Dhimey: Traditional Jyapu musical instrument

By Shraddha Shrestha

KATHMANDU - Jyapu in the Newari language means those who work in field. The term rightfully denotes a hardy community from Kathmandu Valley who are renowned for their manual labour. But the Jyapus of Kathmandu are also known as the masters of dhimey baja, a traditional style of music played until recently by only members of this particular community.

No one else but a Jyapu could beat the drums, clang the cymbals and play the flute that is part and parcel of the Dhimey. Those long-held belief is at last giving way to others from outside the community. Slowly, music lovers outside the Jyapu community are also being trained to play the Dhimey, but not without a fight.

Sharad Joshi, who comes from Newar community but is not a traditional Jyapu, had to make desperate pleas with the Jyapus when he went to learn to play the drum. "I think all musical instruments of the Jyapu community aren’t only theirs. It is something that belongs to all the Nepalese people," says Babu Raja Maharjan, who taught Joshi to play the Dhimey.

According to traditional belief, dhimey music first originated in the Valley as an instrument to chase away cows from eating ones crops. Gradually, the Dhimey developed into Mu Dhimey and Yalaypwo Dhimey. The Mu Dhime rythmn is different in each and every guthi (community) and the special beat is kept secret. Mu Dhimey can be learnt by members of a separate guthi only.

A Bhusyaa (cymbal), and a Keypi (bell) further accompany Mu Dhimey. The Mu Dhimey drum leads every procession and the Yalaypwo Dhimey follows. The beat of the Yalaypwo Dhimey is not kept secret and everyone can learn it. The Yalaypwo Dhimey beat is identical in each of the 32 Jyapu communities. Yalaypwo Dhimey creates a festive mood.

Even in these modern times, the traditional Jyapu music has successfully kept its separate identity. There are increasing number of Kathmandu households who would want to invite a Dhimey troupe to play on social occasions. But the problem is, such troupes are non-existent. It is only that individual musicians gather together during a guthi gathering and play some music. But they don’t operate on an organised way, unlike the brass bands that are so popular during weddings these days.

Amrit Man Tamrakar from Bishalnagar says that he would love to have a Dhimey troupe during his son’s wedding. But the city lacks such troupes. The only available option is brass band. "The Jyapus play Dhimey for their own wedding ceremonies but they are not available for other communities," he says.

Raj Bhai Jyapu, a member of Jyapu Mahaguthi, says that some musical troops were formed about a year ago, adding "but the money they made out of their seasonal performance was not enough to keep them going."

But there are lovers of Dhimey music who have taken the trouble to learn the traditional art. Among them are some foreigners. Dr Gert Matthias Wegner, a German national who is the director at department of music at KU learnt Ddhimey Baja while staying at Bhaktapur for eight years.

According to him, he likes to play Dhimey especially during festivals. "The crowd gives a direct feedback and makes everybody happy and creates a spiritual feeling, which is the magic of Dhimey," he says.

There are people who want to learn it and are not finding the right place to do so. Kathmandu University, which has a music faculty, teaches the Dhimey Bbaja for interested students. But the high fee of the university is a big hurdle for the aspiring musicians.

Ashram in memory of dead son

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MAHENDRANAGAR, Jan 16 - With her tearful eyes, Dama Devi laid the foundation stone of an Ashram (old-age home) to be built in the memory of her son, who was killed by Maoist rebels on May 15, 2000.She laid the foundation stone on the occassion of His Majesty’s birthday.

State-owned Radio Nepal announced that the only son of Dama Devi Chand, 74, was posthumously honoured with the Police Ratna medal. Chand’s unmarried son, Police Inspector Narendra Bahadur Chand, 29, was shot dead in an encounter with Maoists at Gajul Police Station in Rolpa. Heart-broken widow Dama Devi call upon all to cooperate in the making of the old-age Ashram in the memory of her son, with a relief fund to be provided by the government.

The Rs 750,000 relief fund will be spent on building the Narendra Memorial Ashram near Shivadham in the Mahendranagar municipality according to Dama Devi’s own wish. Late Narendra’s septuagenarian mother arrived here from her home in southern Bhirkot VDC-9 of Kanchanpur district to lay the foundation stone.

