Nepali singer Ani Choying Dolma, who has worked with Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman and is collaborating with music director Shantanu Moitra, feels that India has a rich spiritual culture and it should not lose its roots.
“Music is one of the most wonderful and beautiful tools to bring changes in the society. Through music you can really inspire people to cultivate their spiritual ability. This is most important because, in this modern world, people are always focusing on developing their intellectual capacity and forgetting to cultivate their spiritual ability.
“It makes people machines. Spiritual development is very important, especially in India, as the country’s spiritual culture and history are rich and it should not lose its roots,” Dolma, also a nun, told IANS prior to her performance at the Jahan-e-Khusrau event here on Friday.
She is a Nepalese Buddhist nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa nunnery in Nepal and is known for bringing many Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences. She is also the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Nepal.
She has collaborated with artistes such as Rahman, Steve Tibbetts and Moitra for some of her performances in India, and feels the country inspires her in many ways.
“India is an inspiration in terms of music, especially in the spiritual field. My music and my lifestyle are inclined towards the spiritual way, so India an ocean of spiritual source. Musically also, this place is very rich and I feel Jahan-e-Khusrau is one of the best examples of that (promoting spiritual music),” she said.
“India is is profoundly a noble land, especially from my perspective, it’s the land where Buddha achieved enlightenment. As India is the land of Buddha, from that perspective I am very humbled and filled with respect to be part of any of the musical events in India,” she said.
Is it difficult for a nun to follow her passion for singing’
“I don’t see any challenges. The challenges are only with people’s limitations and understanding in the field of spiritual music because all the time, people are engaged in Bollywood music,” Dolma told IANS.
She also feels that there is a growing number of people in India and globally who are enjoying spiritual music.
“There are very big growing numbers of people around the world who are touched by spiritual music. Spirituality is something that people feel. Controversy is always there and people also enjoy coming up with different opinions, but that changes with time too,” she said.
She is also eagerly waiting for her collaboration with Moitra and looking forward to have more associations with Rahman.
“I am coming up with a collaboration with Moitra. He is very kind and I am looking forward to it. I am also looking for more collaborations with Rahman. Let’s see how fortunate and lucky I am,” she concluded.
(Nivedita can be contacted at [email protected])
By Nivedita
