Our dear foreign-guest musician Mariano, who’s been in town for some years already to help Nepalis treasure their musical entities, is all sad and gloomy these days because of the mean behavior towards him by one of our renowned musical bands.
Now, guess who that band is?
Umm… honestly, we’re dying to tell you the name, but Mariano insists that the name be withheld. He doesn’t want to spark another heated argument with the said band. But to give you a little hint, the band that disappointed the founder of the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory (KJC) School, meaning Mariano himself, is a sought-after classical band in Nepal.
Not yet guessed! Okay, here’s the last hint. The band’s name is in two words and we repeat - it’s a classical band.
What actually had happened was this: Mariano was conducting a musical workshop last week. He politely sent an invitation to this band, and their reply left him shocked.
He instantly got an SMS reply that read: Don’t interact with us through SMS and mobile phones. Get your appointment first, and stop advertising yourself.”
Poor he, he burst out in anger and replied that he wasn’t selling a television or any electronic goods to anyone.
“I guess I was wrong. I guess it was my wrong decision to be here and do something. Come on, I’m not making any money from your country. I’m rather chipping money out of my own pocket. This is your country, your music in your community. I was trying to promote it more. Maybe they had different ways of expressing themselves, and I had different styles of understanding. I learnt a lesson here,” Abello shared his disappointment.
Bad guys we call that band because this promising jazz artiste has now started thinking of packing up and bidding adieu to Nepal.
No, Mariano didn’t sound like he was joking, either. In his own words, he feels “It’s actually making me think that I should stop working here and get the heck out of this place. I got the feeling that you guys are telling me, “What the heck is this white guy doing here and how the hell does he dare to uplift our musical standards?“
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