I took my first ethnomusicology course with Dr. Barbara Hampton when I was an undergraduate student at Hunter College. After graduating from Hunter College, I befriended the Nepalese-American community in Los Angeles, and worked together by presenting music and dance programs to foster intercultural understanding in the community. After documenting and participating in the vibrant Nepali culture during a 1987 month-long excursion, I enrolled in the UCLA Ethnomusicology program to gain an academic understanding of world music and culture. During my years at UCLA, I studied music with master musicians from Ghana, Uganda and Bali, and learned ethnomusicological theory and practice from master instructors including Tim Rice, Jacqueline DjeDje, Steve Loza, Jihad Racy, Nazir Jairazbhoy, Charlotte Heth, Sue DeVale, Amy Catlin and Richard Keeling. Presently, I apply my ethnomusicological perspective to my understanding and performance of music and all the music classes I teach. In my doctoral study at NYU, I plan to combine my interests in ethnomusicology, popular music, and music education.


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Jam Session in Patan
During my visit to Kathmandu in 1987, Professor Balaram Shrestha of Tribuhvan University introduced me to some of the leading folk musicians of Nepal, including Kumar Basnet, Ratna Behosi, and Lal Bahadur. My friend, Buddha Shakya, a very talented Nepalese-American singer taught me the song "Dhunge Bagara" in Los Angeles and I had the chance to sing it with the singer who popularized it in Nepal, Lal Bahadur. Joining us in the song is another renown singer, Ratna Behosi.

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The Shikali Festival in Khokana, Nepal
The festival of Shikali takes place in the village of Khokana once every 12 years. It is so important that humans are said to be interrogated by the goddess after death to make sure that the festival has been attended at least once in a lifetime.

Amid processions of masked dancers representing deities and demons, a variety of instrumental ensembles performed. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the crowd was blessed by a shower of chang (homemade beer) poured from a giant brass decanter.

"Sounds From The Top Of The World"
In February of 1992, The Beat magazine released a special issue on the music of South Asia. Included was an article I had written about my visit to Nepal, with photographs by my wife, Debbie Krikun.