Transition pathways towards gender inclusion in the changing musical landscapes of Nepal (amplifyHer)

About the project

Addressing the globally set Sustainable Development Goals (UNESCO) requires that culture is seen as an important investment in the future. The amplifyHer project aims to increase understanding of the systemic interconnectedness of music tradition, social power dynamics, and gender hierarchies, as well as the potential of non-linear, emergent transformative change towards gender inclusion in and through musical arts and their public forms in society.

The research will be conducted in Nepal where rituals and festivals feature patriarchal music making, where female music making is still associated with stigmatisation, and where gender inequality continues to be a key barrier to education and women’s political agency. It highlights how patriarchal public music making risks sustaining unsustainability if conservation alone is taken as the sustainability goal, as suggested in much of the literature. By seeking drivers for socio-political change, the project’s approach challenges views of musical heritage that stress social-political neutrality, and instead, emphasises the two sides of music’s social power: That it can silently sustain hierarchical inequalities and exclusion equally as it can generate social transformation. It suggests that such transformation is possible through new social, spatial, musical reconfigurations that enable ‘performing difference’ in the public sphere.

Our objectives

• Co-develop systems reflexivity through knowledge on the negotiation and boundary-crossing of Nepali females who have been able to perform music amidst contradictory values and social expectations;
• Co-design systems interventions andleadership visions towards sustainable, gender-inclusive musical landscapes in Nepal;
• Co-construct gender-based conceptual systems framesthat inform global research, practice, and policy that strives towards sustainable musical heritage; and
• Promote responsible music professionalismand heritage activism,and the international academic careers of the Nepali team.

The project’s aims align with Finland’s development policy priorities, based on UNESCO’s Agenda 2030, as well as with policies that highlight the sustainability of vulnerable musical heritage. The social impact in Nepal will be achieved through multiple activities that demonstrate the possibility of gender-inclusiveness and that make space for women’s stories in Nepal.

Echoes in the Valley and AmplifiHer residency

The Echoes in the Valley (EITV) Festival of Folk Music, launched in 2017, aims to unite diverse folk, traditional, and indigenous sounds from Nepal and worldwide. It’s Nepal’s sole free international event celebrating folk tunes and the heritages and cultures that are tied to the ecosystem of the music.

AmplifiHer by EITV offers a 10-day residency for women in music to collaborate on original compositions. Artists propose their genre exploration, desired locations, and collaborators, maintaining full creative control. EITV’s commitment to folk and indigenous music fosters collaborations in this genre.

AmplifyHer research project takes its name from the Echoes in the Valley initiative, and the research project is intended to contribute to the festival concept.

Team members

PI professor Heidi Westerlund, professor, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki

Lochan Rijal, associate professor, Kathmandu University

Danielle Treacy, researcher, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki

Vilma Timonen, researcher, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki

Rizu Tuladhar, researcher and leader of the Echoes in the Valley, Kathmandu University

Pushpa Palanchoke, visitor, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki

Prem Gurung, visitor, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki

Publications

Peer-previewed articles and chapters

Treacy, D., Tuladhar, R. & Westerlund, H. (in press). Gender and music education in Nepali cultural ecosystems: Public pedagogy towards social and cultural sustainability. In A. de Quadros, A. & S. Oberoi (Eds.) Music Education in South Asia: Context and Practice. Routledge.

Conference and seminar presentations

Palanchoke, P. (2023, November). Friendships within Dāphā: A mini-documentary for an appreciation of historic music tradition Dāphā. Paper presented at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) South Asia Regional Conference, KM Music Conservatory, Chennai, India, November 24–26, 2023. 

Westerlund, H., Treacy, D. S., & Tuladhar, R. (2023, November). Gender inclusive music practices in Nepal: Advocating social change and sustainability in the public sphere. Paper presented at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) South Asia Regional Conference, KM Music Conservatory, Chennai, India, November 24–26, 2023.

Other publications

Funding

Partners

News