-Yam
Bahadur Dura
Abstract
This article tries to introduce folk
media in Nepali context, which gives an overview how folk media is being used
to bridge the cross-section of Nepali society.
This article makes some attempts to shed light on importance of folk in
Nepali society. Also, it speaks about the need of blending folk media and
modern mass media to create the "informed citizenry". Actually, this
article is an experience based account of folk media rather than a scholarly
research work.
Key
words: folk media, communication, rural masses,
It
wouldn't be exaggeration to say that we are living in the highly mediated
world. These days we see the world
through the eyes of media. The devastating effects of earthquake and Tsunami's
in Japan, Iraq's crisis, movements regarding democratic reform in Egypt, Syria, Libya or Bahrain , or Maoist insurgency in India,
whatever be the form of current affairs, we see the fast changing world's
latest scenarios through the eyes of
media, especially through the lens of TV camera.
Technology
driven mass media have made this possible. We are being informed, educated,
entertained and inspired by the mass media. Today the mass media has given "talking
points" to scholars as well general publics and "priority lists"
to general people in which they will be working on. It is general assumption
that mass media have guided our destinations and routine of everyday life.
For
these reasons, we know, the mass media has become a major source of information
to the present-day world. Not only this, it has becoming a compelling force in
this 21 century. But the saga of the mass media remains uncompleted, if we do
not add the chapter of folk media in it. Actually, folk media is one of the
important facets of the mass media. Folk media is also known as "traditional
media". Some people differentiate between "folk media" and
"traditional media" that has a long-standing presence in our society ranging
from the far past to present days. Media experts have recognized it as an
important vehicle that delivers information and culture to people from
generation to generation.
The
forms of folk media are different. In
the past, Katuwal Karaune (Chants of
messenger), Jhyali
Pitne, Damaha Bajaune
(drum beating), bugle blowing, conch
blowing, etc. were in practice (this
tradition is still alive) to inform people about important happenings in and around
their locations. The tradition of Katuwal
Karaune (chants of messenger) is still in place in some rural settlements
of Nepal. Even today, Katuwals
have become newspapers, radios and TVs for many rural masses.
On
the other hand, fairs (mela/jatra),
religious functions (Satya Narayan Katha,
Saptaha, etc.), customary ceremonies
(birth, marriage etc.), folk songs, drama, ballads, riddling , storytelling,
and so on are some other forms of folk media. These are indirect forms folk
media. These traditional communication modes are not in the format of
journalism. These modes of communication have connecting Nepali society in
their own ways.
For
example: the famous spiritual orator late Narayan Prasad Pokhrel's had
addressed to rural masses conveying the messages of social welfare and
spirituality. He collected millions of rupees by winning hearts and minds of
people. The money raised at the function was spent on construction of
educational institutions and other humanitarian aspects. His successor Dinbandu
Pokhrel, his own son, is also following the same path. These orators seem to be
cashing the deep-rooted "oral tradition" of rural masses for the
well-being Nepali society. These two orators have shown the real power of folk
media.
Before
the advent of modern means of mass media (radio, television and newspapers),
folk media had shouldered the sole responsibilities of communicating the people
and it has been continuing its job of informing people till to this date. Of
course, the communication process and system of folk media are not based on formats
of modern communication pattern. However, it keeps on communicating the people
in its own ways. The communication systems in far-flung areas are still based
on folk media, which is bridging the communities.
For
instance, we can see communication style of Gandavas,
the occupational caste of singing. In the past, Gandarvas were very influential communicators. They had occupied
the place of the modern mass media in rural areas. That's why they are known as
"living newspapers". In the past, they used to roam village to
village to collect money and food grains for their livelihoods by singing Karkha (an eventful song) and some
popular folk songs. Gandarvas used to
find themselves surrounded by the villagers if they entered in a village. These
days some Gandarvas have entered the
capital city and turned street musicians. They seem to be roaming in and around
Thamel, a tourist hub, selling Sarangis
to the tourists.
Karkha is a story-driven song concentrating on topsy-turvy lives of VIPs and
current happenings. This also comprises some gruesome and big cases of murder,
incidents, accidents and natural disasters. England's historic journey by the
first Rana Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepal- Bhot war, Saga of Bal
Bhadra, World War-II, the incident arson in Singh Darbar, and so on were
contents of Karkha in the past. In
the same way, famine, landslide and criminal cases viz. killings, robberies
were also contents of Karkha.
In
this way, Gandavas used to inform the
people in the near past. Karkha had
familiarized people not only with current affairs, but also social, political
and cultural milieu of the country. Karkha
is considered as one the important aspects of oral tradition. That is why it
called 'the living history'.
Religious
functions, jatras/melas, customary
ceremonies and some other social gatherings are modes of communication that
assist to exchange information of local importance. In these gatherings, people
share news and views of their surroundings through the means of interpersonal
and group communications. The positive aspects of interpersonal and group
communications are that they create interaction among the people. It
facilitates them to develop "we" feeling. It has given contribution
to strengthen social capital and cultural capital.
Folk
media is a pure local media. It creates local milieu to serve the local people.
It is a proven fact that local media creates more interactions than any other
national or transnational media does. The influences of local media are always
powerful than that of other medias. Media's magnitude of effectiveness depends
more on how interactive it is. Folk media is more interactive which gives rise
to a feeling of ownership among the audiences. It is a great source that
generates social capital and cultural capital in the society.
