Irish band Dallahan in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, March 25: Performance by Irish band Dallahan is part of the Britain-Nepal bicentennial celebrations that is taking place at Hotel Yak & Yeti in Durbar Marg on Saturday, March 26.

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The four-member band—Jack Badcock in guitar and vocals, Jani Lang in fiddle, Ciaran Ryan in banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and Andrew Waite in accordion—play traditional Irish folk music. Dallahan will also be performing with popular local instrumental band Kutumba.

Republica had a short conversation with Dallahan's Jani Lang about their music and the concert.

Is this the band's first meeting with Kutumba?

No. We met for the first time three years ago when they were playing in Edinburgh. Kutumba was on a tour in Europe, I think, and we did a support gig for them. We've been preparing for the concert and we've worked on each other's music. Nepali music is quite interesting. There are quite a few similarities with the same sort of scales that we use in Europe. I'm originally Hungarian and the music there has roots in Asia so I could hear a number of similarities in our music.

How would you describe your music to the Nepali audience?

We play traditional Irish music with some jazz, funk, pop, and bluegrass. Traditional songs are the same everywhere. We have some love songs while others are cryptic with deeper meanings about life. Our second album is coming out next month. 'Matter of Time' is similar to our debut album which released in 2014. The new album is more matured, a bit more developed if you compare it to our earlier works. But it follows the same direction musically.

Have you managed to look around since you arrived here on Tuesday?

There's not been enough time. We did manage to walk around Patan area but we haven't seen much. We've mostly been busy with rehearsals for the upcoming concert. We also put up a performance for Prince Harry yesterday at the British Embassy. It was the first time that we had played for him so it was pretty exciting. We hope to have time to do some sightseeing before we fly back on Monday.

What are you looking forward to the most at the event?

I hear there's going to be a performance by Circus Kathmandu. That should be exciting!