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Print and social media are flooded with news of the international and local artists who are congregat­ing in Kathmandu this week for Nepal’s own jazz festival. We are all excited to see on stage artists coming from around the world. But what about those working in the background? As the audience we rarely acknowledge the technicians, so let’s address this now. I first met Daniel (Danlo) Laurent in 2014 when I myself was one of those invisible vol­unteers helping Jazzmandu run smoothly. Born in Swit­zerland, Laurent studied elec­tronics and music, beginning his career in small clubs and recording rock bands. Accord­ing to him, life was intense then: handling the sound at big festivals, and for interna­tional bands on tour. Aside from work, philosophy and travel are his passions. So per­haps these, and his love of Asia, drew him to Jazzmandu, where he has been the main sound technician for the past nine years. Like me, he saw an advert for volunteers and thought it would be ‘interest­ing’. Unlike me, what Laurent brings to the table is three decades of experience, in 40 countries, recording over 150 albums, having his own recording studios, and work­ing at such festivals as Cully Jazz and Montreux Jazz.

How does Jazzmandu com­pare to the likes of these Euro­pean festivals? “Jazzmandu is unique because it is more than a jazz festival: it is a state of mind with energies that cannot be found anywhere else. The artists are gener­ally very touched by their participation for that reason. It took me a while to under­stand how things work in Nepal, but little by little things dropped into place and I feel we can be satisfied with the progress the festival has made over the years.”

Why, after so many years, is he still drawn to Nepal? Laurent replies, “Coming to Nepal and Jazzmandu is a human adventure which I would like to continue for the foreseeable future. And, there are still things I would like to see improved so that this festival can grow and evolve even more. I remember my very first day at Jazzmandu; actually there are so many memorable moments from the past years. Crazy jam ses­sions at Gokarna, intense and magical moments at Kantipur Temple House… too many to mention,” he laughs.

And what about those tense moments when things go wrong? “Of course we have faced hardships. The most radical were those long power cuts. Now everything is on battery. Overall, my main fear is communication problems between the stage and the control room. My wish? If I could have one, it would be for me to give back to Nepal as much as Nepal has given me in terms of inspiration and joy.” And what does he look forward to the most this year? “If I have to say just one thing, I would say the audience reac­tion—here are always so warm and appreciative,” he reflects.

Jazzmandu is spread over many venues and obviously each must have its own chal­lenges. “Yes, each place has its own particular identity. The main challenge is to guarantee a linear and homogeneous sound to all the audience, regardless of where they are sitting. I would say Kantipur Temple Hotel is one of the most interesting because it is possible to mix natural and amplified sounds. The most difficult is probably the Yak and Yeti Hotel because of the sound reflection on the buildings at the side of the stage. Overall, in each venue, I would love a little more time to get things right; to improve the monitoring manage­ment of the sound on stage,” answers Laurent.

So this year, when you go along to Jazzmandu, look out for the guy behind the sound­board with the look of high concentration on his face. Without him those on the stage would be mere shadows of their talented selves!

Jazzmandu runs from November 1-6 at different ven­ues around the valley.

 “It started in 2012,” says 30-year-old Sunil Pahadi, a bass play­er who is currently living and working in Yinchuan city of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. “We were playing as ‘The Critics’ at a bar in Thamel when a Chinese man appeared and told us he liked our music. His English was limited so the conversation didn’t go anywhere.” The band members had forgotten about the meeting when the same person appeared again after a few days, this time with a British friend. “The British guy became the mediator and through him we learnt that the Chinese man was the boss of a famous Chinese chain of restaurants which featured live music. He offered us jobs as musicians but we were rather skeptical. We gave a half-hearted response but he continued to follow up through emails, even from China. The company finally sent us formal job offers. We then got our visas, took the ‘no objection’ letter from the Labor Ministry and landed in China in 2013.”

The process was not easy though, Pahadi says. Getting the approval of the Department of Foreign Employ­ment (under the Labor Ministry) was tricky as China rarely issued working visas for Nepalis, and cer­tainly not to musicians. But Pahadi says the initial struggle has proven to be “well worth it”.

Working in China as musicians is a lot easier than doing so in Nepal, the China-based Nepali musicians we talked to tell us. On an average, a Nepali musician’s monthly earnings starts at around 5,000 RMB (roughly Rs 90,000), far more than what they make playing in Kathmandu’s pubs. All traveling expenses are covered by the sponsoring Chinese pubs, which also provide free accommo­dation and meals to the musicians.

