Grunge is not dead, neither is rock
I met them on a lazy Saturday afternoon—hot, humid and just lethargic. Now Saturday afternoon is not a good time to meet musicians. With complaints of how their (and mine) Friday-night shenanigans had them still sleep deprived, we slugged a few cups of coffee at Basantapur before finally mustering the energy to get to the office of Skathi Records—a literally underground studio at Lagan where the band ‘Shree 3’ rehearses. Totally worth the time and energy spent though. I was awestruck by their raw energy and how tight they sounded even in rehearsals. I also managed to get a raw video footage of “The Monk”, a song with an infectious guitar riff, from their upcoming album. (Follow the QR code for the video.)
The band came to life in 2016 as a side project of three proficient musicians already playing for different other bands. Sarad Shrestha (Tumbleweed) on guitars and vocals, Rozet Gurung ( Jugaa, Nude Terror) on bass and Robin Neupane (Tumbleweed, H.O.S.) on drums complete the lineup of Shree 3, a power trio. Nothing to do with the dynastic rule of the Ranas; the name Shree 3 just signifies the number of band members.
As for their music, although band members do not prefer tagging themselves with any single genre, at its heart Shree 3 is an alternative rock band that also explores stoner rock, desert rock and a lot of grunge. With Sarad’s heavily overdriven guitars and unique finger-style playing, his raw vocals reminiscent of the alternative greats of the 90s, Rozet’s groovy basslines, and Robin’s steady drum beats, the band is a complete package of skilled musicianship and scintillating energy.
“We make most of our music while jamming at rehearsals,” says Sarad, who also writes lyrics for the band. “We discuss topics and then conceptualize the songs we’re going to work on. A song may originate in one of Rozet’s bass grooves or Robin’s drum beats.” For inspiration, the band looks up to heavy music from the 60s to the late 90s— heavy metal, punk, rock n’ roll, grunge and all.
Shree 3’s previous singles “Eutai Antya” and “Sanity Wreck” are already popular among Nepali listeners and their latest, “Maze”, is also getting a lot of attention on social media. The band, even in its short history, has already been able to tour eastern Nepal—a region where Nepali artists long to play. Love and support from the easterners is a measure of success for any Nepali artist. The band already has a small but supportive fan base across the country, perhaps owing to the reputation of band members from their past exploits. “We have been taking it slow at Shree 3 due to our commitments with other bands,” Sarad says. “But now that we are releasing our first album, we will be doing more shows around the country.”
“This is an experimental album,” Rozet talks about “Drabya Dharma”, the band’s upcoming album. “There are 10 songs, each one sounding very different to the others. We have tried a lot of sub genres. Our influences come to play here and we’re still trying to find our sound.” Robin, one of the most popular drummers in the current music scene, adds that the inspiration for Shree 3’s music comes from the grunge era of the 90s as well as progressive rock. “I like to keep it groovy and not complicate the music with technicalities,” Robin says.
Drabya Dharma (roughly: ‘the religion of money’) is an independent album the band is set to release on its own. “As the name suggests, our themes are mostly distraught individuals and how they relate to the world,” Sarad says. “But there are messages of awareness in our music too,” Rozet adds.
Without a record label, the band is releasing the album with the help of its friends, namely Skathi Records and US-based Tarang Entertainment. “We got great response to our previous singles which motivated us to cut the new album,” Sarad says. “With a few English numbers, we’re also trying to enter the international arena.”
Shree 3’s “Drabya Dharma” is set to release amid a concert at Purple Haze, Thamel, on May 18. Local acts ASM, Kaagaz and Hermeneutics of Suspicion (H.O.S) will be supporting Shree 3 with opening performances. After the release, the album will also be available on online platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp and iTunes.
Barpak rises up with the New Year
His eyes are moist as he looks at his new ‘model’ house. Ram Bahadur Ghaley, 77, has bitter memories of the 25 April 2015 earthquake in which he lost many of his relatives as well as his ancestral home. The Barpak village in Gorkha district was the epicenter of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
All the homes of the small village were destroyed, with 70 of its residents dying. It has been exactly four years since the devastating earthquake and the villagers of Barpak are still in the process of rebuilding their homes with the help of the Rs 300,000 in compensation from the government.
