Who said you had to go to school to become literate? Franck Bernede dropped out of Grade Six in his native France to pursue his passion in music learning from his father, the violinist and orchestra conductor, Jean-Claude Bern?de. Years later, Bernede acquired a doctorate in musicology without ever graduating from high school.

Somewhere in between, Franck was in Nepal when he became completely fascinated by the Dhime baja of Kathmandu Valley, a unique Newari dance form that replicates the movements of mythical gods. Its waning popularity worried him. A pure academician would have written a book to lament the near-extinction of yet another cultural heritage under pressure from modernisation. But perhaps it was being neither under nor over-educated that made Franck decide to do something different about it. He established the Singhini Research Centre devoted to what anthropologists call 'action research' on ethnomusicology.

Located in a housing colony in Sitapaila, the Centre is easy to locate because of the sound of tabla, madal, and sarangi emanating from within. As we enter, there is the tinkle of brass bells tied to the legs of traditional dancers. The Centre has big plans: bringing out albums of traditional music from Nepal, sending artistes for tours abroad, bringing maestros from India to conduct music and dance workshops. Some of these plans have already materialised, others are in the pipeline.

Franck makes a living teaching music at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei. But whenever he is in Kathmandu, which is quite often, he picks up a cello to inspire his Nepali pupils with new sounds. Years from now when there is a renaissance of traditional dance and music in Nepal, its foreign friends will be honoured for what they did to rescue them.

And Franck will undoubtedly be one of them. Just ask any of his colleagues at Singhini for whom he is an Ostad-a guru, patron and publicist all rolled into one.

CK Lal