The World and Traditional Music section of the British Library holds a unique collection of South Asian material recorded by

Dutch ethno musicologist (and singer) Dr Arnold Adriaan Bake (1899-1963) traveled around South east Asia from the 1930s to the late 1950s documenting local music and rituals in the region.

His collection spans not only many decades but also many formats of audio and visual material including wax cylinders, tefi-bands, open reel tapes and 16mm black and white and color silent films

This video shows highlights taken from Bake’s arrival in Nepal in 1931.

It features scenes from Indra Jaatra festival at Durbar Square in Kathmandu – the funny thing is. Things look pretty much the same as they do today 🙂

Just more noisy and colorful…

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