Alliance Francaise's annual dos in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, June 19: Imagine yourself sitting in the middle of the road on Durbar Marg and playing guitar. In front of the main entrance to Singha Durbar, your friends are drooling with drums. Nobody interrupts you, and even the police are least bothered about you obstructing the traffic. Alas! You wish you were really allowed to do so in Kathmandu. But this is what people in France and Paris do every June 21.[break]

To celebrate the “International Music Day” of France, more popularly known as “Fete de la Musique”, the French are allowed to come out on the streets with whatever instruments they play and can even lie down on the middle of the road to jam up together. Nobody stops them. This has been in practice since 1982.

KWAK

KWAK is a rock band from Paris. in their concert at Rashtriya Nach Ghar on June 27, they are set to enthrall the audiences with their songs from their album “Malice en la demeure.” This is their third album after they released “Notes de Paille” in 2003 and “Nage dans le Sable” in 2006.

When the world celebrates the said day on June 21, Nepal is no exception as it makes it grand in its own ways through the initiation of Alliance Francaise in Kathmandu (AFK). And the organizer, AFK, has made it big every year for the last 15 years. Starting with an audience of just 200 back then, AFK was successful in bringing a crowd of 25,000 last year when the musical extravaganza kicked off on Durbar Marg.

This year, it’s going to be even more fun, with more artistes jamming together; and it’ll be louder, promises Philipe Martin, director of the Alliance Francaise in Kathmandu. After receiving an overwhelming response last year, this year it’s not just a musical day; the music fiesta will run through a week, starting from Sunday, June 21 at the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory (KJC) and Rashtriya Nach Ghar.

Bigger every year

Like in other countries, Alliance Francaise hosted its first “Fete de la Musique” 15 years ago. It started in a small scale, basically a few hours of musical program with only one band performing and with just a small audience.

By June 21, 2007, the event was already popular amongst the music aficionados of Nepal. That year, AFK threw a classical musical jamming at Patan Durbar Square where 8,000 showed up. And last year, “Fete de la Musique” went for three days.

It also conducted musical workshops along with concerts at Nepal Music Center, Nepal Folk Instrument Museum, and Aarohan Gurukul. Additionally, it closed Durbar Marg to vehicular traffic and organized a musical concert where 12 bands participated and 25, 000 turned out for their electrifying performances.

Fete de la Musique 2009

As promised, this year, AFK has added more to its ensembles. It’s not just different bands coming together to jam up. The week-long program will feature various genres of music sessions at different places in and around Kathmandu. Apart from the concerts, the other highlights of the burlesque are music workshops, lectures, and the prime focus is on the live performance by the French band, KWAK, on the concluding day, Saturday, June 27.

In the Pop-Rock corner, the X-IT band is all geared up in featuring their songs from their latest release “Final Chapter.”

“We’ll be promoting our own album and will also feature a few covers,” shared Garima Gurung, the lead vocalist of the band. In 30 minutes, X-IT will perform seven numbers.

Another vocalist of X-IT, Binayak Shah, added, “We’re expecting people who really love music,” and concluded funnily, “We hope not to receive bottles and rotten tomatoes from the audience.”

Another major attraction during the fête would be Salil Subedi’s didgeridoo exhibit on the opening day, Saturday, June 20.

Didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Australia’s Aborigines some 2,000 years ago. It’s a hollow branch of eucalyptus, which is cleaned and covered by bee wax before it’s played. It produces different expressive human sounds and emotions. In Nepal, Salil has been popularizing the didgeridoo, and because eucalyptus aren’t easily found in Kathmandu, he has substituted it by bamboo.

During his didgeridoo demo, he’ll also have eight children together and make them create sounds from recycled materials.

“You can create sounds from almost everything that you think isn’t usable. Be it tins, bags, wooden sticks, bottles or anything else. I’ll make sure that the children with me will learn it quickly and will start teaching others,” Subedi informed.

Similarly, the promising new singer Astha Tamang Maskey is also hoping to promote her latest album “Sabai Thikai Hunchha” during the fest. Like X-IT, she’ll also sing the songs from her albums with other cover gigs.

“We hardly see concerts happenings in Nepal, despite having such good musicians here. I’m really excited about this event. I’m sure it’ll help me take the Nepali market,” said the pretty young singer, who also plays acoustic gigs in North America.

Not to miss is the Hip-Hop genre by the Doom Squad of Kathmandu. They have practiced enough to showcase B-Boying (Break Dance). Their rap-battle and graffiti paintings will also be something new for the audiences this season. Rapper Nirnaya Shrestha will accompany them with his popular hits.

“Trust me, there’s a lot this year. And we’re planning to take our festival to other major cities of Nepal, hopefully next year,” concluded Martin of AFK.