Bryan Adams is who we listened to in the nineties - a whole decade ago.
Since then slow rock, if that’s the genre he’s categorized under, has given way to hip-hop, alternative, indie and pop.[break]
I’m not gonna lie, my iPod is never sought at house parties so I’m not all that musically-inclined, but it’s still fair that I can’t understand why Bryan Adams’ performance has received this much hype.
I just don’t know many people who were listening to B-Man until we were told he’d be gracing our land with his presence a couple of weeks earlier.
So I had to do some soul searching as to why I too had been excited when I’d first heard he’d be stopping by.
Then I got it, this would be the first time an international artist (read: white man) who is this famous would be rocking it in our otherwise load-shedding land.
This was going to let Nepalis in Nepal also upload Facebook albums titled “Bryan Adams Visited Nepal in 2011, So We Know You Can Too” or something to that effect.
Bryan Adams is famous, so a shout out to Anuz Manandhar who wrote “Bryan Adams..the Canadian keta” when I asked about “Bryan Who” on Facebook, but I barely know his songs.
People don’t usually go to concerts because the performer is phoren or because they’re famous. You go to concerts because you love their music.
Mock me, but long after I graduated from the embarrassing hold of boy bands, I went to see the Backstreet Boys because it was my one chance to see the boys that I had obsessed over for most of middle school.
Then again, Sunil Hamal of JPR Events does tell Cellroti, the concert’s official online partner, that even non-fans will enjoy the show: “The stage is going to be huge that will carry trusses for floodlights and spotlights. Laser beams will be creating psychedelic effects.
There are 20 pages of set design but I want to welcome all the music lovers to see the technicality even though Bryan Adams is not their favorite.”
But Bryan Adams? Not so much. Of course I know that The Summer of 69 was the official anthem of 1997, but that was fifteen years ago (and it was written in like 1984 - heck before I was even born)!
And then I think of the effort that had gone into luring this man who probably until recently confused us as a part of India or didn’t know even when we listened to much beyond the chants of monks (not saying he’s stupid, just saying we probably weren’t in his radar though kudos to him, he can say “Nepal” all right).
Still, I had to literally laugh out loud when I read about beckoning foreigners to visit Nepal because Bryan Adams deemed it safe enough. Something tells me he’s not your average visitor, his body-guarded up self is attended to by thirty-something assistants (including his personal chef who’s flying into make sure Bryan bhai’s daal-bhat is okay) from his fifteen-star hotel to his private bus to the red carpet leading to the stage, so honestly, I doubt his trip to Nepal is going to differ that much from his trip to New York.
While, most others who we wish would Visit Nepal 2011 aren’t afforded the same luxury. We may have fewer bombs going off than other countries (we’ve got ourselves to applaud for that one), but they’ll still have to haggle with taxi drivers, choke on the pollution and dance with load-shedding and water shortage as well as (sexual) harassment.
But, I am looking to purchase a T-shirt that reads “Bryan Adams Visited Nepal - So can YOU!” if it gets printed in Thamel.
Luring tourists via Bryan Adams was hilarious enough, but then I read his name and economic growth in the same sentence.
I hate to break it to you but he’s only Canadian, not some extraterrestrial species who will have the world flocking to Nepal to catch a rare glimpse.
It’s really not going to do us wonders.
If you’re referring to the sales of tickets, the same audience who paid up to Rs 6,000 would eat that much at one of the many swanky restaurants in Kathmandu on a Saturday night anyway.
I’m not sure what an Indian company that is bringing a Canadian performer is supposed to do for the economic growth of Nepal.
Bryan Adams cannot and will not campaign for Visit Nepal and neither will his arrival propel economic growth.
As for going to Nepal’s first international concert, I still can’t decide if it’s worth freezing my butt on the cold cement to hear an old (but, yes, famous) man croon.
Nepaliketi is a KTM-based blogger who can be found at www.nepaliketi.net
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