Having spent many nights under the open sky, Ghaley has just finished building his new home. Even if he cannot get back the loved ones he lost in the earthquake, says Ghaley, he nonetheless wants to bring some happiness to those who remain.
In the Dharche rural municipality in Barpak, 6,149 families have already rebuilt their homes while 1,033 families are still homeless. Their traditional abodes have been replaced by modern, earthquake resistant houses. One storied, quaint little houses with blue tin roofs are in fact the new signature feature of Barpak. The Barpak residents, who do not want to remember April 25, are forcefully reminded of the catastrophic day by the recurring aftershocks. But Barpak is slowly regaining its vitality, one blue tin roof at a time
Capturing subaltern tunes and lost melodies
A bunch of metalheads, all prolific in their respective instruments, got together in 2006 to form a Nepali ‘folk-metal’ band. They wanted to mix their favorite genre, metal, with ethnic musical instruments. But finding musicians to play those instruments to the rhythm and tempo of metal music was almost impossible. Thus they learned to play the instruments themselves.
As their skills in the folk instruments grew, the band decided they would continue composing music with only ethnic instruments. Thus started the evolution of Night—a new-age Nepali folk band. Today, Night is a oneof- a-kind musical ensemble of young, determined and talented musicians who have set out to redefine Nepal’s folk genre and recover lost and endangered tunes of its farflung corners. An example of mature artistry and profound understanding of music, Night’s compositions are manifestation of the unexplored or understated contemplations of the unheard communities in the country, all captured as they are, and served organically to the aural satisfaction of its listeners.
Night’s debut album “Ani Ukali Sangai Orali” (2014) gave us absolute tearjerkers like “Kathor” and “Sunko Jutta” while “Jhalka Raya Buka” (2017) introduced the audience to the authentic sounds of deuda from far-western Nepal. The band’s subaltern folk music challenges the very roots of heavily-synthesized commercial Nepali folk, with the madal and sarangi dominating the plasticized music (read : lok-dohoris).
‘We have been in this for over a decade because of the immense satisfaction we get and the freedom we have in creating our music’
Jason Kunwar, Night
The success of Night and their global acceptance show there is more to Nepali folk music than lamentations of one’s failed life, mistimed political jibes, and running away with other people’s children. Night’s music come not just from superficial absorption of a single regional or communal music, but from deep research and extensive travel to some of the remotest parts of the country, in search of local dialects and melodies that are being lost.
“If you evaluate our success in terms of album sales, we’re not doing so well. Night is definitely not a profitable band,” says Jason Kunwar, a founding member who writes most of its lyrics, composes music, sings, and is also a multi-instrumentalist playing ethnic instruments like the sarangi, piwachha, Nepali banjo, tungna, nyakhin and bamboo flute. “But we have been doing this project for more than a decade because of the immense satisfaction we get from it and because of the freedom we have in creating our music.” Like any other band in the country, Night has seen its share of differences among its members resulting in some line-up changes. But Jason along with another founding member Niraj Shakya (backing vocals and tungna) have been the anchors of the ensemble which has seen up to 14 members sharing the stage together.
The current line-up has, besides Jason and Niraj, Sudhir Acharya in the rhythm section playing the nagara, dhime, nyakhin, madal and doing backing vocals; Sugama Gautam on vocals; and Shiva Kumar Khatri playing paluwa ( just leaves) and vocals. The Schima leaves Khatri plays, called chilaune in Nepali, have traditionally been used as musical instruments. This art is on the verge of extinction, band members inform.
The musicians from Night are all involved in various other projects for their livelihood. Night is just an outlet for them to create music that differs from commercial norms. “We’re together because we play for pleasure,” says Niraj. “We love the feedback our audience gives us and we have been blessed with positive responses so far.” Night has performed at prestigious world music festivals like Shambala Music Festival in the UK, Sommarscen Malmö festival in Sweden, and Womex festival in Germany.
The band has also traveled to other European and Asian countries including the exotic Uzbekistan with their music and are all set to tour Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Macau with their new album “Ramite-The Music, Volume 1”. The album, launched on April 13 this year, is inspired by Jason’s upcoming novel ‘Ramite-Daam’ translated as “The Spectator: Scar”, and finds Night at its peak of artistic confluence with the rhyme and rhythm of the Nepali folk music. “Our songs have in the past been about communities, places and natural disasters. But this album is based on a fictional alternate world and the struggles its people have to go through,” says Jason. Night has released some new songs from the album on Youtube. The physical copies are on sale at Ekta Books, while the digital copies can be found on the band’s iTunes and Spotify pages.
