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Kathmandu Friday December 21, 2001 Paush 06, 2058.
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No marriage is complete without Band Baja these days
By Perina Pathak
KATHMANDU – From Panche Baja to Band Baja, the time has changed a lot.
However, whether Panche or Band, a marriage without music is totally a dull affair.
And as the time passes by, the modern day Band Baja has totally replaced the
traditional Panche Baja. This Mangsir, the main wedding season, the Band Baja business
flourished like any other year or even more due to the lack of wedding dates in the
following two months. This has helped the owners of Band Baja make sizeable amount of
income.
According to culture expert Hari Ram Joshi, marriage without Panche Baja
(musical performance on five different instruments) used to be considered invalid many
years ago. But now the situation has changed. These days, people take the ceremony with
the music of Panche Baja as a very dull and boring ceremony.
"Along with modernisation, the traditional form of marriage has also
changed," says Govinda Tandon, another culture expert. "People these days
disregard using traditional Panche Baja but have accepted the use of Band Baja, which is
the combination of modern musical instruments."
"The traditional musical instruments mostly consist of drums, so people
prefer band musicians to bring musical tune," says Bishwo Nath Karki Dhakal, owner of
Nepal Brass Band and former manager of music department at the Rastriya Naach Ghar.
Panche Baja, which was once very popular, has now been limited only in some
remote villages. People living in urban areas mostly prefer Band Baja (a group performance
of modern musical instruments). "People also use Band Baja to keep their prestige in
the society," says Tandon.
According to the experts, the tradition of using Baja is very old. From Satya
Yug (the period when gods used to rule the Earth), musical instrument has been the part of
religious functions.
"Marriage is also considered to be a religious ceremony, so people of
the Satya Yug used music as a part of the religious ceremony," says Joshi.
But now this tradition has changed. Today’s bride and bridegroom regard
proper musical arrangement as a prestige issue. "It would have been very
uninteresting if I would have taken the Janti (the procession from the bridegroom’s
side) without Baja," says Sanjaya Aryal, who got married on December 9 this year.
Usually, the month of Mangsir is considered to be the auspicious month for
marriage. But this year’s Mangsir (November 16 – December 15) month brought only
two lagans (auspicious dates) on December 9 and 10, encouraging many young men and women
to begin a new relationship.
Due to this limited lagans this month, many weddings took place on December 9
and 10. "More than 15 people came to book our Band Baja for these two days but I
could provide our services to only three," says Shanu Bhai, owner of Shree Kumari
Brass Band.
Bhai’s band performed in 12 different marriages last year in Mangsir but
it could provide services to only three customers this year. "Some even came to offer
17,000 rupees for an hour but I could not provide musical facilities to them as I was busy
serving my friends and relatives," says Bhai. "This month, we had to face a huge
loss," says Bhai. "But I hope I will recover this loss in coming Falgun (Feb 13
– March 13 another auspicious time for marriage)."
This month some Band Baja owners even hired professionals from neighbouring
India to fulfil the demand, says Dhakal
In a band, there is usually a group of 13-16 players. For a season, they
practise popular Hindi, Nepali and Newari songs that are popular that time. They usually
play musical instruments like brass, trumpet, kilet, bass drum, side drum, dhol and
mercus.
Whereas in traditional Panche Baja, which is also known as Gujrati Baja,
consists of traditional instruments like shahanai, dhalki, dama, jhayli, and tyamko.
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