2019 OneBeat Fellow Jason Kunwar on creating a space for Nepalese musicians in the midst of a pandemic
Jason Kunwar, OneBeat’s first ever Nepalese Fellow, is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose community work centers on preserving and highlighting Nepalese musical traditions. As an awardee of OneBeat’s Accelerator Grant, he put together the second edition of Confluence, a program for musicians of diverse backgrounds in Nepal to engage in a virtual creative collaboration, with a focus on how they can create and work amid a crisis. FSN’s Nyokabi Kariuki spoke with him about the project. __ Nyokabi: Who is Jason Kunwar? Jason: I am a Kathmandu-based composer and performer. I’m a member of the folk band ‘Night’, and I have, on a part-time basis, devoted myself to solo projects. My primary interest and work revolves around learning and researching the distinct and disappearing traditional musical practices, instruments and folklore of Nepal. I make music about the challenges of village life as farmers and herders, about laborers and migrant workers and their […]