“The standard of life is high while the cost of living is low. So we get to save as much as we like,” says Bishesh Bhandari, 29, who went to China in 2014. Initially hired as a bass player, Bhandari sings and plays guitars with his Nepali band­mates, also in Yinchuan city. Before leaving for China, Bhandari had spent 10 years playing in the pub circuit in Thamel, barely making a living out of it. “But right now I am saving and sending home decent money. Although the work is not as fun as in Kathmandu, it is easy. Life is chilled in China,” says Bhan­dari, who is currently traveling on vacation, travelling different cities in China.

Saroj Bardewa, a 28-year-old keyboard player, corroborates Bhandari’s words. Bardewa has been in China for two years. After working with Nepali musicians for a year, he joined a multinational ensemble which performs at a pop­ular bar in Shenzhen city of Guang­dong province. “The guys here are having a lot of fun,” he says. “Some have taken Chinese wives while oth­ers have Chinese girlfriends. I might soon get married to my Chinese girlfriend as well.”

Foreigners in China enjoy special hospitality, Bardewa claims, and it is this hospitality coupled with decent pay that is luring talented musicians away from Nepal. In fact, China is a home to musicians from all over the world, Bardewa says. “There are Nepali musicians who’re making up to Rs 250,000 a month in other cities,” he adds. “The bigger the city, the more the pay”. Accord­ing to him, generally, local Chinese musicians are the highest paid, fol­lowed by the ‘white faces’ (read: Europeans and Americans)—and they get to perform in all the big cities. The remuneration for the Nepali musicians, who are mostly based in smaller cities, is compara­bly lower, yet still respectable. “It has gotten progressively easier for Nepali musicians to work in China as most of those who have come from Nepal have been able to impress their Chinese bosses with their hard work and ability. Nepali musicians have thus come to be highly valued,” Bardewa says.

In the reckoning of Pahadi, the bass player, about 30-35 Nepali musicians are currently working in China, mainly in and around Yinch­uan city. “Our biggest competitors here are the Filipinos who preceded us and are somewhat more profes­sional. But we’re also getting there.”

In terms of music, Nepali musi­cians perform contemporary English songs and also play backing music for Chinese singers. The work­ing hours are usually 9 to 12 every night, with breaks in between. They get two off days a week, in addi­tion to 20-30 days of annual leave. No wonder so many Nepali musi­cians have made their way north, including popular names like Somea Baraili from “Jaalma” fame. Among the more recent ones to do so is 26-year-old Preety Manandhar, a popular name in Kathmandu’s live music scene.

“I came here only a few months ago,” she says. “I was selected directly by a Chinese bar owner who saw me perform live in Kath­mandu and invited me to come play in China.” Manandhar says she makes around 6000-7000 RMB (Rs 100,000-118,000) a month and is content with her life in Yinchuan city. “It is easy here,” she says. “I get to sing what I like, to work with amazing musicians. Moreover, it is completely safe to work as female singers here.”

The musicians working in China are proud that their skills, underrat­ed in their own country, are being appreciated and amply rewarded abroad. Some see this as a long-term career move while others see it as a stepping stone to a more successful career in music.

“This is so much better than going to the Gulf for employment,” says Bardewa, who has already worked as a salesman in Dubai before his China stint. “I now work in a big company that has over 500 bars around China. It’s like plying in the Chinese version of the Hard Rock Café”. 

 While we in Kathmandu are lucky to have the likes of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), Film South Asia, and a host of for­eign language film festivals, what we do miss are mainstream and art house English language films. Brit­ish films in particular. While the American superhero movies are all very entertaining, they lack a certain through-provoking quality for those who want a bit more than just an hour and a half of swashbuckling adventure.

 ‘That Good Night’ ticks all the boxes: entertaining, yes definitely; thought provoking, yes, we will talk about this movie for weeks; great actors, some might argue one of best actors ever, and certainly time well spent.

The basic story line of That Good Night is one of a 70-plus-year-old suffering from a terminal illness. Before he dies he has two aims: to be reconciled with his estranged son and to make his passing as easy as possible for his younger wife. He is a member of an exclusive and expen­sive euthanasia organization, which he hires to send him painlessly and quickly into ‘that good night’. What makes this film particularly poignant and tenderly watchable is the main character played by Sir John Hurt, who himself died of a terminal ill­ness at the age of 77 in January 2017, shortly after the film was shot.

Released in May 2018, the film received mixed reviews. No one can fault the acting of Golden Globe and BAFTA Award winning Hurt, espe­cially as it was his final role, and one that mirrored his own imminent death. But some critics were quick to pick holes in the weak story line and the abilities of the other actors. For me, just your average film buff, the movie was a gentle and visually stun­ning production in contemplation of both the quality of life, and whether we should have a choice in the time and method of our death.

