Music

Music of Nepal refers to the various musical genres of Nepal. With more than fifty ethnicity, the music of this country is a highly dispersed phenomenon. Although genres like pop, rock, folk, and Classical music exist, a huge number of such genres are yet to be cataloged. Many musical bands exist in Nepal, with a huge number in Kathmandu – most of the recent ones focused in pop and rock. Rap has been known to emerge on the charts from time to time

Nepali Music Genres

Deuda Music

Deuda is one type of music having variety of genre including Thadi Bhakha, Raheri and other, presented in western region of Nepal. Specially this type of music present in Sudur paschim, and many regions of madhya-paschim.

Dohori

Dohori is Nepali Folk song. This is unique type of song in world. Dohoro means from two side or a debate. This debate is in rhythm, and involves quick and witty poetry.The two teams in Dohori usually involves boys in one group girls in the other.The song is started with a question usually from the boys side. The girl follows the question with a quick response and continues the musical conversation.

Dohori songs can last for long time. The length of the Dohari depends on the quick thinking ability of the players. Some Doharis have lasted as long as seven days.People celebrate the entire night singing the Dohari. They start singing in evening and end at dawn. Love and marriage are usually the topic of the debate. The male expresses his love or feelings to the girl in the song and girl may or may not respond positively for various reasons.

Aadhunik geet

Aadhunik geet or Modern songs are popular songs in Nepal. Its also known as sugam sangeet. These type of songs are soft and melodious.

Newari music

Newa Music or Newar Music, is traditional music developed in Nepal by the Newars. The musical instruments mainly consist of percussion and wind instruments.

Gurung Music

Gurungs have a very rich tradition of music and culture. Gurungs have an ancient tradition of Rodhi where young people meet, sing and dance to folk songs, and share their views. Young men and women at Rodhi often sing call-and-response songs called dohori, which are largely improvised. Some musical dances like Ghantu and Chudka are still in existence, and are still performed in many Gurung villages. These dances are many hundreds of years old, and are performed either solo or in a group. Music also plays a big role in the Gurung ritual of Argum, which is performed when someone in the community dies.

These traditions are still very much alive in rural Gurung villages. Gurung films are also popularizing some of these songs and dances.

Kirat Music

The Yakthungs (Limbu) have various forms of dance, songs and musical instruments. Of them, Dhaan Nach (paddy dance) and Chya:brung (Dhol Nach "drum dance") are popular symbolics. Rais celebrate Sakela and Sakewa which are wrongly referred as Chandi Naach. Chandi is hindu goddess and is not related in any way with Kirat culture. Many form of their dance involve rituals or religious offerings towards Mundhum (native Kiranti religion). Traditional dance and songs are also practiced for weddings, festivals or gatherings.

Tamang Music

Tamang community is well known for Damphu, a traditional instrument. Tamang Selo music is based on the usage of Damphu and Tungna. It is said that British people got an idea of making Drum Sets from Damphu during their stay at India. Western and Indian instruments are also found in some modern Tamang Selo music. Recently due to the re-mixing trend of classic Nepali songs, Tamang Selo tuned songs like changba hoi changba, Man chadey Maichyang lai have been a hit in Nepali radio stations. Also, Modern artists like Sindhu Malla, Raju Lama[1] Avinash Ghising, Roj Moktan, Bijay Lama, etc. have used Tamang Selo tunes in their songs and those songs have also been a hit.

Magar Music

Salai Jo, Kaura and Sorathi are the three unique and exclusive musical genre of Magar music.

Sherpa Music

Sherpa Music is based of Tibetan Buddhism. This is identical to Music of Tibet around the trans-Himalayan region. First and foremost Tibetan music is religious music, reflecting the profound influence of Tibetan Buddhism on the culture.

Maithili Music

The musical genres which was introduced to Nepal from outside and thrived here can be considered as imported music. This contains:-

Bhajan

A Bhajan is any type of devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan. It is normally lyrical, expressing love and pray for the Divine. Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, Sai Baba bhajan are popular in Nepal.

Filmi music

Filmi music is popular music as written and performed for cinema. Since history of cinema of Nepal is not so long the filmi music is developing. As bollywood movies are also popular in Nepali urban areas Nepali filmi music heavily inspired by indian filmi music. Music directors make up the main body of composers; and the songs are performed by playback singers.

Ghazal

The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th-century Arabic verse. The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century due to the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari poetry and Urdu poetry, today it is found in the poetry of many languages of the Indian sub-continent. Motiram Bhatta introduced the written form of Ghazal in Nepali language in 1890. Seturam Shrestha (1891-1941) has been credited with pioneering ghazal music in Nepal. The tradition of singing ghazals has been gaining popularity in the last few years.

Western Music

    Rock & Roll (Introduced by the Hippies)
    Blues
    Rock
    Electronic Music
    Metal
    Pop
    Rap/Soul