Skip to content

Qui sommes-nous ?

Nos projets

Faire un don

Contact

About us

Our projects

Donation

Contact

MaïaNāda, preserving cultural heritage

Newsletter #04 – October 2025

In this edition, we invite you to immerse yourself in a unique artistic and cultural project, where musical exploration goes hand in hand with the transmission of traditions. Focus on MaïaNāda.

A project born from an encounter and a shared vision.

 

MaïaNāda is the union of artistic intuition and cultural memory.

Conceived by Maïa Baudelaire, founder of the eponymous foundation, and Zu, a committed musician and composer, the MaïaNāda project was born out of a shared desire to highlight Nepal’s living musical traditions, which are often overlooked or in danger of disappearing.

Through this movement, MaïaNāda aims to forge a link between the past and the present, promoting ancestral sounds while integrating them into contemporary artistic languages. The aim is not to freeze a culture in time, but to breathe new life into it by recounting, performing and reinterpreting it.

Zu and Kanchan Rai to Ghumante.

Winding roads to the heart of communities.

In partnership with the Nepalese association Ghumante, which specialises in documenting local cultures, the MaïaNāda team has undertaken several expeditions across Nepal to meet remote communities.

These immersive and respectful journeys enable them to document, record and promote traditional musical practices, often passed down orally from generation to generation. Each encounter gives rise to exchanges, sound recordings, improvisations… and sometimes unexpected collaborations.

It was from one of these encounters that ‘Storm’ was born, a powerful track featured in one of their videos and the result of a collaboration between several artists supported by the Maïa Art programme.

Creations that resonate between nature and heritage.

Numerous musical projects have already been created since the project began. Among the latest productions, ‘Sounds of Jumla’, composed by Saugat Hamal, an ethno-musician in the MaïaNāda team, stands out for its contemplative intensity. This piece draws its inspiration from the traditional songs characteristic of women from the Manang region and the organic sounds captured on site, between high-altitude winds and traditional instruments.

Read : Roshi Shyong as seen by his creators.

We invite you to discover an exclusive interview with the artists and director of the music video for ‘Roshi Shyong’, published by the European Music Awards. In it, they share their vision, their inspirations and the cultural significance of this now iconic track.

Dr Shiva, Zu, James Lama, Roshi Lama and TrippinJ.

Interview with Zu, Artistic Director

A word on current events to conclude …

In recent weeks, Nepal has been swept by an unprecedented protest movement led by the country’s youth. The ‘Gen Z’ movement, born out of a deep sense of frustration with corruption and political inertia, has mobilised thousands of young people on the streets of Kathmandu and other major cities. These demonstrations, sometimes violently suppressed, reflect a generation in search of a voice, dignity and change.

In this climate of tension and upheaval, the MaïaNāda project takes on its full meaning. Music, creativity and cultural transmission offer a space for expression. Art becomes a refuge, but also a collective voice, a means of expressing what the era struggles to articulate, and of preserving what deeply connects a society: its culture, its spirit and its living memory.

Thank you to all those who support this adventure and who believe, like us, that art can connect people, preserve heritage and give rise to new narratives.

See you soon for the next instalment of the adventure.

With our warmest regards,
The Maïa Baudelaire Foundation team

You may also like …