What does the underwater world of an American crayfish sound like?

For sound artist Nischal Khadka, water has two faces. It is sacred in Nepal, yet it also carries memories of floods and danger.

Khadka grew up beside the Koshi River in Bhagalpur, in southeastern Nepal. As a child, he held on to his father while crossing the river on foot at low water. During the monsoon, they could cross only by boat because there were no bridges.

That experience contrasts sharply with the Dutch landscape he encountered on his first visit to the Netherlands. Driving from Schiphol through the Haarlemmermeer polder, Khadka was astonished to discover that the road lay below the level of the ring canal. The contrast between engineered water and water as a free-flowing natural force lies at the heart of Sacred Ecohydrology, the installation he made with anthropologist and artist Merel Maan Galama.

The work uses field recordings from the Nepalese Himalayas. A gently bubbling mountain stream gradually seems to form a melody through its dipping, seeping and splashing sounds. Another recording captures a roaring mass of water so forcefully that listeners can almost feel the spray.

Khadka and Galama combined the Nepal recordings with voiceovers and sounds gathered in the Netherlands. In June, they spent eight days recording along the Vecht, placing microphones near bridges, locks and dikes between Utrecht and Breukelen. Their installation will be presented at Utrecht University Museum from September 10 to 13 as part of the Gaudeamus Festival exhibition Resisting Waters, which brings together seven works on water amid record droughts and exceptionally low river levels.

The subject also carries a darker urgency. Nepal recently suffered a catastrophic flood that destroyed entire villages. An analysis cited in the article said melting glaciers are increasing the risk of ice avalanches and mass flooding. “Water has two faces in Nepal,” Khadka said. “On the one hand, water is sacred. On the other, I grew up hearing stories about threatening tidal waves and floods. Those stories became reality yesterday.”

“

Water has two faces in Nepal. On the one hand, water is sacred. The Koshi River where I grew up plays an important role in the origin myths of indigenous peoples. Hindus venerate it as an embodiment of the god Shiva. On the other hand, I grew up hearing stories about threatening tidal waves and floods. Those stories became reality yesterday.