ABSTRACT
Songs are musical artefacts that encapsulate cultural meanings, through musical structure, linguistic vocabulary, historical reference and contextual relevance. The reconstructions and translations presented are the result of patient and painstaking work by the Newar scholar Nutandhar Sharma. The difficulties involved in such reconstruction are formidable. The performance of a dapha song consists of much more than a straightforward run through the basic material. Jaya Sasidhara, known to singers as Jaya sasadhara, is widely known to dapha groups in Bhaktapur. In Sanskrit literature nandi means a song of praise to a deity sung at the opening of a drama; since Siva is the patron deity of dance, drama and music, it is appropriate that he should be invoked in that context. The instruments emphasize the latter with a simple two-beat ending pattern.
