Turkish Airlines Airbus had an accident. A museum was born
A sculpture or a curio piece, or a fine art masterpiece, makes for a museum of art or history. By this logic, you need a real aircraft to build a good aviation museum. For proof, visit the Aviation Museum at Sinamangal in Kathmandu.The frame of a dead aircraft and its dead engine come to life at this museum, the first of its kind in Nepal. The dead frame of a Turkish Airlines Airbus that skidded off the runway in Kathmandu in 2015 was dismantled, reassembled and fashioned into an aviation museum, right next to the country’s only international airport. When you visit this unique museum, you will feel like being inside a real airplane.
Launched in November 2017, the museum was established by Bed Upreti Trust—a non-profit jointly founded by Captain Bed Uprety—and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. A pilot and an aviation instructor in Indonesia, Uprety wanted to interest the Nepali youth in the field of aviation, and he reckoned an aviation museum would be the perfect way to do so.
The museum’s exhibits include the aircraft’s original cockpit setting, various aircraft models, and items documenting the history of Nepali aviation.
The Turkish Airlines plane, Airbus 330-300, had flown for about eight months before meeting a mishap at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu in March 2015. It cost Rs 70 million to convert the useless outer-frame into a museum.
The museum has a lot to offer to visitors. It is the perfect place to educate yourself on Nepali aviation or to take your child who is fascinated about flying. The main attraction are probably the miniature airplanes and model helicopters displayed inside. Recently, a fun park for children has been built right outside the museum.
The Airbus has four sections. In the welcome hall, visitors are shown a documentary on the museum’s history. It gives information about airport model, cargo compartment, cabin crew, pilot training, and aviation safety. Then there is an air force hall imitating a fighter plane that served in both the world wars. Next is an airlines hall with models of aircraft operated by Nepal Airlines. Lastly, the manufacture and refreshment hall displays plane models developed by students of aircraft engineering.
Ticket prices are reasonable. Nepali citizens pay Rs 250, handicapped and older citizens Rs 125, SAARC country nationals Rs 250, and foreigners Rs 500. Entry fee is waived for students of grade 9-12 who carry a letter from their schools. All students with valid ID cards get 50 percent off. You may also get photographed as an airhostess or a pilot by paying nominal fees.
The museum opens 10 am-5 am, October to February, and 9:30 am-6:30 pm, March to September.
The place is popular with school children these days. “It’s astonishing to witness the excitement of the little children who come here. They have so many questions and I feel happy answering them as it reminds me of my own childhood," says Anisha Neupane, an employee at the museum.
“We want to encourage youngsters to pursue careers in aviation and engineering,” said Uprety, who is also the chief executive officer of the museum.
Despite all the hard work with the museum, there is always room for improvement. One such area is food prices. A disappointed visitor was heard saying: “For a place dedicated to children and students, the restaurant here is quite expensive. The prices need to go down.”
Age just a number for the “Maski Maski” man
The first question I ask him is the question he hates the most, but still keeps getting asked. “I’ve never liked talking about my age,” musician Jyoti Ghimire says, “makes me feel old.” But being nice to me as we go back a long way, he offers a hint: “I retired from government service a couple of years ago, so now you can guess.”
That’s how talking to Jyoti Ghimire is. He doesn’t command respect because of his seniority. He doesn’t seek admiration because he’s a few generations older than many musicians today. With him, everyone is friends and age is just a number in official documents. “The only thing that hints of my age is my balding head. Otherwise, playing guitar for 3 to 4 hours a day keeps my youth intact,” Ghimire adds with a laugh.
Ghmire is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has been playing music for almost four decades, and his musical journey is still finding new avenues. With an unaccounted number of concerts around the country and abroad, and almost 200 recordings with various artists, Ghimire still pursues music, learning new things every day and evolving. “From bhajans to the blues, I have played and still play everything,” he says.
Born and brought up in Kathmandu, the sounds of the guitar in Bollywood music is what first drew Ghimire to the instrument. He spent hours listening to music by RD Burman and the likes, trying to figure out the guitar parts. “Then I was introduced to English songs and things took a different turn,” says Ghimire while recalling the first English tune he learnt—“El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” by Simon and Garfunkel.
And then, Deep Purple happened! When Ghimire first listened to the iconic rock group, he not only drew inspiration from them, but decided to take up music seriously. “You can’t imagine the number of times I rewound and forwarded cassette tapes to learn their music,” he says. In the late 70s when technology was limited and internet unavailable, tape recorders and cassette players were the starting musician’s only friends, adds Ghimire. He says he listened to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” thousands of times to learn it by ear.
But with no knowledge of the instrument whatsoever, Ghimire resorted to learning guitar by carefully observing other guitarists play live. “I used to go to gigs and watch my seniors play the songs I knew. I picked up a lot that way,” he says.
Basically self-taught, Ghimire’s first show was on 10 March 1983. He remembers the exact date from a concert flyer he has preserved of his debut performance. Then began his career as a professional guitarist, covering Western music in whichever small venues that had live music at the time. He worked with multiple bands including Kathmandu Katz, Grandslam, Legend and then Prism, which still exists.
“Then I realized there was more money to be made playing with Nepali pop artists and also began working with them in the studio, and as a backing guitarist for live shows,” adds Ghimire. He went to work with the likes of Phatteman and Deep Shrestha to Sanjeep Pradhan and Nima Rumba, recording and playing live with them. His guitar-work can be heard prominently in Pradhan’s “Deurali ko Chautari” and Shrestha’s “Ma ta Dur Dekhi Aaye.”