For those who do not know, John Hurt was a British actor whose career spanned over 50 years, with award-worthy performances in ‘A Man for All Seasons’ (1966), ‘The Naked Civil Servant’ (1975), ‘Mid­night Express’ (1979) and ‘Alien’ (1979), among others. Playing alongside him in That Good Night is Charles Dance, another veteran of British cinema who readers might recognize from ‘Game of Thrones’ where he plays Tywin Lannister. In That Good Night Dance he plays the almost ethereal representative of the euthanasia organization, someone who is only seen by Hurt’s character, and leaves us wondering if he really does exist at all, or is he a figment of imagination. Swedish actress Sofia Helin plays Hurt’s younger wife and brings a sense of summer sun, stylish fashion, and sensuality into the pro­ceedings, which is paralleled by the glorious Portuguese setting.

Without giving too much away, Hurt’s character has called his son to his home in order to reconcile their differences before he dies. Unfortunately, things do not go according to plan, mainly because of the father’s grouchiness and bad behavior towards his son’s girlfriend. Having failed in this, Hurt takes the decision to go ahead with his assist­ed death anyway. This too fails. He feels he has been cheated out of his death and out of the money he paid, but Charles Dance’s character claims this is because he does not believe Hurt truly wants to die just yet. Sure enough, as things prog­ress, Hurt gets a chance to live out another few months in happiness with his family before he goes into ‘that good night’

 Conversations about sexual and reproductive health is still awkward between Nepali parents and children even, in Kath­mandu. There have been tradition­al methods of information dissem­ination through television, radio, flyers, booklets and pamphlets. However, with the advent of mobile phones and social media, one of the modern ways to get correct information about sex and repro­ductive health could be through mobile applications. “Mero Lagi”, translated as “For Me” in English, is one such android mobile app that aims to provide a platform to receive and share information anonymously on sexual and repro­ductive health.

 One of the app developers Anuroop Manandhar says that apps are a better way for such informa­tion dissemination as information can be regularly updated and new information added easily. Though there already are health-related apps for physical activities and on menstrual calendars, apps on sexual and reproductive health are limited on a global level. Manand­har reasons that new technology has not been fully utilized because of “lack of understanding among health professionals and health policy makers about the tech­nology. Only IT engineers can­not make health related apps as they will not have enough knowledge on health issues.” Another reason is “slow accep­tance of technology by health professionals”.

Such apps are more required now since youth population in Nepal are having more ‘unsafe sex,’ sex without condoms and drinking before sex according to the study named “Premarital Sex Behaviors among College Youths of Kathmandu, Nepal” done in 2013. This study also found that one-fifth of college youth had premarital sex. So, information about correct sexual and reproductive health and consent while engaging in sex is paramount.

The developers wanted to create an app which provided information to youth and adolescents. So, with the support from the department of health services, this app was devel­oped by a team of medical and public health experts from Public Health Concern Trust- Nepal (phect-NEPAL). The developers also worked closely with team of John Hopkins University and NHEICC (Nepal Heath Education Information and Communication Center)

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Though this app was initial­ly intended for people between 15-24, Manandhar reveals they have received queries from married and old people too, making them real­ize that such an app is actually required for people of all ages. Launched in March 2017, this app is available in both English and Nepali. It features quizzes, myth-busters, stories corner, health center information, scientific links and informa­tion about relationships, contraceptives and sexu­ally-transmitted diseases among others.

Even though updates have been made to the app many times since its launch, there are still things that developers think would help make the app better. Rolina Dhital, who had worked as a consultant for app development on behalf of phect-NEPAL and is one of the architects of the app, says that the contents of the app can be accessed online only and sugges­tions to have access to them offline have been made by users. They have also not been able to answer the questions in the app recently due to limited human resources. But they plan to upgrade the app and keep addressing questions despite the challenges. Manandhar adds that to address these prob­lems, support from government, donors, health policy makers and health professionals is required.

He notes that not only people from urban centers but also from rural areas should be able to access services from such apps. Dhital acknowledges that more quizzes, myth-busters and updated infor­mation is required as suggested by many of its users. “We have not been able to keep up with the new updates so that needs to be improved,” she says. She also reveals that when the app was being developed, other organiza­tions such as United Nations Popu­lation Fund and GIZ had developed an app called “Khulduli” address­ing the same issue. She hopes that more such apps come up the com­ing days.

As this app had been developed through a grant and thus, could not be commercialized, she hopes that “up-coming entrepreneurs devel­op similar apps with the option of monetization so that the app is self-sustainable.” She emphasizes that the target population must be kept in mind while developing such apps.