times there were four people. One of the brothers is sick and is unable to come. One brother has gone to the program," he said.

They are not from the same family. They joined this profession because of similar work and passion. He has been making sarangi, madal, panchebaja sets which are used in Nepal.

He says that the wood, metal and leather required for the goods can be found in the Kathmandu market. Some metals like copper and copper are also collected from Patan in Lalitpur. They have shared different tasks to make a single tool. However, Raj says that a single instrument can be made by one person. Depending on the size of the baja, it takes different time to make it.

Animal hides are used in most of the bajas, so they are dried in the sun to prepare the leather. Also, he says that you have to wait a few days for the paint applied on the baja to dry.

``To dry the water-soaked leather, you must also take care of the proper temperature, otherwise you will not be able to make a good baja,'' says Raj, 'any baja can be made in a few hours. For some it takes a whole day and for some it may take up to a week.

When making damaha, the fingers of the hands hurt because the skin used there has to be stretched. However, it is easy to get used to it," he says. Manoj said that by applying castor fat, the fat is melting which makes it easy to touch or stretch the skin.

He enjoys making sunhi as he can play it while making it. 'No one in our family had done this work. I am the only one who is engaged in making instruments,' he said.

He had learned to make Sanhi and Colonel since he was in the village. He has also opened a shop selling tools in Mhapi. He has been making and selling musical instruments and paying a monthly rent of 20,000 rupees. He said that Tamboria Baja is the cheapest one he made.

He has made panchebaja sets worth up to 1 lakh 50 thousand rupees. "The wages of an instrument player are higher than the wages of a house builder. This work also requires a lot of effort," he says. "If you make and sell panchebaja sets yourself, you can make a profit of 30,000 to 40,000 per set."

He used to get the cow hides needed to make Damaha from the Nepalese market. Goat skin also comes from the Indian market. Which is used in Damfu, Sarangi and Madal. However, we use all the materials available in the Nepali market. You don't have to go elsewhere to find all the necessary materials for bazagaza. Everything is found here," he says.

They not only make instruments, but also teach them to play. There is also an institute to teach playing the instrument. There we teach how to play sarangi, madal, tabla, harmonium, he said.

Dharmaraj Gandharva teaches sarangi and Dhan Bahadur Gurung teaches flute. "Panchebaja is the most during the month of November and Madal is sold a lot during Tihar," he said. He likes to play all kinds of instruments. However, he says that he has not played the instrument professionally yet.

He says that due to covid, the use and sale of the bazaar has been affected. He says that because more than 25 people have been banned from attending public places, various youth clubs and organizations have not organized cultural programs, so there is no demand for falconry like before the Covid. He said that because of sending goods abroad before Covid, now the demand from abroad has stopped. But, I didn't have to sit without working. "The work is going on," he said.