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Washington, D.C. : Two stone sculptures dating back around 800 years that were sto­len from Nepal and taken to the United States will be repatriated, according to an agreement between officials of the two countries. An agree­ment to this effect was sighed between Daniel H. Weiss, Pres­ident of the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Art and Consul General of Nepal in New York Madhu Marasini, amid a program in New York. Handing over stolen sculptures to their original owner follows the museum policy of not exhib­iting stolen arts. RSS

Kathmandu: Veteran Indian writer of Nepali descent Indra Bahadur Rai passed away in his home town of Darjeeling on Tuesday. He was 90. Rais is considered one of the most erudite and acclaimed writers in the Nepali language. In a career spanning almost seven decades, Rai authored over a dozen books in sev­eral genres including novels, short stories, essays and literary criticism.

There’s a Carnival Today, a trans­lation of Rai’s novel Aaja Ramita Chha, was launched in Kathmandu last year. Long Night of Storm, a translation of 16 stories picked from Rai’s two short story collections—Bipana Katipaya and Kathastha—was launched here last week. The novel and the short story collection were translated by writers Manjushree Thapa and Prawin Adhikari respec­tively.

Kathmandu College of Management hosted its 14th annual Intercollege Music Competition (ICMC) at the Jawlakhel grounds last week. Organized and managed by the students of KCM, ICMC opens doors to all music enthu­siasts in Nepal. The event is primarily aimed at providing young and energetic music enthusiasts a platform to exhibit their musical talent and enhancing inter­action among educational institutions in Nepal.The Grand Finale of the ICM held on March 24 saw 10 bands of different genres (selected from preliminary rounds) per­forming for the judges as well as a huge audience. Popular Nepali bands Jind­abaad, Tumbleweed, Screaming Mari­onette and Underside also performed as guest bands to enthrall the audience while the scores and votes of the partici­pants were being calculated.

Blue Skin, Famous Last Wishes and Chihaan won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, while the surprising entry Shree Kali—a Nepali folk ensem­ble—won the Crowds’ Favorite award. Similarly, the talented metal outfit Of Quite Echoes (whom we feature in a story) took home the Judges’ favorite award. APEX BUREAU

Sometimes life turns out to be a fairy tale and dreams become reality. Stories with dramatic scenes and twists may elicit rapturous applause within the walls of a movie theatre but not beyond, as such stories are not realis­tic enough. But such tales do exist, the journey of “Of Quiet Echoes” being one of them.Of Quiet Echoes is a five member ‘progressive metal­core’ band which was formed just two months before the KCM Inter College Music Competition (KMC ICMC) held last week. Initially, all that the band members had was a passion for music and a drum set, but no other musi­cal equipment whatsoever to fulfill their long-time desire to participate in the competi­tion. With rented equipment and once-a-week rehearsals, the band, representing Little Angels College, beat all odds against them, and won the prestigious Judges’ Favorite Award at the 14th ICMC.

“We were quite nervous in the beginning, but once we were on stage, we gave the musicians in us free rein and performed our best,” says Manish Shrestha, the band’s vocalist. “The experience was surreal. The crowd appreci­ated our music and to add to our thrill, we became the judges’ favorite.”

The band was formed with the initiative of Shrestha and guitarist Aaron Raigai who draw inspiration from the international band Linkin Park. The duo was initially part of a punk rock band but later realized that the partic­ular genre of music no longer excited them and they wanted something more extreme. The search for like-minded mem­bers followed, and together with friends they previously played with and contacts they met online, Of Quiet Echoes was formed.

After going through several line-up changes, the crew now comprises guitarists Aaron and Aneesh Raigai, bass guitarist Pranesh Singh, drummer Archan Tamang and vocalist Manish Shrestha, with Anish Bahadur Thapa Magar handling responsibility as the band manager. Magar builds contacts, gets the band some stage time, and clears up misunderstandings among band members.

“Metal music is still stig­matized in our society, which considers this genre of music ‘satanic’,” says Aaron Raigai. But he is determined not to let such stigmatization dampen their passion. He believes the band has plenty to offer for Nepali music lovers. ‘Of Quiet Echoes’ not only plays hardcore metal music, but also sprinkles some aesthetic atmospheric harmonies in between, which makes it differ from the rest. “There’s a lot of effort to construct our music, but, for an outsider, it seems all about screaming and shouting,” Raigai added.

The 15-year-old guitarist Pranesh, who started playing guitar at the age of two, laugh­ingly adds, “My mother tells me not to headbang, as she fears it might break my neck.” His comment generated laugh­ter in the room. Pranesh states his family supports him, since his family has a thick back­ground in music, but it is not the same in Manish’s family. The vocalist says that he is regularly advised to quit Metal and involve himself in another genre of music.

The band had been per­forming various shows previ­ously, only to fulfil their pas­sion and meet the requests of friends. Their first earning of Rs 25,000 came from the KMC ICMC. The band is slated to perform in Purple Haze soon and is also working on releas­ing a Long Playing album in the near future.

With no musical equipment (apart from the drum set) and little time to practice, the band accomplished something incredible when the opportu­nity knocked.

Apart from the judges’ favor­ite, individual awards were also given out to the band members—Archan Tamang (Best Drummer) and Manish Shrestha (Best Vocal). The rec­ognition they received at the KMC ICMC was a major boost that has fired their zeal