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Dashain is not a very exciting festival. For us without Nepali families that is. While the majority of the country is feasting on goat and raksi, well deserved after a perhaps harrowing bus journey to their village home, what are the rest of us doing? Many expats head off trekking at this time as most international offic­es are closed. Others, like me, enjoy the peace and quiet of a Kathmandu sans traffic. Finding one of the few restaurants open is part of the enjoy­ment, as is walking everywhere as little public transport is available. And walking around town at this time is pleasant; taking us back to an earlier time when there were less motorbikes and cars on the roads. Thankfully there is a good sprinkling of large hotels in town now. So no need to go hungry if you don’t want to cook at home!

If I look back, there was a time when you couldn’t even get bread during the Dashain period, never mind finding a coffee shop open! But now, I must admit, I spent a couple of nights propping up the bar in a 5-star hotel. I also saw that the food delivery people were fully occupied as local tastes have changed over the years too. But I’m sure the most fun was still had by those sitting round reminiscing and playing cards with their family in the countryside.

And no one needed to rush back to town as this year we got an extended public holiday with the arrival of the President of a neighbouring country. We also got a good sprinkling of pot­ted plants, freshly painted railings, and a reduction in the tangle of electric wires we all know and love.

So now that Dashain is done and dusted we can look forward to other festivals, traditional and non-traditional, events, markets and parties right through to the middle of December. When many expats will be heading out of the country to their own villages around the world.

By the time you read this Jazz­mandu will be underway. Long established, this is a major event on the music calendar of Kath­mandu. A newcomer to the festival scene, following close on the heels of Jazzmandu, is ‘Seashells on the Mountains’. This festival will feature music from art pop and experimen­tal rock to indie singer songwriters and everything in between. With food and market stalls, I’m excited about this two-day event.

With these music events under our belt we can then turn to the Festival of Lights. Tihar is the one Hindu festival I really enjoy. I can hang my own strands of marigolds around the house, light lamps and welcome Laxmi. Since my local fam­ily is Tibetan Buddhist they don’t do any of these things but the children just love to come with me to the Garden of Dreams to light the lamps there, play on the Ping and generally soak up the atmosphere. Followed by a now traditional feast of pizza and ice cream across the road!

November seems a little quieter on the festival front; but of course there is time to organise a few things between now and then! Then we are hurled straight into a round of Christmas bazaars, lunches and concerts which take place at the beginning of December. Everyone can enjoy these events—from chil­dren working on Santa’s shopping list, to parents enjoying a glass of mulled-wine. Then, for those who prefer something perhaps a little more stimulating, the Kathmandu International Film Festival (KIMFF) joins the celebrations around the middle of December.

Phew! Did I say ‘done and dusted’? No way! The festivities in Kathman­du have just begun!

“When we first selected the band’s name, it was a random decision. We were slotted to play a show together and didn’t know what to call ourselves,” says Deepak Pradhan, the bass player and leader of the band ‘Ko?’. “Then we realized that it was after all a good name as our music is all about questioning our identities.” ‘Ko?’ (liter­ally ‘Who?’ in English) is a new band w i t h experi­enced musi­cians who have been active in Kathmandu’s live music scene for a quite a while. It was Pradhan (40), a popular figure in the musical hub of Thamel, who put together musicians aged 25 to 40 to form ‘Ko?’ With Pradhan on the bass, ‘Ko?’ also includes Manxil Shahi on vocals, Manoj Bhujel and Suzeen Nepami on guitars, and Dhiraj Jung Karki on drums— very inspired by ‘Puddle of Mudd’.

Self-iden­tified as an alternative rock band, the band actu­ally started by covering grunge, and the influ­ence can be felt in their originals too. And with the Ameri ­can rock act Puddle of Mudd as their big­gest inspi­ration, we get an idea of what ‘ K o ? ’ sound like. Their songs mostly speak of the existential angst in individuals as well as in our society. “All band members are searching for their soul and that’s what is reflected in our lyrics too,” says Pradhan.

Their latest video release “Paisa” predominantly defines the band’s sounds and what the audience can expect from them in the days ahead. “Paisa” is a hard-hitting num­ber with a straight beat and heavy guitar riffs, topped with a varied range of vocals. The music video is an abstract rep­resentation of their music and is already creating waves on social media.

