Worry for the ‘Panchaibaja’
‘Panchaibaja’ are the
indispensable musical instrument in the marriages performed
according to the Hindu traditions. But nowadays,
‘Panchaibaja’ players are getting hard to earn for their
livelihood as ‘Panchaibaja’ are being replaced with
orchestras, cassette players, etc. There used to be a
marriage procession with people playing ‘Panchaibaja’
whereas today there are no such things.
Rame Pariyar of Raniganj (Sarlahi)
says that people are discarding marriages using
‘Panchaibaja’ as they do prefer to modern alternatives.
‘I’ve left playing Panchaibaja. Very often villagers come to
me with the invitation to play ‘Panchaibaja’ in the
marriages ‘says Rame Pariyar. Today, Rame does some farming
along with tailoring. Not only Rame the same case is with
Maaila Damai of Ishwarpur, he has also carried on with labor
as an alternative profession.
It has been felt that the
popularity of traditional ‘Panchaibaja’ is decreased over
the decade. The use of ‘Sanai’, ‘Temko’, ‘Drum set’,
‘Orchestra’, ‘Cassette Players’ as the alternate for
‘Panchaibaja’ is the reason behind the downfall of
‘Panchaibaja’ says Rohit Paudel (President of Sagarmatha
Nepal).
Playing ‘Pachaibaja’ people
used to earn about four to five thousand. The melodious tune
of this instrument; when played made every age group to sing
and dance on the track.
Maaila Damai spent three
decades playing this instrument. He shifted as a labor as
profession because he found it hard for getting the basic
needs by his former job. Without even touching ‘Panchaibaja’
his sons went to town with their job as a security guard and
factory worker. He is worried about people discarding
‘Pachaibaja’ and says “if it goes like this our grandsons
won’t be able to see ‘Panchabaja’ ad what it means either.”
Article by: Savar: The
Annapurna Post |
