This year it brought the unfortunate rains to the event,” Sam Voolstra, the marketing director of The Last Resort chuckled explaining how she was a bit disappointed due to the sudden rainfall at the gorge of Bhote Koshi River on Saturday evening, exactly when the music enthusiasts were all geared up to celebrate the 5th Sundance Music Festival, organized jointly by The Last Resort and Moksh.[break]
Having been a part of this festival for the last three years, I knew that nothing will stop the people from enjoying to their utmost when they are at The Last Resort, one of the most magnificent resorts in Nepal, the only place to go for daring adventure sports like bungee, swing, canyoning, kayaking, rafting and high ropes. As expected, even the heavy rainfall on Saturday evening could not stop the Nepali and foreign audiences from moving their booties till the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The 5th Sundance Music Festival started with the promising band Aatma Trio playing Sufi numbers one after the other. When Parbindar Singh started on tabla and Roshan started playing the Hawaiin guitar, vocalist of the band Bishwa Nepal took the audiences to a different musical world through his mellifluous voice. Nepal took his soul out in his voice and indeed this became a great beginning of the festival for all those who reached there after a tiring four-hour journey from Kathmandu.
Next came another promising band Albatross. Indeed people definitely wanted to listen to their popular number Farki Farki Nahera Malai and they did not disappoint anyone. Albatross sang their other two originals, making many non-Nepali speaking audiences also move their hips and toes to their music. Viku Chhetri led Rusty Nails offered some of the classic blues of Jimi Hendrix. What more the audiences needed was surely the electrifying performances by Alt F4. As soon as they sang their popular number Budheskaalko Laathi, the audiences started singing the lines together.
To add new flavor to the festival, Sundance Music Festival exhibited a wonderful live musical painting demonstration where artists Catherine Biyoka from Germany and Milan Rai from Nepal took their colors and brushes to the canvas with the music of Nirakar Yakthumba, bassist of 1974 AD. Soon came the international band Soul Train and the Blue Eyed Girls with some of the blues, jazz and reggae numbers. Marje, 48, was a beautiful surprise to many as she awed the audiences through her singing and equally fascinated many by her piano notes.
By the time Soul Train and the Blue Eyed Girls were about to leave the stage for the next band Electra Foundation, the sudden rainfall disrupted the event for a while. But because the rain didn’t seem to stop any soon, the audiences who were already in a mood to make their weekend loud and enthralling challenged the rains. Taking off their shoes, sandals and stilettos, one after the other joined the floor. In no time the rainfall made the whole festival even more romantic with couples dancing into each other’s arms while friends choreographing moves for each other. Though the live performances were shortened due to the rainfall, DJ Raju made sure that everyone got to make their summer weekend a memorable one. He took charge of taking the evening loud until the early morning of Sunday. From crawling at the mud, to doing some salsa and from going topless to grooving smoothly, everyone celebrated Sundance Music Festival with full enthusiasm.
Unlike yesteryears when the festival had almost a dozen bands performing, this year, Sundance Festival however did not have as many bands performing as expected. But this did not bring the fun down for those who were looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of busy Kathmandu.
“This year, we wanted to give space to those bands and artistes who are often playing in Kathmandu but haven’t got an opportunity to be a part of this festival,” Nirakar Yakthumba, one of the festival organizers, explained. “Every year, it’s been a wonderful experience for me. I’ve seen so many good musicians come together and play their music collectively, irrespective of where they belong and which music genres they are following.”
“Because this festival is an independent festival, we sadly could not fly in many international artistes this time. Nevertheless, it wasn’t that disappointing. Nirakar and I always dreamt of making this event a success from the beginning. Five years down the line, I feel good to realize that we’ve made our space,” Sam Voolstra shared.
“I was worried once it started to rain. But it was a surprise to see how people didn’t care about it and instead enjoyed to their best. In Europe, they say that a festival is not a festival without mud. Maybe we followed the same thing. I guess we should name this festival Raindance from next year,” she laughed.
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