Mother’s milk for foster kids
Until Bal Mandir (Nepal Children’s Organization) found Promise, an abandoned child with umbilical hernia, three months ago, no one had thought about breast-feeding babies of Bal Mandir in its 55-year-long history. Promise was found, deserted, in Imadol, Lalitpur by a local woman who took him to Patan Hospital immediately. He was around 20-day-old then.
When Promise drank milk, it came right out of his nose. He kept getting fever, looked malnourished and he was not even three kilograms when he was two months, informs Bal Krishna Dangol, director of Bal Mandir. He adds, “When we discussed how we could improve his condition, breast-feeding came up as a potential solution as breast milk consists of all the nutrients a child needs. We thought this may also contribute to better physical and mental health of children here.”
After the discussion on March 4 this year, Bal Mandir started its breast-feeding program under which 15 under-two children at the center in Kathmandu were to be breast-fed. “I consider it a child’s right,” says Dangol. There have since been problems.
'Nothing can substitute breast-milk, which increases child’s immunity and is easy to digest'
Pashupati Mahat, Senior psychologist
“When I told my friend from Bhaktapur, he was shocked. ‘How can I send someone from my home to breast-feed someone else’s baby?’ he asked. He was concerned that women would feel shy and uncomfortable.” Dangol says that among Newars in particular there is a belief that if a small child touches another, even via the mother, then they will have the tendency to cry more, also known as ‘runchey lagney’. So some mothers don’t want to come. Others question why they should feed another child when they have their own. Some said transportation was a problem.
“We are thinking of giving at least taxi fare and one full-meal to whoever comes to nourish the kids. A separate room has been set aside to ensure privacy,” informs Dangol. Only mother and child would be allowed in that room, which is equipped with all the necessary breastfeeding tools such as a portable gas heater, sanitizer, diapers, and a cot. The mother can bring her own child along if she so wishes.
Right now, it has not been possible for Bal Mandir to feed breast milk to all the babies. Most of them still get Lactogen Formula-I and II.
Dangol is now preparing a PowerPoint presentation for new mothers in other maternity centers and hospitals in order to convince them to breast-feed a child at Bal Mandir. Breast pumps may also be given to new mothers so that they can pump excess milk and store it for later use in Bal Mandir. “Ideally, we would have a new mother breast-feed a child here three times a week.”
He expresses happiness that three such mothers have already been found. Anita Kumpakh, a mother of a 7-month-old, has been breast-feeding Promise at Bal Mandir since the start of the breastfeeding program. She shares, “My neighbors told me that my child might get sick if I breastfeed another child but I wanted to do it anyway. I am happy I can contribute to the healthy development of a child. My family has been supportive about it as well.”
She usually visits Bal Mandir at around 12 pm and stays till 3 pm. She tries to go 2-3 times a week. “I have personally seen Promise grow healthier. When I started, he looked very frail.” She says that she would encourage other new mothers to follow suit.
Pashupati Mahat, a senior psychologist who specializes in child and adolescent mental health, supports this program: “Mother’s milk is important not just for the physical development but also for the emotional wellbeing of a child.”
Mahat claims that even when an alternate mother feeds a baby, the child feels attached to her. Studies show that this attachment in early years is critical and breastfeeding is one activity that helps with it. There are downsides if new mothers coming to Bal Mandir are in it only to make some money or get benefits. “Then they may feed in a hurry. The baby too gets irritated and starts crying and that can prove to be detrimental for the baby’s development.”
Mahat adds that even though companies may claim their milk can substitute breast milk, it is not true. “Nothing can substitute breast-milk,” which increases child’s immunity and is easy to digest. “It has all the necessary nutrients a baby needs; plus, it is not contaminated”.
Mahat says the alternate mother should spend with the baby at least three hours at a time, and at least three days a week. “Do it less frequently and the efficiency of the breast-feeding program may be compromised,” he cautions. If this program is successful in Kathmandu, Bal Mandir hopes to run it in all its 10 branches across Nepal.
