Looking for Buddha Found Music in Darj Too

by JIGGY

FROM ISSUE # 97 (January 2004) | IN THIS ISSUE
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I had set out from KTM without a care, except for one: will my 125cc YBZ make it out of the valley with all 150 kilos of mote along with me and my luggage? I was off to Darj, Queen of the Hills, to see the King of Dharma, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. By the time I had reached Daman, I had not a care in the world. I had 1000 or more songs in the MP3 player next to my heart, with the wind at my back –As free as any migrating Siberian Duck racing across the Chitwan sky. Was I perturbed by Nepal's washed-out highways, afraid of boulaha guruji's driving 10-ton Tatas, distraught by the absence of truck-stop toilets? No, I was on my way to teachings on emptiness that prove it's all just an appearance anyway. And what a glorious appearance Kanchanjunga made, when days later, I finally pulled into the seemingly quiet hill station we know as Darjeeling.

The following week of sitting in St. Joseph's cricket field with HHDL and thousands of Tibetans, Nepalese, Sikkimese, Indians, and Westerners was only eclipsed by the last two nights spent in a night club, listening and talking to members of the local music scene –many of whom are no strangers to KTM club loungers. I had the great fortune of meeting musicians from Rusty Nails, Full Circle, Mantra, The Hillbillies, and Reincarnation. All in the premier Darj club The Buzz Bar.

No, I wasn't looking for a stiff drink after the dharma teachings - I was just looking for a toilet, which happened to be located in the downstairs bar under Glenary's Bakery. There, I met Yuvraj Chhetri and others from Rusty Nails, rehearsing a new album due out early next year, and about to be recorded big-time in Bombay. Something caught my ear while zipping up my jeans…what was that great sound…Hindi lyrics set to western jazz fusion? Whaa? Now my Hindi sucks, but my mind was stopped, just as it had been that afternoon in the cricket field with the King of Dharma, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The man singing outside the toilet door was Ajnish Rai, and he was looking a lot like the King of Rock n' Roll, Elvis Presley.

I just had to return that night to see Rusty Nails perform live. By the time I did, The Buzz was packed. I was a little hyped, but not really ready to hear what I did. After all, this ex-New Yorker has been in KTM for over 2 years and has been totally bored with the Thamel cover-band scene. Put asleep in fact, and I was seemingly destined to always import new and interesting rock from the States, and not from bands in Nepal. All that changed quickly, as all things do, including the clouds that rush up to greet you on a Darj hillside.

In the first set, Rusty Nails jammed Magic by Lenny White, in a way I had never heard before. The crowd was really grooving by then, and I was thinking that to hear David Brubeck's Take 5 in an Asian bakery/bar must border on the spiritual. Even old worn covers like Honky Tonk Woman and The Boys Are Back In Town were performed perfectly— although I took that opportunity to strike up a conversation with the next table full of boys who were seriously rockin' out.

Turns out they were not cheerleading groupies of Rusty Nails, but a representatives of the local Darj music scene - in a nutshell. The drummer from the Hillbillies and I immediately got on; when I asked him to describe his experience being a local band member in Darj he replied simply, "Music is my life and my heart." The guitarist from Reincarnation agreed. "My parents sent me to school to become a chemist, but I am done now. All I want to do is play music; nothing else. It's so hard here in Darj. There is no exposure, no media, and this is the one place we have where we can perform." I asked a member of Mantra a question that had been burning in my mind since landing in Nepal: Why does every band in the region always - without fail - play a CCR song?" The reply was so refreshingly simple, "We don't."

I looked around the club. Small, even by Thamel standards. The dance floor had been removed because of "problems," but the acoustics were fair, and the guitars nailed to the ceiling and other brass instruments tacked to the walls gave it a feel of a down-under jazz bar anywhere in the West. I later found out that Louis Banks, famous jazz pianist, was born in Darj and played in this club back in the 60's. So, when Rusty Nails struck up a Hindi-jazz fusion named Chule (Touch) I was sure that this venue was a musical birthplace. That thought led to this one: Why are so many of KTM's talented musicians from Darj or schooled in Darj? My favorite music arranger/musician in the valley, Sanzip Rai (formally of 5th Grade Drop Out) and many members of 1974 AD are Darj-breed, born, or influenced. So I posed that question to Ajnish Rai, the newest member of Rusty Nails and famous Hindi singer in his own right; he replied, "It's unexplainable. There is just something about the place, even though there is little opportunity here, it just feels right. I left for Calcutta and other Indian cities to perform, but something just brought me back. Then I decided to stick it out here, dig my fingernails into the mountain if I had too, and make a go of it from Darjeeling."

