“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”.