The project seeks to document the indigenous folklores of Eastern Nepal which is on the verge of extinction. The project will search and document the folklores, meeting with the original artists who are approaching their seventies and eighties and the tradition seems to be extinct after their death. The folklores like Birhain, Chachair, Parati which are sung at a particular time of the day will be recorded in SounCloud and disseminated widely.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Rajbiraj
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
We will work with indigenous peoples like Tharus, Dhanukh, Rajbanshi and other Madeshi people in the Eastern Nepal who have negligible footprint in the internet. Their folklores have not been documented properly and disseminated in the internet yet. As the folklore is in the verge of extinction with the death of the aging artists, it’s necessary to document them. The target population, the artists, are computer illiterate, but we will be working with local youth, training them to capture the sound clips and posting in internet. The local youth can access and use internet.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
We will work with members of local NGO Shreepuraz, Mr Chandra Kishor Kalyan and Ramakant Chaudhary and other youth member s of the indigenous group in the Eastern Nepal.
Facebook page of NBA :https://www.facebook.com/NepalBuildingAspirations?ref=hl
NBA group :https://www.facebook.com/groups/NepalBuildingAspirations/
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The folklores will be recorded and uploaded in the SoundCloud, later it will be disseminated to the wider audience through blogging.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
A NBA working committee member has already trained the staff and associates of Shreepuraz on enhancing social media skills, blogging and storytelling.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
A batch of 15 participants will be trained on recording the folklores, interviewing the artists, photography and then later on blogging, uploading the songs on SoundCloud and disseminating the stories to a wider audience.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
NBA has experience on social media skills and Shreepuraz has relationship with the indigenous people in the Eastern Nepal. Documenting the indigenous folklores is a must as they will be extinct if not documented now. The young generation is not aware of the cultural richness they have got. So saving them and disseminating them widely is necessary in order to preserve the culture and tradition.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshops will be held at Shreepuraz’s training hall. They have ADSL connection with internet speed of 1 MBPS. We can arrange 15 laptops for the workshop from Shreepuraz and its partners.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
Our partner Shreepuraz has a very good relationship with the community we want to work with. As NBA is conversant in social media and technology and Shreepuraz a very reputed local organisation, our consortium is an appropriate combination to implement the project.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The main challenge will be identifying and taking time and permission from the local artists. Our partner Shreepuraz will do the job of identifying and availing time and permission as they are locally based and have good relationship with the community.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
The impact will be evaluated by the number of folklores collected, documented and blogs and stories published in the internet.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
July – Identifying the local artists and folklores they are conversant with
August – September – Training 15 local youth on interviewing, recording, editing, blogging and uploading the folklores in internet
October – November – Disseminating the stories in local media and online portals
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Workshop cost – 750 USD
Recorders – 750 USD
Travel – 250 USD
Recorders – 250 USD
Coordinator cost – 500 USD
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
GV Authors can support in organising the training session. GV can carry stories of the training and outcomes to give more mileage to the project.
Contact name
Suraj Gurung, President – NBA
Organization
Nepal Building Aspirations
2 comments
It’s essential to document and preserve the folklores. I had tried documenting few of them in the past. http://tharuculture.blogspot.com/2013/08/paichhmahi-birhain-and-laments-of-young.html
Thank you Sanjib- We need more people to come forward and lend a hand in the journey so as to preserve the folklores .