Bir Bahadur Biswakarma is a 32 year old visually impaired Tungna player, from Listi, Sindhupalchok. Bir Bahadur took commence in playing Tungna at 16 and following couple of years of struggle he managed to play Tungna in an impressive manner. He plays in various towns and gathers cash for family of five – his wife and kids. One of the artist invited in the Nepal Music Festival 2017, Bir Bahadur Biswakarma gave a thrilling performance on stage, despite being visually impaired. He also played alongside the very talented ‘Ma’ band on the18th. The surprising part of the event was when the members of the event organized a charity to raise a fund for Bir Bahadur.
From the many hidden gems that exist, Bir Bahadur Biswakarma the ‘Tungna’ player is one who was lucky enough to be spotted by Sugam Deshar a student of ethnomusicology at Kathmandu University and a member of the folk-fusion band ‘Ma’. The thirty-two year old who lost his vision from birth hails from Listikot in Sindhupalchowk. Whilst many may believe that Bir Bahadur learned to play the ‘Tungna’ early on, it was only at the age of sixteen that he decided to play Tungna instead of the flute. With the belief that the Tungna would earn him more money to help him and his family through their challenging survival, Bir Bahadur performed for many and was soon known as the ‘Tungna’ player.
Here’s a glimpse of Bir Bahadur playing at the Nepal Music Festival and the fund of around 20K money was raised and given to him by our living legend artist Dev Rana.
