My Online Playlist
The internet, on most days, is an information wasteland for potty-trained cat videos and daring Facebook pictures of gregarious school mates. But sometimes you thank the cosmos for the series of events that brought you to a webpage, to the very moment you clicked on the holy hyperlink and it opened up the virtual world of a great musician/band you had never heard of. Destiny!
In the ungodly number of hours spent in front of the computer, I have come across several young Nepalese musicians who, not only equal, but sometimes surpass their worldwide counterparts in their talent, passion and vision. Here, I share with you some such promising figures in various genres:
Image Credit: Suzan Shrestha
BIJAY SHRESTHA
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Bijay started learning Tabla at the shocking age of 4 under the guidance of his father Maestro Rabin Lal Shrestha and the by the time he was 18 he had completed his Masters degree in Tabla. Currently, he is majoring in Sitar at LalitKala Campus and under the guidance of his mother Bina Shrestha and Maestra Uma Thapa. He fuses tabla and sitar with a rock band “Prakat” who won the inter-college band competition organized by Ace expression, 2013. Recently, he was involved with Navaratri Akhanda Sadhana, a 24 hours nonstop tabla practice for 9 days by Tabla maestro Rabin Shrestha and his students.
He shares, “Classical music has always been my first priority because I believe it is the root of all kinds of music. Classical music affects anyone who listens to it, so much so that major motion pictures often use it to evoke feelings and moods needed to tell a story. The technique works because classical music is organized and complex, with phrases and varying amounts of intensity that behave like a narrator telling a tale without words. Indeed, its not only about the music, It has a lot more benefits – speeding up medical treatments, Improving mental functions, and uplifting moods. From generation to generation everything keeps changing. Nothing is permanent. Even the way of listening to music has changed during last few decades. People are more into fusion music these days. But be it fusion, jazz or rock or just anything, I try to synchronize it with classical music and make it sound unique yet keeping up the real feel of the respective music”
Image Credit: Crazy Plant
SHREYA RAI
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Many of you might have heard her sing on youtube. Her voice is only getting more refined and I’ve noticed during live shows that other instruments have a hard time matching its impeccable quality. A keen music student throughout school, she played keyboard in two school bands and also took drumming lessons for a year. In college, she sang soprano in the choir. Shreya started uploading cover songs on Youtube in 2010 whilst in college which she continues to delight us with till date. In addition, she is the keyboardist and vocalist for Illusion Orchestra, a fusion group. Recently, she collaborated with Nepali and British musicians in a tribute concert for Narayan Gopal.
A few words from Shreya herself, “I moved to England quite young and completely oblivious to the Nepali and Hindi music scene. So uploading videos on YouTube for me has been like a social call: I’ve met so many wonderful people through it who I’m happy to call my friends now and are my inspirations to try Nepali and Hindi tunes as well. I’m pursuing music part-time on the side with my full-time Geography degree so it gets quite hectic maintaining time and travelling around with my keyboard which weighs 30 lbs roughly (haha). But I think most of us in the Nepalese-UK music circle go through the same time/travel/money issues so there’s like an unspoken bond between us.”
Shreya hasn’t been formally trained but is looking into taking vocal lessons in the near future. “I always have my eyes and ears open for new sounds because I can never just settle for one thing. Just yesterday I was imitating Chinese opera singers and the week before I successfully wrote a verse in Hawaiian, using Google translate of course. I sound like I’m having a mid-life crisis at age 20″, shares the charmingly quirky, but sincerely dedicated young singer.
Image Credit: Himanshu Joshi
ROHIT JOHN CHHETRI
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Rohit’s recently uploaded song, Bistaarai, has gone viral, reaching over 66,000 plays in the first month. And why wouldnt it? Its a well crafted love song, a rarity among the hilarious attempts of composers in Nepali pop.
Rohit was introduced to music by his father who plays different musical instruments and passionately loves music. Since childhood, Rohit had musical instruments like the guitar, tabla and harmonium at home. “At the time, my dad was a school teacher, so after a tiring day at school, he used to play his favorite Hindi and Nepali songs on the harmonium. I used to sit by his side, listening to him, sometimes singing along with him the songs I knew. Even while I was a kid, I wanted to take music lessons but due to different circumstances, I couldn’t. However, I never stopped playing and learning music. Sometimes I jammed with my dad even during exams!”, he fondly recalls.
