Cultural erosion, the dying traditional arts and the adulteration of music by outside influences are often regarded as the inevitable maladies of a modern Nepal. But is change always negative or is music merely evolving?
The Kathmandu Valley seems to be no less fertile for music than for rice. From the musical performances witnessed by the 7th-Century envoys of the Chinese Tang empire to the ubiquitous radio and film songs of today, the Valley has vibrated with music. Indeed, it may be as the poet Chittadhar "Hriday" claimed, the raagas arrived in the Valley as soon as they had been created by Mahadev.
Certainly, Inayat Hussein Khan and Haider Khan, the famous khyal singers of the Rampur gharana, imported by the Ranas were not the first to sing raagas in Nepal. The earlier Malla kings are believed to have been keen supporters of the fine arts and were sometimes poets and playwrights themselves. Songs sung to various raagas and talas were an important part of dramas that were staged in Malla times. The musical ensemble used for these dramas employed a number of instruments — khi, komcakhi, and dhimay drums, bay flutes and, probably, pvamga trumpets—now recognised as part of the rich musical heritage of the Newars. This heritage also includes numerous songs of various kinds: devotional, narrative, seasonal, love songs, as well as the percussion ensembles that no one can avoid hearing during festivals and the devotional ensembles which need a little more effort to find.
The quality of the Valley's soil is far from unrelated to its musical artistry. Musical artistes can not live from music alone; they need food, clothes and a place to live, and these have to be provided for them in some way. A culture close to bare subsistence cannot spare the large number of working hours needed to support a large-scale communal involvement in music such as that of the Newar culture. Neither can it support musical specialists, such as the classical music ustaads or the modern radio composers. Music needs a surplus of wealth to live from. In various ways, including agriculture, trade and taxes, the inhabitants of the Valley generated such a surplus, part of which was allocated to musical activities.