The Royal Academy of Performing Arts’ Traditional Performing Arts and Music Division, formerly known as TPD, has launched a new programme to preserve and promote Bhutanese folk tunes. They want to spread awareness of these folk music and make sure that future generations may access them.

The division has begun notating 250 folk songs in order to accomplish this. A system of writing musical sounds or notes on paper or other materials is known as musical notation. The songs’ cultural significance is maintained even as contemporary music rises to popularity thanks to these notations, which enable performers to recreate the songs on any instrument.

 Within two months, the centre wants to write 250 folk tunes. These songs will be available in text and audio formats.

These songs will be archived in order to guarantee their ongoing accessibility and protect them for upcoming generations.

The well-known South Korean music expert Sunmi Paik is presently a professor at Kathmandu University in Nepal. She actively participates in the project and offers helpful support.

Professor Paik spends the day instructing the artists and transcribing minute musical notations.

Her in-depth expertise and unshakable commitment are essential in making sure the project’s objectives are accomplished.

“Traditional music no longer appeals to the younger generation. Traditional music will vanish if we don’t record it. From my perspective, this is an extremely severe problem. Thus, one of the best methods to preserve Bhutanese customs and culture is through the use of western notation.

The effort not only aids in the preservation of our culture but also makes it simpler for musicians from other countries to study and perform traditional songs from Bhutan.

“Each and every foreign musician has their own written western notation. They will be able to use our notation in the future. Although learning notations was practised in our society, there wasn’t a good way to do it. But now that we have a clear procedure, it will be easier to prevent any misinterpretations of the songs, according to singer Sangay Phuntsho.

The collection contains over a thousand folk tunes, but due to time constraints, the institution is presently concentrating on the most well-known ones.

To ensure the total preservation of Bhutan’s rich musical heritage, ambitious plans are in place for the future to incorporate all songs, including classical pieces.

“Our culture ought to be both locally rooted and internationally capable. Similarly, realising the need of creating musical notation for our songs, we invited a South Korean musical expert, and the process of doing so is currently under progress. The advantage of the project is that we will be able to resuscitate and save folk music for the future if they ever start to deteriorate, according to Phub Wangdi, Officiating Principal of the Traditional Performing Arts and Music Division.

The interim principal further stated that this project is one of the biggest ones ever.

The acting principal emphasised the significance of traditional songs and music as integral components of tangible culture in Bhutan and emphasised that conserving them is critical for safeguarding the nation’s identity and independence.

The Documentation, Advocacy, and Awareness Programme on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Bhutan of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation provides funding for the initiative.