Whilst in grade 8, Rohit started Eastern classical lessons with Prabhu Raj Dhakal, but unfortunately, he couldn’t continue. He took a hiatus during his SLC up until college, while working at the same time. But in 2011 Rohit took up a job at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory. Upon meeting musicians and witnessing their dedication to music Rohit decided that this was definitely what he wanted to do. Currently, Rohit is studying Bachelors in Eastern Classical and Folk Music at Ratna Rajya Campus.”The reason I’m in the music field is that no matter how hard life is, I can always find a way to be happy and gain that satisfaction through music. And I want to teach the things I know about music to others too, about how music can change someone’s life”
Rohit recently appeared on the TV show Aagaman on Kantipur TV and the radio show New Release on Kantipur FM after the resounding success of his song.
YUB RAJ GHALE
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Yub’s lyricism is dope (if I’m using the term correctly)! It is truly some of the best writing I’ve come across style-wise and content-wise.
Yub was introduced to hip hop at the age of 13 but only got to listening to it some years later. “I started writing (very badly) when I heard Rappaz Union on the radio. Then came the Nepsydaz. I was introduced to Manas by a friend of mine and met the rest of the crew, Kiran and Gyanon. In the early 2000′s, a lot of talented Nepali artists started emerging from all over the globe. and ‘Nephop’ was born”.
Yub only wrote when he started out but started rapping when he heard Nepsydaz. “At that time we had an online forum callednephop.net. Artists used to post their music and lyrics. We used to have text battles and audio battles which I took part in. I didn’t have any equipments let alone a computer to record. I used to go to Sarad Singh and Suraj Shrestha’s place to record, I owe them a lot and to Kiran for hooking me up. Thats how I started.”
Yub has collaborated with Nepsydaz called Drunken Thoughts which is on their second album and some verses for Santosh Situala’s song Purano Prem, a hit on YouTube. When he arrived in the UK in 2007, Yub was inactive until he met Master Subba (fourth member of the early Nepsydaz). Though they maintain solo projects, together, they are known as Pauranik Bidhya. He shares, “Though our music is not everybody’s cup of tea, we keep it lyrical and real. Its cliche to say that I get inspired by our daily lives and the surroundings, but thats what it really is, and its humbling when some brothers tell me that I inspire them.There are so many good writers out there, but they don’t get the shine they deserve. But nephop is still in its growing stage. I guess we need some more time for people to truly understand and appreciate hiphop” Yub also produces instrumentals, mostly sample based, and sometimes original.
BAJABAH DUO
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This duo is taking experimentation with Nepali folk music beyond pre-supposed limits, puzzling audiences with an organic mixture of folk melodies, jazz, funk and progressive rock. Roshan Gurung, who plays the bass and sings, and has sometimes been seen stroking his electric bass with a bow, composes these arrangements, drawing on his explorations of contemporary classical music, ragas, blues and jazz. He is accompanied by Amit Reshmi Magar who contributes guitar and voice and brings to the team his blues, progressive rock, reggae and funk influences. The result is a type of music that is a little bit ‘out there’ and deeply interesting.
The project, the duo says, “is an attempt not to sound like anybody else, but very much like ourselves and to enjoy the moment while it lasts”.
AFURAKI
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Afuraki’s music is widely based on samples, clipped and trimmed off from analogue audio hardwares and storages. He shares about his production technique, “I mainly sample from vinyl records or cassette tapes and trim it down to a few seconds of sounds. These individual sounds for example, are literally just about under 3 seconds. They are then manipulated, arranged and layered to create beats or loops in an extract. These beats are later played and recorded live to create instrumentals which are recorded on to cassette tapes and again back to digital for publication.
I prefer old-school styled production techniques in which I like to use a lot of discontinued instruments and alternative references to purposely create that lo-fi standard of music. I love the vinyl sound, that crackles and pops from the groove that signals through those delicate needles and out. I love the hiss of a cassette tape recording. I like the fact that we can physically touch, admire their built, their artwork and an old form of preciseness that literally takes me back to my younger days trying to rewind that cassette tape with a pencil to save my chewed up batteries. Of course I do digital too but analogue is beautifully different.”
Concerning the reluctance among musical purists to accept electronics based music, he adds, “I grew up learning guitars and drums but I’ve never had any instrument that gave me the freedom and huge amount of productivity as the beatmachine. Some people deny that it’s a musical instrument. I can’t help everyone there but as I see it, anything that we can create sounds to make music with, whatever we use whether they are strings, winds, keys, pads or knobs, they’re all musical instruments to me”
Categorised in: Arts