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ArTree Nepal is hosting its second edition of Open Studio titled “Oppo­site Dreams-The Politics of Local” inside its premises at Tripureshwor. The exhibit, which runs through till Nov 17 from 11:00 am-5:00 pm every day, features works of Mekh Limbu, Hit Man Gurung, Lavkant Chaud­hary, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Bikash Shrestha and Subhas Tamang.

The exhibition highlights the dis­regarded historical narrative of the marginalized, underprivileged and indigenous communities and draws attention to the importance of equal representation of diverse ethnic­ities, identities, cultures and lan­guages. The pieces on display make use of different mediums like stone and wood carving, terracotta pots, videos and lights to accentuate the theme of the exhibition.

Curator of this open studio and creator of the piece “Mahendra Mala” Subhas Tamang, says that he used stone carving to portray Mahen­dra Mala from the perspective of a Tamang who was forced to accept the mainstream and discriminatory account of his culture through the educational system established by the Panchayat-era government.

Mekh Limbu, creator of the piece “How I Forgot my Mother Tongue Language”, says that adoption of a single language—Nepali—in the cur­riculum resulted in the loss of many stories, memories and rituals that are associated with native languages of the indigenous communities.

Kathmandu is soon going to witness its own version of the global ‘Come Together’ music festival, to be held for one whole week, from Nov 17-25. Six international acts will be joining a number of local Nepali bands at different venues to celebrate the festival.

In its first year, the goal is to bring musicians from around the world to Kathmandu and raise money for projects that The Active Community (the organizers) are involved in. They plan to make it an annual event.

JJ Empower has been the man on the ground in Nepal sourcing bands and venues for this international festival to come to Kathmandu and his band Kazukij will be launching their new album at the festival as well.

The Come Together festivals are already operating in Brixton, London and in Noosa, Australia and will soon be set up in Peru for the Amazon Come Together, which will also include breaking the world record for the longest performance: 65 hours non-stop.

The Active Community have broken the world record for the ‘highest concert’ on Mera Peak in Solukhumbu and raised money to build a shelter for girls in Dhulikhel with their partners Help Nepal.

They hope to use the event to lure more tourists to Nepal to help rebuild the economy. The ultimate goal is to establish it as one of the major music events in all of Asia.

 For more information go to the Facebook page- Kathmandu Come Together or visit:

http://www.theactivecommunity.org/festivals/kathmandu-music-festival/

The Republic Monument, being built on the eastern side of Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu, was supposed to be up and running by December 2016. Yet the project initiated in December 2012 by the then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is still in limbo.

The Republic Monument is a circular metal structure supported by four stone pillars, each 4.7 meters in height. At the center of the circular structure atop the pillars is a map of Nepal. The four stone pillars are dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives, or sustained injuries, during the 2006 ‘people’s movement’ that ultimately removed monarchy and heralded a republic. Accompanying the monument is a mega hall to accommodate up to 300 people and which will be used during various commemorative functions.

Being built by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, construction had first come to a halt in 2015 due to the shortage of building material during the earthquake and the subsequent blockade. After that, construction resumed and the department promised everything would be ready by the Republic Day on May 28, 2017. Yet it is still incomplete.

In 2015, the department had reported that “80 percent work” had been done. By 2017, “85 percent” had been completed. Now, says handra Shekhar Mahto, an engineer with the department, “95 percent” is complete. “We are in the final phase. Work on the main building and garden landscaping is finished. We are now giving final touches,” he says. 

Macha Kaji Maharjan, senior division engineer at the department, says, “Now we are in the process of handing over the monument to the government. As we have to work with different government bodies, we cannot say for certain when it will be open for the public.”

 Mahto reveals that the monument is spread over 191,660 square feet of land and till now Rs 420 million has already been spent on it. “We need another five million to complete the whole thing,” he says.

Maharjan says that after the monument is complete the government is thinking about revising the fee structure for entering the

 Narayanhiti Palace. The joint entry ticket would then allow visitors a tour of both the Narayanhiti Palace as well as the Republic Monument. Mahto informs that as the Republic Monument was conceived of as a quiet place, there will be no eateries or curio shops around.

What happens when the monument is handed over to the government? “We are still in the process of deciding who will look after it after the handover,” Maharjan informs.

Phosphene: A phenomenon characterized by the experi­ence of seeing light without light actually being presentSomehow I kept hearing sound bites of the Phosphenes at various venues around town. But I had never been able to catch their whole set until recently. Having seen some­thing about them I was not sur­prised, unlike my friend who joined me, when the audience sat down on the floor in front of the stage ready to enjoy the night. “Why are they sitting?” my friend asked. I feel she thought she was coming to see a rock cover band. Well the Phosphenes are far from that, which is why I want­ed to find out more about the four young people and their music.

It turns out it is not as easy as you might think to pin down their style! “We listen to different art­ists and get inspired—we are jazzy but not exactly jazz, more jazz/pop kind of. We are experimenting with different genres—electronic, indie, psychedelic,” explains Abhishek Pokhrel (vocals and guitar). “We used to define ourselves as an indie band, but if we have to describe ourselves today we would say we are more experimental singer/song­writer stuff,’ says Karna (guitar and electronics).

“Not exactly,” chimes in Pokhrel, “our inspiration comes from the Beatles because they went through many genres and that is what we are doing: exploring. That’s how we are learning. Aside from the Beatles our influences are Damien Rice and Nick Drake, among others. Possibly because we all come from different streams of music. Mine is classical, Prajwal (Aryal, vocal and guitar) is from a metal band…”

“And I don’t have any formal music education. I have just been playing for a long time through what I see and hear,” laughs Karna. And so the conversation continued, but two things they all did agree on: that music comes from the heart. And the fact that writing in English is easier than writing in Nepali.

So why is that? “We grew up listen­ing to English so we are more famil­iar with that language, even although we talk in Nepali to each other,” says Pokhrel. “We are picky about finding the right word in Nepali,” continues Supriya Moktan, vocals and key­board. “We are being asked to write in Nepali, because that is needed to market our music to the Nepali audience. I have been pushing them (Aryal and Pokhrel) to write Nepali songs so we can then travel round Nepal and maybe also attract the overseas diaspora. Within Nepal, it’s easier to market Nepali songs than English ones,” explains Karna. “But everyone can connect with our songs because of the fact they are in English,” comments Pokhrel. “Yes, we tried to write in Nepali but it didn’t work,” laughs Moktan. Again a gentle, light-hearted disagreement takes place.

I asked if, at the moment, they had any regular gigs. I was told that their music is considered a bit too ‘different’ by venue owners. They feel venues place less value on orig­inal music than on covers. Having been together in the current format since 2016, the Phosphenes, along with a small group of upcoming bands, such as Kta Haru and Pahenlo Batti Muni, are now taking matters into their own hands, and are start­ing a movement towards original music. Something is in the air—per­haps some unique gigs with these bands to counter what they feel is an unhealthy market, against bands who play originals. Until then, what they wish for is that venue owners realise how much work goes into song writing and up their appreci­ation. Much like that of their audi­ence, the core of whom are long term fans who have been very supportive of the band since the beginning. In short, this is definitely a band worth watching. Preferably live.

The Phosphenes’ music can also be found on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube.