Bhutanese folk artiste Kheng Sonam Dorji on preserving his musical past | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Bhutanese folk artiste Kheng Sonam Dorji on preserving his musical past | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Tanushree Ghosh |Updated: September 9, 2019 7:59:38 am

Bhutanese folk artiste Kheng Sonam Dorji on preserving his musical past

Bhutanese folk artiste Kheng Sonam Dorji, who was into contemporary music in his younger days, says the influx of Western music has led to the decline of traditional music.

Kheng Sonam Dorji (left) during his performance in Thimphu.

You’d expect that the dulcet notes escaping the mouth of a staid Bhutanese traditional folk musician — dressed in a gho — would be country folk. Instead, it’s an Indian song, a “romantic” Jagjit Singh ghazal: Tere baare mein jab socha nahin thha… Mere kamre mein aaina nahin thha. “I used to sing it,” says Kheng Sonam Dorji, recalling his student days in India, on the sidelines of 10th Mountain Echoes literature and culture festival in Thimphu, which concluded recently. At the event, Dorji deliberated on his guru Aku Tongmi (who composed Bhutan’s national anthem, Druk tsendhen), whose works he is digitising through the Music of Bhutan Research Center (MBRC) that he co-founded in 2008.