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 “We’re so aggressive even at rehearsals that we come out with bruises and bumps from our practice sessions,” says a 25-year-old metalhead about his band as we walk around a narrow lane in Putalisadak to find a quiet place to talk. “People think we’re on drugs all the time but the fact is, we’re all clean, or recovered at least.” His band members don’t make it to our rendezvous because of the confusion cre­ated by Biplab’s Nepal bandh on the day. But an hour-long conversation with Core Tam­rakar, a guitarist of the band Anhur, makes this reviewer confident enough to write about them, especially after listening to their debut album “Manmade Disaster”. In an obscure ‘restaurant’ in the Kumari Hall lane, we discuss the evolution of the Nepali underground scene, the hate between fans and musi­cians of different sub-genres, increasing audience violence, and negative perception of underground musicians.

“Anhur is a death-core band and our music is mostly about war and its effects on mankind,” Tamrakar says. Anhur, the name of a god of war in Egyptian mythology, represents a new wave of the Nepali underground scene which has existed for the past two decades, but mostly under the shadow of main­stream music and popular songs. The band was officially formed in February 2019 by a group of friends and fellow metalheads. In a short time since its inception, it has had many heads banging to its aggressive music, while in the process also earning it many ‘haters’, Tamrakar says.

“The underground scene is not what it used to be. There is no respect for the artists and fellow musicians anymore,” says the young musician who himself grew up attending underground gigs in Kath­mandu. “Some people have started doing drugs at con­certs and bloody clashes in gigs have become so common I think I should wear a helmet in my next show.”

"The underground scene is not what it used to be. There is no respect for the artists and fellow musicians anymore"

Core Tamrakar

Tamrakar on guitars, another guitarist duo Rojin Gurung and Puzan Syangtang, drummer Shakti Maharjan, bassist Dinesh Shrestha and vocalist Sadan Thapa—all aged between 18 and 34—make up Anhur. Their music is fast, raw, brutal and comes with parental advisory. For those not used to listening to metal music, the band’s songs are a noisy collocation of awfully heavy guitars, blasting drums and incomprehensible vocals but for their fans, the extrem­ity of their music and lyrics are rhythm and poetry com­bined.

Their debut album “Man­made Disaster” released in April this year is a typical underground production. The band home-recorded for lack of funds and Tamrakar mixed and mastered the whole album, typically in the vein of most ‘Do It Yourself’ bands here. “We do not make money from our music so we have no money to invest,” he says. “So we cut our own album from whatever resources we have and organize our own shows.”

He also narrates how he got the cover art for their debut album from a Brazilian musi­cian in exchange for mixing and mastering 10 songs for him. Releasing the album did incur them some major expenses, Tamrakar informs, but the band managed to sell a decent number of the album as well as merchandise to recover the expenses.

“I think we are a very lucky band. We have been getting a gig every month, and our album and merch have sold out,” he says. A concert every month is a big deal in the scene where a band either organizes its own shows or waits for months to be invited to per­form. For both the bands and the organizers, there is almost no returns. There is also that added risk of being branded outcasts by their families and society for the lives they chose to lead.

But Anhur keeps the glo­rious tradition of the Nepali underground music alive. The metal scene has seen its share of rise and fall in the past years but some bands have emerged out of the chaos to leave behind a distinctive trail for others to follow. Bands like “Underside”—which has gone international with their music—and the legendary “Ugra Karma”—which is cel­ebrating its 20th anniversary soon and embarking on a Europe Tour—are artists these youngsters and their contem­poraries look up to.

Worshipping their music like artists of any other genre, the underground bands are not after fame. Right now they are struggling to at least avoid being chastised, if not fully accepted, for their music and their lifestyle.

Khim Lal Gautam and Rabin Karki, the government surveyors on a mission to measure the height of Mt Everest and collect other data, successfully reached the summit at 3:15 on May 22. A team of three Sherpas—Chhiring Jangbu Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa and Lakpa Thindu Sherpa—guided them to the top.

 This is the first time Nepal is measuring the height of Mt Everest. The current measurement of 8,848 meters was finalized by an Indian survey team in 1954. Back in 1999, an American expedition team had claimed that the height of the world’s tallest mountain had increased to 8,850 meters.

 The government sent the team of surveyors to measure the height of Mt Everest to establish the real height, which may or may not have changed following the 2015 earthquakes. The team is said to have spent half-an-hour on the peak, also collecting the temperature, humidity, gravity and other data.

