Music Review

Namaste,

Nepal is full of wonders gifted by so many wonderful things. To add to that, Nepal also has so many talented musicians, who tirelessly create and recreate music from traditional instruments of Nepal. Such musicians are rare to find these days anywhere in the world.

Kutumba, a Nepali folk instrumental band comes into such category. Their music has won millions of Nepali's and Diaspora's heart. I have been fan of Kutumba (2004) since their first album called Kutumba which almost means relationship but can go further than that. These six member band plays, Sarangi (Traditional Nepali violin like), Madal (Nepali drum), Bamboo flute, Tungna (Mountain Tibetan Guitar), Tabla (Nepali Classical drum), Jhyamta (symbols) and more with different tracks as it unfolds. Its a complete music. When I was in Nepal, I was so close to seeing them in concert but again, there are things in life we cannot do, get or see when we want.
We must accept it and move on. That is what I did however, I came with their third album called Naulo Bihani, which means new kind of morning.

Before Naulo Bihani, they came up with another album called Folk Roots (2005), The album consist of total 10 tracks. All of them are just fantastic to jam with or just to listen to Nepali tune. I have featured Kutumba's music in my video as well that I created for my presentation and you may listen to them via my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D8DArpAIY0 just copy the link and paste on your browser.

And now they came with their third album and they are just getting better and better. Just to let you know all these CDs are available @ my shop. lamaprem@gmail.com

Himalayan Glaciers Monitoring!!!

Int’l workshop ends urging increased monitoring of Himalayan glaciers
Scientists from various countries who gathered in Kathmandu for an international workshop on the impact of climate change on the Himalaya glaciers have concluded that there is a major need for better long-term monitoring of glaciers in the Himalayas using direct observations in the field.
They said this was necessary “to complement remote sensing techniques, as well as for improved sharing of data among the different countries in the region”.
More than 70 international scientists met at the three-day workshop on ‘Cryosphere and Hazards for the Hindu Kush Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau’ from 31 March-2 April and discussed the problems of glaciers, glacial fluctuations, and loss of permafrost in the mountains and plateaus of the Himalayas.
The workshop came up with a six-point conclusion, urging the governments of the Himalayan countries to facilitate data generation and sharing, and to identify at least one model glacier in each country for long-term field-based study.
“A standard method should be developed and used for monitoring and assessing glaciers across the region to facilitate comparative analysis. Development of basin-wide water scenarios should be encouraged for all major water basins in the region,” the scientists at the workshop said.
The workshop also brought together the best geoscience expertise available for the region. Experts brainstormed on new ideas and procedures for obtaining information about the status and trends of snow and ice resources in this extended mountain area.
The meeting, held at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), was jointly organised by the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Global Land Ice Measurements from Space Regional Centre for Southwest Asia (GLIMS), Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS), Institute for Development and Innovation (IDI), Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), and ICIMOD; with participants mainly from the USA, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and other Asian countries. The event was designed to engage scientists in cross-border scientific dialogue about the problems and possibilities associated with snow and ice in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. nepalnews.com ag Apr 03 08

Children of Nepal Video

Happy Losar Earth Mouse Year 2135

Namaste Everyone and Happy Losar Earth Mouse Year 2135

Its been a while since we updated our blog. Thought we wanted to let you know what we have been doing and what has been going on since we wrote last. Its been a real experience for both of us (Kim & I). Its been a while since I celebrated Losar (Buddhist Yolmo New Year) with my family & relatives. Also, this year has been something very different for me and for my family since Karma (my brother) who recently got his Kidney transplant. So, it is very important for all of us to celebrate for him and for all of us. In addition to that, it's been real special for my family because this year I introduced Kim to my family and this is her first Tibetan New Year with my family.

We finished our trek few days ago after spending 5 days with my relatives in the village of Ghopte Ghyang, in the Helambu area and enjoyed our time with the village school children. We hired a porter to bring our school supplies to the village school, where we distributed some portion of supplies and then the next day we made a day hike to another school and distributed all the supplies and taught the children. We also visited all of my villagers and introduced Kim to them. They all enjoyed her as well as our visit. We met my uncles, cousins and my grand parents who only live in the village. The village is located in a hill where it took us two days to get there. 7 hours on the bus and then the walk up the hill to get to the top of the hill where the village is located.

Anyway, I never felt so rejuvenated as I did in this trip. Kim & I were both happy and enjoyed every bit of our time in the mountains. It is so simple yet so close to the sky.
At last, when we were ready to leave for Kathmandu, my Grandpa insisted to stay and relax one more day so we did. We just basked in the sun and enjoyed the fresh Himalayan air for another day. So we were strolling around, then all of a sudden by such a beautiful coincidence we met these strangers from England who became good friends at the end. We talked and shared some of the stories why we were there and why they are in Nepal and so forth. And they all ate their lunch at my Grandpa's house on the hill. Soon they left after lunch promising to meet in Kathmandu.

Next day, we left around 10 in the morning. The hike I usually did to go to school in my early years of school in the mountain. By coincidence or luck, it happened to be the anniversary of the school that I went to all the way up to 5th grades. All the kids were gathered in the school and the parents as well. Soon we became the center attention of the school. Kim and I both were invited to join the function. I felt real honor to be the guest and I was asked to give speech. I reminded all of the audience how hard it was to go to school then. Then I went through my backpack once again to give some gifts to the children of that school. Soon, I gathered hand full of school supplies such as erasers, color pencils and other related children stuffs. They all were happy to receive such gifts.

After that, we headed down to a village called Gohare where I spent 5 years during my school, from where I used to go to other school from 6th grade on. The reason, I made this route is because I wanted to show Kim how & where my school route was. We spent the night at my host family's house. My memory was still fresh; however time seemed to have passed a little after having to see couple of kids from a buddy of mine who went to school with me they were 8 and 11. Both Kim & I had real good time at the village. Next day, we ate and left to take the bus to Kathmandu. We passed through hanging bridges and walked through green lush fields. It almost was unbelievable after knowing, how much snow could be in Wisconsin, where we came from.

Around 12 noon, we caught the bus to Kathmandu. Its a very enjoyable ride back to the city again. I sat on the roof of the bus and enjoyed the view as much as I could where as Kim sat inside the bus. I wasn't the only person on the bus there were many people and even a few goats. I first thought, this could be very dangerous then I thought, if bus were to fall, the top people seems to be more safer than the inside bus since there are more people inside. After, a while I got off from the roof top. Then we got home in the city that is where my parents live now.
Losar was on as soon as we got back to the city. After that we have no time to do anything but celebrate with the family and relatives. The party is still on since we got back to the city and its been almost a week. Everyday, we must visit to one of our relatives and get the blessings, in addition family from my mom's side comes to our house where we host a party which we did on Monday and then this Thursday we will host's my dad's side of the family. It is a lot of work to host these parties but it is a blast, Kim has done such a wonderful job helping out during my mom's families party she worked so hard and my family all loved her.

As we promised we met up with our friends from England, both Kim and I head to downtown, and met with all of them and enjoyed all night long visiting restaurants and pubs and having a really good time. Next day we invited to our house and celebrated Losar with them. It was such a relaxing afternoon, with some great company. My mom and sister cooked and it was so yummy! We really enjoyed meeting such a wonderful group of people. They were here for a wedding this week in Pokhara, we said it many times to each other how lucky we were to meet each other. We plan on getting together this weekend as well.

We are really having so much fun that I cannot finish everything in this blog. I must bring some stories with us back to the States.

Thank you for listening and being part of our trip. One day, you can visit here and see everything for yourself.

Until later
Prem & Kim

From Kathmandu