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The year’s biggest festivi­ties are approaching, and we’re not talking about Dashain here. For blues musi­cians, listeners and fanatics, the fourth edition of the Kath­mandu Blues n’ Roots festival is all set for September 28 at Tangalwood, Kathmandu. Starting from small stages within the confines of local bars, last year the Kathmandu Blues n’ Roots festival took to a bigger outdoor venue with a massive stage, sound and lights. More musicians, more audience and obviously a lot more fun is in store for the KBR this year as well, the organizers tell us. And this time, along with the best of local musicians, the audience will get to see an international line-up of “Mr No Money Band” from Italy and “Boy and the Bear” from Thailand.

Fabio Ioannisci aka Mr No Money, the lead singer and pianist of the band that plays rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, boogie woogie and barrel­house piano, is excited about his performance in Kath­mandu, again. The Italian frontman has been to Nepal twice in 2013 and 2014 to per­form. Having travelled across the globe, collaborating with various musicians and per­forming in over 800 concerts since 2005, Mr No Money also released a song in 2015 ded­icated to Kathmandu, called “Namaste Kathmandu.” The boogie blues track in English is based on his experiences and love for Kathmandu.

“I am called Mr No Money as I put my passion over money,” Ioannisci tells APEX in a brief online conversation from Ukraine where the band was performing at the time of the writing of this report. About the band and its ever evolving line-up, the artist says, “I have different kinds of ensembles for different shows. For KBR, we’ll have a trio of piano and lead voice, guitar, and drums.”

Ioannisci likes the cultures, people, and food of Kath­mandu, he tells us. About the local music scene, he is “fasci­nated by the way Nepali musi­cians feel the time of music.” “It’s totally different to how we do it,” he says. “There are so many good musicians in Nepal. I specially love Mukti [Shakya] and Satish [Sthapit],” he says, “I can't wait to spend time with them. I can’t wait to come.” Mr No Money Band will also be trav­eling to Pokhara for a short musical tour following the main event.

Also coming to Nepal for the KBR is the “Boy and the Bear” duo comprising of Boy Blues on guitar and Edward Bear on saxophone. The two musicians are experi­enced artists with decades of experience. Boy Blues is currently based in Chiang Mai and started over 30 years ago playing with his uncle Took, considered as one of the godfathers of the Thai blues scene. Boy went on to open his own place, Boy Blues Bar, in the heart of Chiang Mai's famous Night Bazaar district, which has since become one of the city’s best-known live music venues.

As for Bear, he is a travelling musician and has played all over the world, from Australia to Hong Kong to Turkey to Thailand, in a career span­ning nearly 40 years. “While I play a bit of jazz too, my heart and soul are in the blues,” he says in an email interview with APEX.

Bear also informs that although the lineup for the KBR is slated to be Boy and Bear, his friend Roddy Lorimer will also be joining. “Lorimer is an enormously experienced musician who has toured with the likes of Eric Clapton, The Roll­ing Stones and The Who,” he adds.

For Bear, it is not his first visit to Nepal either. He was here at the end of 2018, he informs, when he spent a month each in Kathmandu and Pokhara, playing with musicians everywhere he went. “The Nepalis were warm and welcoming and the music was of high standard,” he says. “I was keen on com­ing back and when I heard of the blues festival, I man­aged to get in touch with Satish and round up Boy and Roddy. The next thing I know, we had our tickets booked and were on our way.”

Satish Sthapit, the founder of KBR who co-organizes the event with his Newaz band­mate Roshan Kansakar, i n forms that final preparations are underway for one of the big­gest events of the genre in the country. “We’re picking up slowly and anticipation is high this time,” Sthapit informs.

This year the event will feature local acts like Green Blues Black, winners of the Kathmandu Blues n’ Roots online music com­petition ; the Hima­layan Con­nection; Spirit X; TMR Trio; Newaz and Kathmandu Catz; along­side the inter­national acts.

South Africa A could add only seven runs to their overnight score as they were bundled out for 186 in the first session of day four. Shardul Thakur knocked over Lutho Sipamla to end South Africa’s second innings. The visitors set a non-threatening a target of 48 runs for the hosts to chase down. Chasing 48, India A lost the wicket of their skipper, Shubman Gill, early on. Lungi Ngidi took two wickets with the new ball including Gill and Ankit Bawne who was promoted up the order. Ricky Bhui was promoted up the order as well as Ruturaj Gaikwad did not open. The wicketkeeper-batsman Srikar Bharat lost his wicket to new ball bowler Dane Piedt. However, Shivam Dube helped his side finish with a flourish. Dube hit two back-to-back sixes to finish off the match and guide India A to an easy win in the first unofficial Test.

The Mi LED Wi-Fi Smart Bulb has a pear-shaped profile, but with a less curvy design and sharper lines than most commonly available LED bulbs. Unlike standard bulbs, the Xiaomi offering has a metallic base and is quite heavy. The matte finish lends a premium touch to it and helps with heat dissipation.

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Once the bulb lights up, open the Mi Home app and sign in with your Mi account. If you don't already have one, creating it takes less than a minute. Once you have signed in with your Mi account, tap the '+' button at the top of the home page and connect with the Mi LED Wi-Fi Smart Bulb. The phone will use Bluetooth to search for the Mi LED Wi-Fi Smart Bulb, and once it discovers it, the two devices will sync.

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Yibin municipality at the junction of China’s Sichuan, Yunnan and Geizhou provinces is one of the fast growing cities in China. It is known as the First City of Yangtze River, the Capital of China’s Liquor, and the Capital of Bamboo, among other things. In recent years it has also become a hub for high-tech mobile and car producers.

Oh, and this municipality is known as a city of tea. Yibin is one of the cradles of tea in the world. After over 3,000 years of development, the municipality has become the preferred place to enjoy and buy high quality tea. Sichuan province is the fourth leading tea producer in China, after Fujian, Yunnan and Hubei.

Yan Zewen, Chairman of the Sichuan Tea Industry, says, “To promote sustainable and healthy development of the tea industry chain, Sichuan Tea Group will be built as trans-regional model enterprise of multi-tea operation.” According to him, tea from here will be exported to over 20 countries, including in Europe.

Every year, this municipality organizes International Tea Conference with international company representatives and businessmen in attendance. In March this year, Nepal’s Minister for Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Chakrapani Khanal attended the third session of international conference. In the meeting with Chinese officials, Khanal proposed to transfer the technology to Nepal.

The climate of Yibin is favorable for the growth of tea. Due to this, the harvest time of tea here is 30 days ahead compared to other regions. March is a busy season for picking and subsequent months are devoted for process and packaging.

According to local officials, this industry has helped remove poverty, and ensure jobs for over 10,000 workers. In order to create capable manpower for the industry, the Sichuan Tea Industry Business College has been set up in the municipality. Similarly, Sichuan Tea Industry Technology Research Institute, the first-ever technology service platform in the province for tea industry technology, is undertaking research on tea technology, quality control, inspection, and information services.

Yibin city has a total tea plantation area of 1 million 86,300 acres, which produce 59,200 tons, valued at some 2.475 billion yuan. In the past decade, the brand value of Yibin tea has substantially increased, according to officials.