Artists: Abhaya & The Steam Injuns
Album: Abhaya & The Steam Inuns
Rating: *** 1/2
With this eponymous album, Abhaya & the Steam Injuns have forced the discerning folks to stand up and take notice. This album will turn many heads. "It's Nepali?" seems to be the first reaction, and then they want to buy it. They have never heard a Nepali sing like that. That says a lot. Needless to say, when it comes to singing, Abhaya leaves the
competition far behind. She's got it all; the voice, technique and attitude. After all, a song is about singing and with a good band backing her, this album is good. It kicks off with Sakdina, a very punchy rock song in Nepali. Good guitar riffs fill up the spaces and there are some commendable solos. The song has a very catchy chorus. Antim Patra, written by Glade Fahning, has Abhaya singing harmony to her own vocal, which adds a lot of weight to the song. The accompaniment is a bit jumbled, but the singing pulls it through. The guitar work, again, is good. Abhaya has gone all out with her vocal technique. The third track starts beautifully. It would have been great, minus the heavier sound. The band switches to English with I would do anything. Again, the dual vocal completes the song. It's not easy speed rapping in Nepali, and this one is not as articulate as desired. Ranga takes the album back to Nepali. This song seems to have the most mainstream sound in the album. But it's a upbeat track, the sort that makes live performances a success. Khushi, the 6th track in the album is dominated by the drum and piano. Aayeko Chhu, written by Prasanna Singh, starts with a lovely intro. The first few notes of the song are hauntingly familiar. This is a softer track. Abhaya does a great job in the upper reaches of the scale. The next track shifts to reggae with a touch of jazz. Kasai Kasaile then take a complete jazz approach with quite good lyrics. In fact they sound tighter on this track than on any other song. The Kathmandu music scene has in recent years taken to jazz. The album ends with a damphu beat fused to heavy rock. But Abhaya is not herself here. It seems they have achieved the desired sound but it's real heavy stuff, and they sound uncomfortably different. Could have done without it. Just ignore the last track and it's a good album. The songs were written mostly by Abhaya, Ritesh and Dibesh while some are credited to the band collectively.
Artist: Raju Lama
Album: DONBO
Rating: ***
Raju Lama has gone back to his folk roots with this album. Not a bad move, as folk has a big market and Raju sings them well. In fact most of our singers do a good job singing folk. Raju even wears a daura suruwal for the cover photo. Nepali folk culture is very rich with much variety in the music. The album starts with a very lively tune and has a lot of female vocal participation. The second track is in the Tamang language and Indira Gurung accompanies Raju for this duet. Donbo, the title track, is a fast duet that has a strong beat and is well sung. Raju seems as good in singing in his native language as he does in Nepali. Glelaam Durbar has a nice flow and the singers seem very fluent in this tongue. Indira Yonzon and Tulsa Waiba, both Tamangs, accompany Raju. The pop star sings solo in Aambuma Singhla. His singing as usual is very good and he does it with ease and fluency. In Til Jyala, a lot of effects have been used and Indira Gurung accompanies Raju once again. Some of the songs are sung to a very complex beat. The arranger has also used a lot of flute sounds. This is a good folk album. Raju could well become popular in this genre.
