GXSOUL is made up of Biwaz Jung Giri (Viber BI) and Suraj Bikram Thapa (Bullet Flo'). In conversation with Biwaz, Republica spoke to the rapper about the band's new album due in August, their music and their concerts.
It’s almost five years since your fans have heard anything new from you. Will that change this year?
As a matter of fact, we’re actually working on an album. We want it to be outstanding; something new, fresh and interesting for our listeners. It will have an international flavor. There’ll be new sounds in the album as well as great music videos to accompany the songs. And we have collaborated with new artists who are really skilful.
Tell us about your fans.
Thatal performs ‘Muna Madan’ tunes
We’ve had our share of crazy fans and memorable encounters with them. But it was very nice when we were performing in South India and we could see some people in the audience humming along even though they couldn’t understand the lyrics.
Do you enjoy performing onstage? Have you made mistakes while performing live?
It’s fun to be performing onstage. Within the country, I like it best when we perform inside shopping malls as there’s always a good crowd. And yes, I do make mistakes but the trick is to move on and pretend it never happened.
How would you describe your music?
There’s some consternation regarding the fact that we do love songs. The sections of people who favor the underground rap music scene do not understand why we’re not making music about the political or social scenario of the country. But my point is, we listen to music to get away from the realities of life. We want to relax and enjoy ourselves and that’s where the music we make comes into play. We want our music to be enjoyable. Our friend, Shailesh Shrestha, composes the music for our songs.
What are the challenges for an aspiring rap artist in Nepal?
Well, I began dabbling in music in 2004. Back then, I was quite young and didn’t have any understanding of how the music industry worked. There were no hip-hop or rap music producers then, so what we used to do was give instructions to the existing music producers who would then try to arrange something for us. Of course, nothing ever worked out according to plan and it was only in 2008 that we came out with an album. But it didn’t really take off. Now at least things are different for those who’re looking to make a foray into the rap or hip-hop scene.