A new go of it –is just what Rusty Nails is doing, having been around since 1985 without a hit LP. The new song Yantna (Energy) slated to be on the new release in production is astounding! Chords reminiscent of Led Zeppelin with wailing lyrics sounding like a "Hindi prayer gone jazz" is sure to make a mark in your heart. This is more than the token east-meets-west that you too, are probably tired of (another Van Morrison with a Nepali accent, for example). This is a real meeting of western riffs and eastern musical commonsense…one that is the hottest kinda sound on the world beat market today. I was handed a demo CD with another song that I fell in love with - the type of song that gives me hope for all aspiring Indian and Nepali artists: Oh Janeman. A song that reminds me of the great county western/rock ballads I heard as a kid on vacation in Colorado hick towns like Aspen. The entire feel (heart and soul) of a country can be felt in a good ballad like Oh Janeman, and when played with musical perfection, it's just soul satisfying.

So in one night, my musical interest in local bands was perked…and then there was night two! Same venue and pretty much the same loud, noisy, enthusiastic crowd showed up to see Full Circle, which I was actually familiar with from Rox Bar back home. It had been a while since I last saw them (and I hate to admit in print that I was bored stiff at the time). But now, wow! While Full Circle's energy is very different from Rusty Nails, it's more of a folk acoustic sound than a hyped rock-jazz-fusion one. The sets they played were perfect for the dinner I was having with university friends in the back tables of the Buzz. I found myself breaking away from my chilli-chicken boneless and conversations about the Dharma to note, "Oh, that one's nice." until the last amazing set, which had a didgeridoo and jimbe drum solo. That got me right out of my seat, along with the rest of the crowd, for the last half hour or so. Full circular breathing on a didgeridoo can be breathtaking, and this sure was a humdinger of a solo. Hmmm…these young musicians can do more than covers!

So, I bought their new album Free Your Mind that was on sale (IC 250) and settled down with it to write this article a few days later in Kalimpong. I'm listening to it right now. What can I say? Shocked? Surprised enough to cry? Delighted and heartened? Free Your Mind is not only well-composed and orchestrated; it also says something. From the first track People of the World, I was all ears.

This song is for peace and harmony…
People of the world come together, come together now
Color of your skin don't matter
Everywhere you go you'll see the world ain't getting any better
There's no love but only anger ooh yeah…
The leaders say there will be peace, but we all know its make believe
There's a war in every country, there are millions of children dying
Everywhere you look you see poverty
And I can't believe there's no peace and harmony.
- from People of the World

What's this from a local Nepali bar band? A political statement? This beautiful duo by Dimple Singh Namdra and Yankey Ongmu Lepcha, combined with a brilliant flute, made me realize that the money for the CD was already well spent.

So finally- original English lyrics that talk to me, being the old hippie ex-pat that is really embarrassed to admit he was once 13, stuck in the mud of Woodstock. The slide guitars of "Life's So Strange" even made me homesick, but for just a moment. I am a great fan of the current alternative-folk-rock from America; I just don't get there enough anymore to listen to it. There's no need, if more bands follow the lead of Full Circle's new album and Rusty Nail's ad-lib creations. Dimple has a wonderful, if not all that original (by western standards) story-telling voice, but the duos with Yankey are well, in one word, excellent. This is an album that all aspiring musicians in this part of the world who are now performing western covers should get, and learn from.

If local musicians overcome their…what is it…fear of performing alternative songs and jazz fusions in the KTM bar scene over old rock covers, perhaps I might have something more to write about when I get back home. (Sometimes I feel like I'm just drifting / Sometimes I feel like I'm just running / Sometimes I feel like I'm just dreaming / Sometimes I just don't know what I'm saying / It is times like this that you realize / It is times like this that you learn / Ya just gotta let go /Free your mind, free your mind) Until then, much appreciation goes out to all those struggling musicians in the area - and in the words of my teacher: "Never give up. Change your mind, not your appearance. You are all blessed."

Rusty Nails at a Glance

Started in 1985, have played all major cities in India and Kathmandu. Now playing in Darjeeling and working on new album to be released early 2004.

Members: Yuvraj Chhetri (lead guitar, vocals), Hemraj Chhetri (drums, vocals), Yogal Basnet (guitar), Roshan Pradhan (bass). New: Ajnish Rai (vocals).

Full Circle at a Glance

Now playing in Darjeeling and Kathmandu. Just released new album Free Your Mind.

Members: Dimple Singh Nandra (vocals, acoustic and lead guitar), Deependra Rai (acoustic and slide guitar). Binod Katuwal (percussions / flute), Yankey Ongmu Lepcha (vocals).