20 Years of Togetherness

“I shaved my head during the 10th year bash and promised people on stage to come back if our band was together.”

by PRAVAT J GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 158 (February 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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In the past 20 years that Namaste Band has been together, there isn't anything that the band hasn't done. From being the first ones to perform at an altitude of 5,565m at Kalapathaar to touring 29 different cities in Nepal in 30 days, Namaste Band has come a long way and are still, should we say, rocking it. This month, to celebrate two decades of their being, they are organising The Maha Shivaratri World Music Festival in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan. And front man Ishwor Gurung is very upbeat about it and proud that he was able to introduce open air concert in Nepal. When he participated in various international music festivals representing Nepal, he was amazed and bedazzled with the wholesome idea of open air concerts and wanted to bring it back home. "I dreamt of bringing back this idea home and as soon as I arrived, that's what I did," he says, "I kind of broke the ice and then everyone followed."

Organising a concert in an open field back in 1994 was technically challenging in Nepal but Ishwor was determined to do it. That was when the first Maha Shivaratri World Music Festival took place. "The reason why I chose to do it was because I wanted Nepal to be in the map of international music festivals and I knew we could make a mark on it," explained Ishwor. After the 10th Music Festival, Ishwor passed it onto the young generation to organise it but it wasn't exactly successful.

Hence, he took matters in his own hands again and promised people that he would organise this festival again, if the band was together when they turn 20. Ishwor clarified, "I shaved my head during the 10th year bash and promised people on stage to come back if our band was together. To keep my promise to the people, Namaste Band is coming back and organising this." When asked why Maha Shivaratri as the day to hold the concert, he explained, "Lord Shiva is a music loving deity so why not Shivaratri? And I think the young crowd can very easily connect to Lord Shiva and this festival's name."

The 10th Maha Shivaratri World Music Festival 2009 is all set to be held in Kathmandu, Pokhara and also Chitwan. The festival will have recognised talents from the music world including the new ones. Cob Web, Mystic Band, The Axe, Nepsydaz, Catch 22, Mukti & Revival, Anil Shahi, Sur Surdha, Bro Sis, Shadows, Kumar Basnet, Deep Shrestha, Raju Lama, Ciney Gurung, Mousami Gurung, Puja Lama to name a few of those who will perform. International outfits from Japan, Canada, America, Germany and India too will be hitting the stage. Tickets are priced at Rs 100 and entertainment guaranteed. You can also buy books by Namaste Band called Smarika and a collection DVDs of 20 years of Namaste Band as souvenirs to take back home. Who knows if the band will be together in the future? Ishwor's take on that was, "I am glad that we're still together and if we're still together in the future, we'd love to celebrate our silver jubilee with an even bigger bash!"