Ghimire’s career as a singer/ songwriter began much later though. “I was not a singer actually but I did some backing vocals with the bands and as I progressed, I decide to make some of my own music,” he says. Ghimire’s debut album “Dordee” released in 2001 propelled him as a singer with the songs “Maski Maski” and “Baljhiyo Feri” becoming instant hits. He followed the album with “Evolution” in 2004 featuring the songs “Nashalu Timro Ankhaile” and “Anjaan Timi”, both of which are now classics.
Although he comes from a time when the radio and television were the only source of new Nepali music, Ghimire has now adapted to the changing platforms for sharing music and continues to release singles on YouTube and various other internet media. “Timi Aiayinau,” his latest release, is already winning praises from fellow musicians and listeners alike.
For now, Ghimire wants to play live music and write his own songs. No more studio sessions for other composers, he says. “I plan to re-release some of my old songs that didn’t get much exposure and also a few new singles,” he says. “Who knows? I could come up with another album too.”
Ghimire is also the Annapurna Celebrity for the month of Poush. You can listen to Radio Annapurna 94.0 for programs featuring him.
Quick questions with NISCHAL BASNET (Actor/Director)
Q. Your personality in three words.
A. Calm, introvert, happy
Q. A common misconception about you.
A. I studied filmmaking in Australia (false). I studied filmmaking in Nepal.
Q. What would you have chosen as your profession if you were not a filmmaker?
A. I don’t know. I landed in this profession after trying out many other things. I really don’t know what else I would choose.
Q. A message to your younger self?
A. You dealt well with your failures and always found something new to do. That was great.
Q. Who are your favorite actors in the Nepali film industry?
A. Saugat Malla, Dayahang Rai, Bipin Karki
Q. Favorite Nepali movie so far?
A. Seto Surya, Kalo Pothi
Q. If you could change something in the world, what would you change?
A. I would start by changing myself to be better. The world would change if everyone did so.
Q. What is the most precious thing that you own?
A. My imagination is very precious to me.
Q. Can we expect “Loot 3” in near future?
A. Yes, there will be “Loot 3”, but not in the near future.
The Cartoonz Crew can’t keep the cookie from crumbling
“I don’t think there is any Nepali interested in dancing who has not heard of The Cartoonz Crew. I have been following them since 2015,” says Pooja Khati, 24, who has tried to emulate the moves of the Cartoonz Crew on many songs. Countless Nepalis have danced to the beats of The Cartoonz Crew since their rise in 2016 when they published their dance video to “Funtastic”.
Their fan base is not limited to Nepal. They have fans in many countries like Syria, Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar. Their dance to “Funtastic” has 39.58 million views on YouTube. Writes Htet Aung Hlawn from Myanmar in its comment section: “I heard this song while I was traveling in Nepal 3 years ago and since then it’s my top favorite song!! Love from Myanmar!” Another Syrian fan writes, “Love you guys from Syria. I wish I could understand the meaning but I am totally happy… Awesome dancing.”
In their popular YouTube channel with 1.56 million subscribers, they have uploaded many dance videos. The crew charged around Rs 300,000 to produce a music video and upload it to their channel. If the singer wants to upload from their channel, the charge is around Rs 400,000.
But this dance group is not without controversies. According to Saroj Adhikari, he founded the dance group in 2009. Ram Gurung, Lakpa Lama, Aashma Biswokarma, Sajan Adhikari, Subin Chauhan and Sabin Karki joined later. The biggest controversy arose when Sabin who joined and led the group since 2012 left in 2017. Under his leadership, the group released many popular music videos and it was in this time that it started getting noticed.
Using “Sabin Karki-Beest” channel, Sabin now uploads his own funny and dance videos. His first dance video since the split, “Viral Bhaidiyo”, published in November 2017, has 31.71 million views on YouTube. Numerous dance crews such as “Dynamite Production Nepal”, “Shining Dance Gangsters” and “Chow Dance Crew” have since released dance covers to the popular song.
The Cartoonz Crew, with the rest of the members, then went on to produce dance videos which they uploaded via their YouTube channel. But this month, four of them—Ram Gurung, Lakpa Lama, Sajan Adhikari, and Subin Chauhan—released a video about why they left the Cartoonz Crew. In this video, they speak about how there was no transparency over money, how they felt like back-dancers, and how they were discouraged from certain projects while the two other members, Saroj and Aashma, did what they liked while controlling money and contacts. They alleged that even though they had pointed out these issues to the two, their complaints had fallen on deaf ears.
This sparked a social media debate over Saroj’s leadership as well as over the group’s future. Following this controversy, APEX spoke to the four crew members who left the group recently. Subin Chauhan says that they had invested so much of their time, money and energy in the Cartoonz Crew, but now have to start everything over again. The four crew members said they did not want to leave the group after years of working together but that they had no option when they were given no chance to grow.
They said they were tired of dancing behind Saroj and Aashma; all of them should have gotten equal exposure and opportunity to shine in the videos. The four are currently working on a new dance video, where they say they will explore their own creativity. The video will be released within a month through their new venture ‘Team Cartoon Crew Dance Academy’.
Ram Gurung says, “Even though we have been in this industry for so long, we are kind of starting from the bottom. This is a new studio and a new beginning for the four of us. We are excited and a little nervous too about how the video will turn out.” He adds that the group will also help new talents shine.
APEX also reached out to Sabin Karki, who wishes the four ex-members best of luck. When asked about the future of the past and present members of The Cartoonz Crew, he says he has seen the best of the best fail and not-so-talented people succeed, and he can’t say who can flourish in the industry. But he believes that “if you can do it once, you can do it twice.”
“I just wish Crew members can move on from this and learn from their mistakes. In the long run, your work will speak for you,” says Sabin.
APEX also tried to reach Saroj and Aashma, the only two crew members left in the group, for their comments, but our repeated attempts at contact failed.
