Nepal - Kathmandu - Day 3

Today was a social day on this adventure. Anything social is thanks to Ayreen and the circle of her friends that we caught up with in Kathmandu.

After a morning spent hanging around the hotel, Ayreen collected me to head to a music festival with her friends before we went back to the Blue Note to hang out with that group of friends while some of them played music.

The garden courtyard in KGH from outside my room

An interesting map hanging in the KGH that shows all of Nepal in a helpful way

Those of you who know me will know that I am not a regular music festival attendee. Indeed, I struggle to remember the last time I went to a live music gig in the outdoors. It was pretty certainly last century! Anyway, from what I know about “festivals,” it was pretty low-key (suited me) though clearly going off for all that. One day, one stage, and a line up of fantastic bands. We were there to hear Gauley Bhai a Nepali band of which Ayreen was good friends with the violin player(!). We stayed on long enough to hear the set of a Northwest Indian DJ, who was also very talented. Between the good music, the good company, and the enthusiastic engagement of the audience, it was a terrific time.

The front entry to the Grasslands Festival at the Norling Grand Resort	The main audience area when we arrived and no music was playing
The band Gauley Bhai	Mandatory selfie with friends at the concert Behind me, Ayreen and Akriti looking up something on Akriti’s phone, Shihab, and Fawaz

After the two sets, Ayreen and I parted ways with Yawar, Fawaz, Shihab, and Akriti and headed back to the Blue Note to catch up with the live music that was being performed there by Sudesh, John, and some other musicians. This was a much more low-key event as attendance was down on Sudesh’s expectations (it was a very small turn out). However, that didn’t diminish the quality of the musical performance. Sudesh and his flute player and drummer were all really excellent musicians and played together really well; mostly kind of jazzy R&B style music, though clearly from a Nepali or Central Asian canon. Soon, John was given the guitar and he played several American R&B classics which the Nepali flute and drum players jammed along with and really elevated. Later, to the recorded music that followed the players, there was dancing.

Sudesh (guitar) with Krishna (bansuri–flute) and the Tabla player (didn’t get his name)	John on guitar with the other two musicians
Shahin dancing with Ayreen and John (doing a version of the Macarena)

When the music was over (after 11pm), the gang decided to move on to the Thamel district and keep partying. As the Kathmandu Guest House is in the Thamel district, I left them to it and headed to bed. I fell asleep to the sounds of America’s Horse with No Name that John had played at my request earlier.