‘Folk music is the soul of Nepal’s agrarian history’

Kamali Kanta Bhetuwal’s song ‘Jhamke Guleli’ struck a chord with many because of its purbeli tone, accompanied by earnest and imaginative lyrics.

Kamali Kanta Bhetuwal grew up in the hills of Sankhuwasabha. His was an agrarian family—deeply entrenched in the labour of soil. When he was only nine or ten, Bhetuwal accompanied his grandfather to the fields. As his grandfather walked the soil with