The journey thus far has not been smooth, the band members explain. Forming a completely new band was difficult as they’re not young boys getting together to make music, but mature artists who have their own tem­peraments. Then came the problems of personal com­mitment, creative balance, and all sort of other difficul­ties rock musicians in Nepal typically encounter.

Making new and original music and surviving solely through it is almost impossi­ble here—and that is the big challenge for ‘Ko?’ as well. They have to carefully weigh their finances and support for their families, especially when their music is niche and results are unpredict­able. The band members thus work full time to cover their cost of living while trying to eke out some extra time for the band.

One of the guitarists, Nepami, now works in Malay­sia and all his inputs are now online. Such has been the story of ‘Ko?’. “We have to manage time for rehears­als and recording. We also have to collect funds for the expenses incurred in record­ing and making videos,” says Pradhan. “So everyone in the band has to work extra hard to fulfil their other commit­ments, and to be able to put together time and resources for ‘Ko?’.

Yet the band remains con­fident that their struggles will pay off, and plan on recording and releas­ing their debut album by mid-2020. With “Paisa” already getting the atten­tion of music lovers across the country, the band plans to increase the frequency of their performances and con­tinue writing and recording to get the album ready as soon as possible.

Q. Your personality in three words?
A. Straight-forward, emotional, logical.

Q. A common misconception about you?
A. That I have a humongous attitude.

Q. Your favorite fictional antagonist?
A. Ashutosh Rana’s iconic role in the Bollywood movie ‘Sangharsh’.

Q. An advice to your younger self?
A. Be real, don’t be plastic. The more you explore yourself, the more it will help you in life.

Q. Your spirit animal and why?
A. I can’t relate to any animal because they are too innocent to be compared with humans.

Q. Favorite Nepali movie so far?
A. Balidaan, especially Haribansha Acharya’s role that was a marked contrast to his comical stereotype. By far the best actor in Nepali cinema created a character that brought tears to my eyes.

Almost a thousand partygoers gathered last weekend in Lamidanda—a usually peaceful hill renowned for its panoramic views an hour’s drive from the hustle and bustle of the capital. Located in the district of Lalitpur, Lamidada was chosen as the venue of the first edition of the Spark Music Festival (Sept 27-29)—an outdoor event that aims to introduce and celebrate all kinds electronic music in Nepal. Many electronic music aficionados braved the late monsoon rains for the pleasure. The most adventurous camped out at the venue for several days, with sanitation facilities provided by the organizers.

We at APEX were interested in the event because of the complaints from some quarters that such kind of ‘rave parties’ promote the use of drugs and licentiousness. When we contacted the organizers this year, they asked us to visit the festival and see for ourselves if there was anything illegal going on.

Electronic music was there in all its forms: electro, house, techno, trance, and reggae coexisted. The organizers repeatedly highlighted the diversity of musical genres, perhaps to dispel the myth that it was all about ‘trance’ and drugs. According to Subash KC, an organizer, “from the moment you to connect a cable to emit sound, it becomes electronic music. It would be wrong to infer that trance is the only electronic music.”

Last April, the Shakti Peak Festival Nepal, also organized by KC, was cancelled last minute as it was qualified as “trance party” by authorities, leaving several hundred international and local festivalgoers with the tickets stranded. Still a bit irritated by this memory, KC adds that “it was a forest festival to promote tourism in beautiful nature, no more no less,” and “even yoga courses were planned”.

KC started organizing this kind of music festivals in 2009 from Malaysia (where it is known as Belantara Festival). He is used to critics of such festivals, and says he is not deterred. “Outdoor music festivals can offer much more happiness and energy than the ones people are used to in Thamel, for example,” KC says.

While we were at the event, we didn’t see much evidence of drug use. Most of the peo ple were just lolling about, enjoying the music outside even as rain was a constant irritant. Of course, we didn’t have eyes everywhere and in such a big gathering, we could have missed a few things. But mostly, it appeared clean.

“There are always some bad eggs and the organizers are keen to kick them out because we want to keep organizing these festivals. It’s not a oneoff event,” says KC. Perhaps he was on the mark. There was heavy security presence at the festival, with a military camp at the entrance, and police patrolling the festival premises. In addition, there were also private security folks from “Jaguar” hired to keep things under control. Even with all these preparations, the organizers still have to be careful. They can get into trouble with the law any time. Perhaps this is also the reason the festival organizers shun publicity and let word of mouth do the advertisement for them.