"We were preparing for his marriage before the tragic news arrived," Narendra’s uncle, Subedar Dan Bahadur Chand said.

Although Dama Devi is from an affluent family, she is now deeply shocked over the untimely demise of her only son, who was a great help to her in the final stages of her life. Moreover, she seems to be extremely disappointed with the harsh truth that she lost the only child, who could perform her last rites after she passes away.

Laid foundation on December 29, the four-room building with a kitchen and bathrooms will be constructed at a total cost of Rs 560,000. The rest of the money will be deposited as a trust and the interest from the fixed amount will be spent for the daily management of the Narendra Memorial Ashram, Subedar Chand said.

A seven-member construction committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Subedar Chand.s

Rebels attack election employees

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MORANG, Jan 16 - Maoist rebels looted a camera used for taking photographs for voter ID and beat up policemen in the Jante Village Development Committee, police here said Monday.

The injured policemen said that the armed rebels manhandled security personnel before seizing the camera and other documents.

All those lined up to pose for photographs dispersed after the rebels started beating up the policemen and election employees.

VDC Chairman, Upendra Ghimire, said that the three unarmed policemen seemed helpless in the face of the armed Maoists. The local administration provides three policemen as security to each team of photographers.

Maoist rebels had looted the office of the Small Farmers Development Project in the same village a few months ago.

Meanwhile, there have been widespread irregularities while taking photographs of the voters in the four Parliamentary constituencies. Voter ID is being distributed in constituencies 1,2,3 and 4 of the district for election purposes.

Aitu Satar from Hokalabari VDC-2 in Constituency No-3, has been in Calcutta as a seasonal labourer, but someone has had a photograph taken in Satar’s name. Likewise, Khadga Bahadur Bhandari from Hokalabari, found that someone had had a photograph taken in his name.

VDC-level President of the ruling Nepali Congress, Jhapat Bahadur Kunwar, said that many voters were deprived of their voter ID cards as thirds person were taking advantage of proxy ID cards.

An employee on the photography team said that their duty is just to take photographs of the voters and that they are helpless to identify whether or not people are eligible for ID.

One man, not eligible for the ID card, admitted that he posed for the photograph as advised by his party leader.

Similarly, voters have complained that there have also been widespread irregularities in voter ID card distribution in the constituencies No 5,6 and 7. Many voter ID cards do not match with the originally-stated sex, age and address, locals said.

However, returning-officer, Prem Sanjyal, said that such errors could be corrected following an immediate complaint by the concerned voters.

Trans-border phone service unlikely to resume

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BIRGUNJ, Jan 16 - Two months have passed since the successful trial of the trans-border telephone line. But the implementation of the trans-border telephone remains uncertain.

This system enables those on both sides of Nepal-India border to make cross-border telephone calls at the local rate.

The uncertainty surrounding the continuity of the trans-border telephone lines is due to the fact that India is reported to be planning to privatize its telecommunications sector.

"We had tried at the government level for the benefit of those across the border and we have achieved success. However, there has been uncertainty after the Indian government which has recently started privatising the Department of Telecommunications," Bachu Ram Shrestha, Regional Manager of Nepal Telecommunications Office told The Kathmandu Post Tuesday.

There are dozens of major towns along the Nepal-India border that stretches more than 1,000 kilometres. A large number of people live within 10 kilometres of the border. Millions of people living in these areas would benefit if this facility became available, sources in the Nepal Telecommunications office said.

"This facility would benefit not only people living in Nepal but also those living across the border in India. Therefore, Indian citizens living along the border should also exert pressure on their government for the implementation of this facility which has already been tested successfully, "said Sunil Chand Varma, President of the Consumers’ Forum, Parsa.

According to the telecommunications corporation, the target after the successful tests of Birgunj-Raxaul was to conduct tests in other trans-border areas, such as Biratnagar-Jogbani, Bhairahawa-Sunauli, Nepalgunj-Rupaidiya etc. However, these tests have been postponed for the time being, due to the uncertainty of the plan.

Currently, it costs Rs 31 per minute for a call from Birgunj to Raxaul town, less than five kilometres apart because the call is classed as an ISD call. Local call charges would be applicable if this trans-border line service becomes available.