When Dil Khadka was a boy in Bhutan, he made his first instrument – a bamboo flute – by hand.
Inspired by the music he heard on the radio, he cut bamboo from the forest and burned holes in it through a hot iron rod, then mimicked the melodies of the broadcasts.
After the Bhutanese government confiscated his family’s land and revoked their citizenship because of their cultural identity, Khadka continued to pursue music in a refugee camp in Nepal.
A teacher taught him to play the guitar, and in the evening, he joined the elders to sing bhajans (Hindu devotional songs) in a temple, accompanying them on the harmonium and the two-headed dholak drum.
Today, Khadka, 40, lives in Reynoldsburg, where she runs a beauty salon, All Eyes On Me, and continues to produce music from her living room.
Dil Khadka: Personal refugee journey revealed through music
Khadka’s work has gained dedicated followers among the Nepalese-speaking community – his songs have more than 100,000 views on YouTube – and last month he released his second album, “Dilavash 2. See the article : Apple’s music recognition feature can now sync songs with the Shazam app.”
Khadka says the major life transitions – moving from Bhutan to Nepal in the early 1990s and from Nepal to the United States in 2010 – have been the source of inspiration for many of the his music. His new album explores themes of longing, frustration and love.
“It was very painful to leave my birthplace,” Khadka said recently, sitting on the sofa next to his wife, Sarmila Gurung, 33, at their home. He spoke to The Dispatch in a mixture of Nepali and English. “I think creativity comes from pain. When people suffer, they have a lot to do. “
After the Bhutanese government evicted them from their homes, about 100,000 Bhutanese-Nepalis were forced into refugee camps in Nepal in the early 1990s. Relocation to other countries did not start before 2007.
About 30,000 Bhutanese-Nepalis now call the home of Greater Columbus, according to the non-profit Central Ohio Bhutanese Community.
Khadka and Gurung first resettled in Spokane, Washington. The country was in the middle of a recession, so finding a good job was difficult, especially for a refugee with no work history in the United States.
In Nepal, Khadka had worked in construction outside the refugee camp. In Spokane, he worked in a restaurant and then as a cashier at a gas station.
“I thought I spoke decent English, but the people there didn’t understand me at all, nor did I understand their accents,” said Khadka, who has three children with Gurung. “Over time, I got better – although my kids still deceive me about my accent.”
Hard work to earn money and raise his newborn daughter, Drishya, initially abandoned music. This turned into a trip to visit Gurung’s parents in Alberta, Canada, where Khadka had a kind of musical epiphany.
His brothers-in-law had a temple in their basement where they kept a harmonium, a keyboard instrument that Khadka had not touched in three years.
“I sat on the floor and just played,” he said.
Out of his hands and voice came the years of conquered creativity, and in two hours, he had written the basis for a song, “Samjhera Sanu.” The song, written in Nepal, is about the longing for home and loved ones during Dashain and Tihar, Nepal’s two largest Hindu festivals of the year.
The translated lyrics say, in part: “Dashain has passed, Tihar has passed / The charm of your spring has never come / You see the road, the days and nights will pass / The joy will never ring on you.”
Returning to Spokane, Khadka began writing songs at work. While stopping at the bathroom, he made recordings on his phone as excerpts of lyrics came to him.
Khadka said that like many refugees, he was very excited to go to America, only to feel alienated from the culture and frustrated by the prospects of his career after he initially arrived. One composition from that time, entitled “Fikka Fikka,” reflects the mental effect.
He says, translated into English: “Full days I have no taste / I’m melting, my image is turning pale.”
Nepali music: ‘Sugam sangeet’ genre combines poetic lyrics, traditional instruments
On Facebook, Khadka met Deepak Jangam – a famous Nepali composer who had previously composed songs with the late Nepalese monarch King Mahendra – and shared some of his music. Khadka was nervous but excited when Jangam wrote back to say he was interested in collaborating online.
Jangam composed new tunes for the lyrics Khadka wrote, and released their first album, “Dilavash,” in 2018. This may interest you : This genius music theory cheat sheet is all you’ll ever need. (The title is a play on Khadka’s first name and means “Feelings of the Heart.”)
Most of the songs fall into the Nepalese genre of “sugam sangeet,” a variety of modern Nepalese music that combines poetic lyrics with melodies on traditional Nepalese and Indian instruments. Each song has a different singer based in Nepal, which Khadka and Jangam chose.
Khadka composed most of the songs for “Dilavash 2” in his living room in Reynoldsburg, where he often sits on the floor to play the harmonium. In addition to the subam sangeet, his latest album includes dohori – a classic Nepalese style of love-calling and answering songs – and international influences. The song “Takka Takka,” for example, features a West African-inspired ostinato and rhythm guitar.
Economic circumstances have forced Bhutanese-Nepali musicians to take up jobs in other fields, but a growing number are producing new music, said Charon Bajgai, a board member of the Bhutanese American Music Association who lives in Pickerington.
“(However), not many organizations or institutions are paying attention to the music produced by Bhutanese-Nepalis in America,” Bajgai said.
Khadka is already writing music for his next album, which will return to his roots in Hindu religious music. It hopes to be appreciated by future generations.
“It doesn’t matter if my songs don’t go well commercially,” he said. “But I hope they will have a legacy.”
Peter Gill is a member of the Reporting Body for America and covers immigration issues for the Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant will help him keep writing stories like this. Please consider making a tax deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ
