Associate Professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncR7pkwjMb8&t=44s Nepali workers in Bahrain, including a nightclub owner, performers, truckers, and manual laborers, rely on popular music to get them through their days and nights. For the accompanying article of mine that tells more of their story from 2010, please see: Popular Music among Nepalis in Bahrain: Nightclubs, Media, Performance, and Publics, In David… Continue reading What Keeps Us Company: Nepali Popular Music in Baharain (2010)
The documentary film about Khusiram Pakhrin that Bhakta Syangtan and I made, Singing A Great Dream, won two awards at the Darbhanga International Film Festival on February 9, 2020. We're excited and honored! Here's the trailer: https://vimeo.com/364925937 And the poster:
CFP for a special issue of the journal Religions on Music, Sound, and the Sacred, edited by me! https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/music Dear Colleagues, This Issue of Religions addresses music and sound as integral parts of religious and spiritual expression. Inviting approaches inspired by the robust work on music, sound, and religious practice in ethnomusicology, anthropology, sound studies, and… Continue reading CFP: Music, Sound, and the Sacred
The Record asked for an article on Teej and Komal Oli, and I was happy to oblige. The article, Nachna Jaana Paam, can be found in its entirety on The Record's website, with more photos and video links. The gist: "Song words are important, and so is the dancing that the songs inspire. It can… Continue reading Nachna Jaana Paam: Thoughts on Komal Oli’s Teej Songs and Dancing
I'm thrilled that my book on dohori song, Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimate Politics in Nepal, has won the Bernard S. Cohn Prize for first books on South Asia, from the Association for Asian Studies. In this conversation with the AAS's #AsiaNow blog, I talk about interesting aspects of dohori, obstacles as learning experiences… Continue reading Bernard S. Cohn Book Prize
Translation of a report by Sewa Bhattarai from June 1, 2017, on BBC Nepali. Although Nepali communists today refer to the 1950 overthrow of the Rana regime and establishment of democracy as "change" rather than "revolution," members of the Nepali Congress refer to this change as revolution. At this juncture, as well as in the… Continue reading “Revolutionary Songs” of the Anti-Rana Movement
When I do pay attention to the literary study of songs, it's this kind of attention to the sonic aspects of lyrics that piques my interest.
