Maintaining Aastha

FROM ISSUE # 111 (March 2005) | IN THIS ISSUE
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In 2003, the pop duo Aastha quickly dominated music charts after the release of their self- titled debut album. Sudip, originally from Ilam, and Naren from Dharan, first met during their primary school in RIBS and completed their A- Levels together from Kathmandu Academy. It was during these later days that they would go over to their friend's house and fool around with music. There they ended up composing a few songs and with a little help from their friends, got things rolling, finding themselves serious about music. But soon after their album came out, Sudip had to leave for the U.K. and so the band maintained a low profile for a year. In early 2005 Naren released Aatma, a solo project under the Aastha banner. Sudip was in town last month for a quick break and WAVE's Subel Bhandari caught up with the duo.

Your first album faced a lot of flak because of your pronunciation. When you talk, you have a normal accent. What happened?
Sudip: Among the many weaknesses in our first album, our pronunciation was one.
We speak very good Nepali. It may have been the pressures of studio recording that brought out that accent in our singing. Naren sounds normal; it's me who has that particular accent. I promise to try to make it better next time. In the second album, Naren's pronunciation is very clear.

We once wrote in WAVE that you have plagiarized music in your first album.
Naren: In some songs, yes, we did copy the style.
Sudip: There was this Taiwanese artist whose music we liked. We looped a keyboard part from one of his songs. We don't have much knowledge of instruments and we could not explain to the studio technician what we wanted so we had to give them a sample.
 
Sudip, did you get to be a celebrity in Nepal before going to London?
Sudip: We did a show in Pokhara and in Butwal alongside rapper Nirnaya, the rock band Cobweb and a few others. It was cool. The crowd went wild. It must be the influence of cable TV but we even got requests from some girls to sign on their breasts. It was crazy. The feedback from the website was also fabulous. We even got fan mails from places like Dang.
What has happened to your website now?

Naren: We had www.aasthamusic.com. We were so drowned in our work that we forgot to renew our website. We forgot to pay. Our new website www.aasthanepal.com is already online. A friend of mine from Singapore volunteered to design it.

How easy is it to be a pop star in Nepal?
Naren: In Nepal, it is easier than many other things. If you have money, you can become a star.
Sudip: The only thing we knew when we started was where Jems dai's studio was.

ANUP PRAKASH

You were new, how hard was it to get hold of a distributor?
Sudip: We approached Moonlight, Music.com and SAV. Raman dai [SAV] signed us immediately. We recorded on our own expense and sold it to SAV. If you have money before hand, it's a lot easier to make things work.

Sudip, you vanished from the scene after the first album. How is life in the U.K.?
Sudip: I had to do what I had to do. Studies are important. I just want to finish my degree for now.

How often do you go to concerts?
Sudip: I accidentally went to a Linkin Park concert. My friends and I get together and go to places where the cover charge is low, because we are students and we can't afford to spend too much on cover charges. I saw the Nepali bands Full Circle and 1974 AD perform there.

Although it's released under the Aastha banner, Naren worked on the album alone. Tell us about it?
Naren: The lyrics are all personal. The music is all studio experimentation. Dibesh Mulmi of Cobweb has done a fabulous job in arranging and in adding guitar licks. I had recorded 12 songs but we put in only 9 of them, including a cover song, Timi Aunu, by an old band called Bypass.

What do you think of Aatma?
Sudip: This is not at all like our first album. The sound has improved. There are couples of hooks in this album, which I personally think is very important for any album to be successful. Naren has done a great job.

ANUP PRAKASH

You have directed your latest music video. What got you interested in directing?
Naren: My interest in directing started after I got into music. Watching local music videos often made me feel like I could do better. No offense to the production house, but I wasn't satisfied with our older videos. I have worked very hard on the videos for Aatma, my directorial debut.
Sudip: I would say almost 65% of our success came from music videos the last time around.

Have you made any recent plans?
Naren: I want to go study film direction, maybe in the UK, for a short time. I am fascinated by creative work. I want to make a super movie in a few years time.

What do you think of current situation of Nepal?
Naren: I am not political. All I know is that we need peace. Sudip: I am not politically active, but I keep myself updated. I follow the news regularly, check nepalnews.com. I think we all have to be politically aware because the policies that they make directly affect us. We have to know what is going on.

Are you a registered voter?
Naren: I am not. But then it has been quite sometime since elections have taken place.
Sudip: I am. I think voters have lost their faith. I am definitely voting in the next elections.
Naren: So am I.

Naren's concert scheduled at Damak and Dharan along with Axis on February 17and 18 has been postponed for sometime because of unforeseen circumstances. His latest video starring Miss Nepal 2004 Payal Shakya has already started to gain airplay on television stations throughout the kingdom. For those who don't have access to local television stations, you can download the music video from wavemag.com.np's download section. The new album Aatma is now available in stores across the country.