SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The song Lokapañca belongs to the repertoire of a group of temple singers in the town of Bhaktapur, in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Such songs can be considered both as artefacts and as performance processes. The text and melody of Lokapañca can be considered as an artefact reflecting the identity and history of the temple and the group, and ultimately the social and political history of sacred singing in the Kathmandu Valley. In performance the compact structure of the song is "unfolded" in multiple antiphonal repetitions of each line according to a prescribed procedure, with changes of tempo and instrumental accompaniment. This performance process, shared with other songs, reflects the ethnographic context, generates emotional intensity and musical and psychological “flow”, and reinforces reciprocal relationships between members of the performing group. The dual character of the song as artefact and performance, structure and process, can be understood by reference to cognitive and cultural schemas extending beyond musical performance.