Rampur (Palpa), 6 Febraury: Since art and culture are lessons of human life, efforts have been made to preserve folk culture here. With the aim of preserving and promoting art and culture, the Rampur Festival and Trade Fair have been organized to provide an opportunity to showcase hidden talents.
Locals say that the Rampur Fair has created an opportunity to reveal the hidden art and culture within people. The ‘Fourth Rampur Festival and Trade Fair’, which will start from Magh 15(28 Jan) and run until Magh 27(9 Feb), has provided an opportunity to hidden talents through a folk singing competition.
The title of the folk dohori competition has been won by the group of Namaste Hotel Palpa. In the final competition of the dohori, Namaste Hotel defeated the National Folk and Song Institute Palpa and won the title, receiving a cash prize of Rs. 51,111 and a certificate.
Narayan Khanal ‘Lekali’, the coordinator of the duet song competition and central president of the National Folk Bhajan Chudka Conservation Foundation, informed that Dipendra Poudel and Sita Bhandari participated in the competition on behalf of Namaste Hotel and won the title through competition.
The runner-up group, the National Folk and Song Institute, received a cash prize of Rs 31,111 and a certificate. The group was represented by Suman Thapa and Seema Saru.
Prithvi Television Rampur and Hotel Srinagar Rampur secured third place by receiving equal marks and each group received Rs 21,111 in cash and a certificate. Prithvi Television was represented by Toyanath BK and Bipana Khanal, while Srinagar Hotel was represented by Bishnu Azat and Bhuwan Adhikari. Eight groups participated in the competition.
Sudip Sapkota of the National Folk and Song Academy, Syangja, has been declared the best singer and Manisha Pokharel of Chapakot has been declared the best singer. The organizers have stated that the competition was organized to discover new talents in folk singing, showcase their talents, and preserve their originality.
Bhojendra Prakash Dhakal, president of the Rampur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the competition was organized to protect and promote the originality of folk songs. “As the importance of folk songs is decreasing among the younger generation with modernity, its originality is starting to be lost, so the competition has been organized here to protect and promote it. This program has produced new artists who are interested in art and culture,” he said.
Chairman Dhakal expressed his belief that such competitive programs will play an important role in preserving the traditional and original culture of folk songs and producing new talents. He said that fairs and festivals will help preserve originality and attract the younger generation, as the original language of folk songs is disappearing with modernity.
There is a tradition of singing Dohori face to face. In this, Dohori is sung covering topics like love, laughter, crying, reunion, and separation. Many new artists have been born from Dohori competitions held in villages. Dohori sung in a humorous manner is attracting the hearts of many. Folk culture speaks of the stories and sorrows of human life.
