There are some 130 organisations of Nepali expatriates of different ethnicities coming from every nook and corner of Nepal. They celebrate their festivals with zeal and zest in Qatar.
The community recently celebrated Nepali New Year, organising different programmes. It was around 80 kilometres away from Doha, where over 40 community organisations celebrated the New Year under the leadership of Non-Resident Nepali Association National Co-ordination Council Qatar.
The celebrations took place at Al Dana Club. The place was beautifully decorated for the event. The park echoed with sweet sounds of Nepali fold music instruments. A large number of people gathered at the park to mark the New Year. The celebration came with joyful activities such as street dances, parades and re-unions.
The ‘Navavarsha’ (Nepali New Year) falls in the second week of April. Usually, April 14 is marked as the first day of Baisakh, the first month of the Bikram Sambat calendar (official calender of Nepal).
The New Year programme was chaired by Nabin Pokheral, President of Non Resident Nepali Association National Co-ordination Council Qatar (NRNA NCC) and Professor Ramesh Prasad Koirala, Nepali ambassador to Qatar, was the chief guest. The programme was started with Nepal’s national anthem.
Speaking at the programme, Ambassador Koirala conveyed New Year greetings to the people. He said a Nepali cultural house was in the process and the facility would be completed by next year. The community would be able to organise their programmes at the cultural house.
The musical event during the programme started with a performance by Non-Resident Nepali Magar Society, an ethic group of Nepal. The group performed the Magar typical dance ‘Hurra’. The Magar artistes wore their traditional dress and ornaments.
According to one of the dancers, ‘Hurra’ is widely performed in Nepali festivals. Bharat KC, a dancer, performed a national dance. The performance earned applause from the audience. The performer also praised and acknowledged the appreciation from the audience.
Non Resident Nepali Tamang Society performed the solo dance. The Tamang performance enacted chosen cultural aspects of Tamang community. One of the artistes re-told the ethnic tales of Tamang community by the body movements.
Similarly, Nepali Tamu Society performed Salaju dance, a typical dance of Nepali Tamu people. During the performance, Tamu artistes were wearing their traditional attires.
The artistes from Nepali Cultural Family performed two dances on Nepali movie songs. Mohan Shah, a singer, presented a new song. A group dance was performed by Nepali Social Organisation artistes. During the performance, as all artistes carried the national flag of Nepal.
Artistes from different organisations also performed a farmer dance popular in the southern belts of the Himalayan nation. Nepali Cultural Centre artistes performed different comic acts. Likewise, Taumaya Gurung, a dancer, performed a traditional Nepali dance. Sharad Pandey, another dancer, performed on a folk song.
PERFORMANCE: Hurra dance performed by Magar artistes.