 The survey team was helped extensively by helicopters from Simrik Air which carried important equipment to high altitudes. The rough terrains of high altitude mountains make it impossible to carry all the required equipment for such an expedition on foot. Simrik Air made more than 50 flights on this expedition.  

Singers, musicians, artists, businesspersons, socialites and people from all walks of life gathered at the Oskar Bar & Grill, Panipokhari on May 18, to be a part of one of the most unique videos of an evergreen Nepali song.

 The music video of Narayan Gopal’s “Kehi Mitho Baat Gara” was shot amid active participation of the invitees at the event organized by Digipay—a soon to be launched digital wallet—and hosted by Oskar Bar & Grill. The participants interacted with each other and lip-synced to the iconic song to record the one-of-its-kind music video.

“The idea was to bring people together and celebrate the music of Narayan Gopal,” Diwakar Pandey, the managing director of Digipay told APEX. “We’re especially thankful to Music Nepal, who hold the copyright of this song, for making it possible. This is the first time they’re sharing the rights of the music they own with a third party.”

The music video will be launched in less than a month, Pandey informs, together with the official launch of the Digipay app.

 Remember the time CD/DVD parlors and cassette rental outlets used to be flooded with youths thronging to rent Hindi and English movies? Bollywood stars like Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Govinda, Mithun Chakroborty and Rajnikanth were household names back then. Yet there were few if any followers of South Indian cinema.

 But with time the South Indian fare is gradually gaining in popularity in Nepal, so much so that they may have slightly reduced the trend of exclusively watching Bollywood flicks. We found many urban and suburban youths hooked to South Indian cinema. Want instant proof? Just check the trending list on YouTube and you’ll find at least one, if not many, South India movies in the ‘Top 10’.

  In Nepal, South Indian cinemas have gained in viewership largely thanks to popular YouTube channels like Goldmines and Aditya Movies. Although we couldn’t find the exact timeline for when the South Indian movies emerged as a movie culture in Nepal, most viewers we talked to believe the big budget Telugu fantasy film “Magadheera” (2010) spelled the start.

 South Indian cinema seems to offer Nepali audiences unique contents, action scenes, and plots, along with a good dose of comedy by veteran comedian Bramhanandam, without whose cameo a South India film feels incomplete.

“I recall a time six or seven years ago when people started asking for the DVDs of South Indian movies, alongside Korean dramas that were popular at the time,” says Kedar Maharjan, 40, a DVD retailer at Lagankhel.

 Countless Nepalis have become fans of popular South Indian actors such as Allu Arjun, Dhanush, Ravi Teja, Ram Charan, Mahesh Babu, Jr. NTR, Prabhas, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Akkineni, and Anushka Shetty.

 Atit Chaurel, 17, a BBA student at Caspian Valley College, was recently busy chatting with his friends about Allu Arjun’s latest movie “Naa Peru Surya” in a microbus. “I love Allu Arjun’s movies as they have excellent characterization, smooth storyline and good dance steps compared to more monotonous Bollywood films,” says Chaurel.

 Popular Nepali director Milan Chams also thinks South Indian movies are successful because of their original storylines, characterization, acting and dynamic comedy and unique dance styles. “They offer something different to typical Bollywood and Kollywood fares,” he says.

 Says Nisha Chapagain, a student at the women-only PK campus: “South Indian movies have taught me a lot about love, friendship and family.”

 Robin Neupane, 21, a student from Kapan, says: “After watching ‘Arya’ and other south movies, I have learned humorous and fun ways to propose and confess my love to my crush. I have even styled my hair to match that of Allu Arjun in ‘Naa Peru Surya’.”

 Popular Nepali dance troupe ‘The Cartoonz Crew’ have acknowledged the brilliant prowess and choreography of dancers in South Indian cinema. Sangita Adhikari, a student at United Academy, says she has learned many interesting dance steps from South Indian actresses like Sai Pallavi, Kiara Advani and Kajal Aggarwal.

 Nepali distributors seem enamored of South Indian films as well. Films like “KGF,” “Naa Peru Surya,” and “Bahubali-2” were instant hits among the Nepali theater going audiences. Niraj Poudel, managing director of film distributors Gopi Krishna Movies, mentions how the Bahubali series in 2015 and 2017 and then KGF in 2018 were a rage in the theaters too. “For Bahubali-2, we invested around Rs 50 million on distribution rights across Nepal and were able to recoup Rs 70 million in earnings,” says Poudel.