The fulltime teaching faculty at Kathmandu University, Department of Music, says, “Learning and teaching started simultaneously for me. Initially, I took up teaching to fund my Bachelor’s degree in ethnomusicology at Kathmandu University and then it turned into a career.” [break]
Previously, he worked as the research coordinator and principal of Nepal Music Centre. “I had a number of students who were older than me. I admire their quest for learning,” he shares.
Having a Masters degree in ethnomusicology, his focus has always been to pass on the ethnic musical traditions of Nepal to his students. “There is so much to learn from our musicians who practice in villages scattered around Nepal. The kind of music they play is what I term real Nepali music.”
Even his PhD thesis, “Transmission of Music in Nepal” on which he is currently working, focuses on that tradition. “I’m studying the musical traditions of Nepal, how music is being passed on from one Nepali generation to the other,” he says.
Both as a researcher and a musician, he has traveled across Nepal to understand the lifestyle of the self-proclaimed Gandharvas/Gayaks (previously known as Gaineys).
“I always tell my students to move out of Kathmandu and experience for themselves the living traditions of music,” he shares. A firm believer in education, Rijal emphasizes that understanding the academics of music is as important as practicing it. “Practicing music gives you the freedom of expressing yourself while studying it gives you the understanding of it,” he explains.
Enjoying the responsibility of mentoring promising musicians and academicians, Rijal ends, “Singing is central to my life, and if I can sing and teach in a classroom, I see no greater joy.”
Related story
Singing bowl therapy to balance body’s chakras
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