Importance of Folk Media
We all are familiar
with the fact that Nepal is poor and developing country. Nearly 80 percent of people
live in far-flung rural areas. Rural people don't have reasonable access to
mass media. There are no enough basic infrastructures through which the
messages of modern mass media can reach there. Vast majorities of villagers are
living their lives without proper transportation networks (road-links,
air-links and other modern transportation modes) and media/communication
networks (telephone booths, radio, television/cable TV, newspapers, Internet,
e-mail, and the like). Newspapers can't reach there on time. On the other hand,
the readership pattern and reading culture in the rural areas yet to be raised.
Low level of literacy, longer hours of load-shedding or
acute power shortage, lack of tailor-made message to specific audiences, etc.
has greatly hampered the message conveying job of Nepali mass media. A large
section of people are living in acute poverty and cannot afford for
sophisticated tools of communication. This situation speaks for the need of
folk media.
A study conducted by Central Bureau of Statistics concludes
that 53.1 and 22.5 households possess radio and television respectively. The
same study says that 41.3 per cent households don't have access to both radio
and television.
According to a rough estimate, terrestrial waves of Nepal
Television cover only 62 per cent of population Nepal's total population and 41
per cent Nepal's total land mass. Similarly, Radio Nepal's a wave reaches out only
80 per cent portion of Nepal.
These statistics show a map of the media scenarios of Nepal.
There is huge information gap between "information reach" and
"information poor" in the county. There is a clear line of digital divide between
haves and have nots.
Radio
|
TV
|
Neither Radio nor TV |
Total Household
|
|
Nepal
|
53.1
|
22.5
|
41.3
|
4,174,371
|
Urban Area
|
64.7
|
54.9
|
24.0
|
664,507
|
Rural
|
50.9
|
16.4
|
44.5
|
3,509,864
|
Ecological belt (Mountain)
|
53.9
|
4.5
|
45.6
|
285,208
|
Hill
|
63.4
|
22.6
|
33.3
|
1,951,194
|
Terai
|
42.6
|
25.1
|
48.6
|
1,937,969
|
Eastern Development
Regions
|
48.8
|
19.3
|
45.4
|
1,000,356
|
Central Development
Region
|
53.6
|
32.9
|
38.7
|
1,456,754
|
Western Development Region
|
57.5
|
19.3
|
37.3
|
863,048
|
Mid Western Development Region
|
55.5
|
11.8
|
42.0
|
479,812
|
Far Western Development Region
|
49.5
|
11.6
|
48.4
|
356,401
|
(Source: Population Monograph of Nepal, Vol. 1, 2003)
Our mass media have big role to play to overcome problems related
to discriminations and malpractice, which are widespread in the society. In
this process, the mass media can integrate folk media to convey specific
messages for and against the things, which are essential to make people aware of
that. Folk songs, folk theatres, dialogues with accents of different local
dialects and other forms of folk media can be used to convey desired messages.
These messages can be a public appeal for girl child
education, peace and social harmony, nutrition, health, hygiene, immunization
against (polio, measles, encephalitis), nature conservation and others.
In the same way, messages against corruption, social
injustices, sexual harassment, child marriage, child labors, tobacco products,
drug abuse, slavery and many more social evils and health hazards can be
delivered by using folk media in mass media.
These messages can be useful informational capsules to feed
illiterate rural masses. This is one of the right ways to feed information for
illiterate people. Folk song of two lines is far better useful than article of
two pages for rural masses. For example: rural masses will receive message well
in their local dialect that that of standard Nepali language. The reason is
that they feel ownership in it. That is why we can't negate the importance of
folk media.
Nowadays different forms of folk media viz. folk songs, folk
theatres etc. are being used in radio and television. But, it is matter of
sorrow that market forces are heavily influencing these messages. In our mass
media, one can see commercial messages rather than messages of social welfare.
The result of this big irony is that voice of the voiceless people is being
largely neglected.
Conclusion
Folk media has a huge role to play in the media sphere. The
reality is that folk media is inextricably connected with culture/rituals whereas
the mass media is heavily associated with information technology. Mass media is
costly in comparison to folk media. Folk media is tailor made to the local requirement
and local circumstances. To a greater extend, folk media follows the pattern of
participatory communication approach. Its messages are produced and consumed by
the local communities attracting much more social interactions.
We are in a state that we don't have option for not to
choose folk media. In the same sequence, technology driven mass media is also
equally important for us. Our ground reality recommends us that we need to
mingle up folk media and mass media which may lead us to a wider information society.
Both folk media and the mass media need to be utilized to
bridging the gap between "information rich" and "information
poor" people. Integrating folk media in mass media and information
technology can be one of the ways to bring marginalized and disadvantaged
people into the arena of development.
Bibliography
Aditya, A.
(1996). Mass media democratization: A
country study in Nepal. Kathmandu: IIDS.
Dura, Y. B. (2006). Role of folk
media in the age of information technology. In N. M. Adhikary (Ed.), Communication,
Mass media and Journalism Kathmandu: Prashanti
Pustak Bhandar. (Pp. 40-44).
Dura, Y. B. (Dec. 29, 2002). Folk Literature vs.Mass Media. The Rising Nepal.
Dura, Y. B.
(2007). Impact of globalization in folksong. Bodhi, 1(1), 34-40.
Dura,Y. B. (2011).
Suchana prabaha ma paramparagat sanchar pranali ko bhumika (Role of traditional
communication system in information flow). Media
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Kharel (Ed). Media Practices in Nepal. Kathmandu: Nepal Press Institute. (Pp.145-182)
[This
article was originally appeared in a book Communication, Mass media
and Journalism (2006) and
it is revised version of the same article.]
[Updated : Sept.21, 2011; January 31, 2012; July 5 2012; December 26, 2012 ]
