Hear
This-- 25:99
Wave--No.45, October 1999
Even a one page article wouldn't be sufficient to comment on the 25:99
experience. In case you are wondering what 25:99 was all about, it was
a live show that took place in Godavari Alumni Association (GAA), Thamel.
Of course, as the name suggests, it was held on the 25th of September,
1999. It was one adrenaline pumping event and GAA was rocking and the
participants literally brought the house down! It started with the band
formally know as Smarika (must add that it is one groovy band) singing
a variety of songs ranging from Pearl Jam to Led Zepplin. Actally there
was a collaboration of two, Smarika and The Magpies, featuring the vocalist
of the former, Kashish as their guitarist. The Magpies had two amazing
female vocalists (and very young, if I might add), Sabina and Axata. If
you've been reading WAVE regurarly you would know that their name has
come in our magazine many a time and oft; they are ex-Elites' students.
Then Albatross took centerstage and boy! This band or should I say Nitesh,
the vocalist sure knows how to stir up a crowd!!! Actually the bassist
Abhay put out quite a performance of his own. Funk soul brother- two of
them combined! It was impressive and with covers by western bnads like
Red Hot Cilli Peppers and Rage Against The Machine, it felt like a mini-mini-
Woodstock! The best part was their closing song; Robin n Looza's Nepal
from their debut album of the same name. If only the band mumbers were
there to witness the fact that their song has grown so popular with the
youth of today. Bet they will be driven to tears of joy. Both boys and
girls were screaming along and headbanging, it was mindblowing and for
us, who were older than majority of the crowd that were present there
it was kind of a culture shock! There were four bands that performed,
and the grand finale was executed by Nirnaya and the Allstars (drummer-
Sanu, lead guitar- Sameer, bass-Pranab, rhythm guitar-Amit) with Nirnaya
claiming, right at the beginning, that ' Hip Hop Rules' and that 'Hip
Hop is for life". They are out with a new single tat is receiving
heavy airplay on KATH 97.9. By the looks of it, the listeners seem to
have taken a great liking to the sing Bring da house down because it has
jumped to the #1 slot in their countdown show, beating the likes of Sugar
Ray, Backstreet Boys etc, etc (as of the tiem when this piece was written).
Witeh the blend of heavy guitar riffs from the All Stars and Shaq and
Nirnaya doing their thing 25:99 came to a close amidst a thuderous applause
from the audience. By the looks of it, the show rocked to the bone and
credit goes to Kashish who is just seventeen. He singlehandedly (and with
the help of friends) organized 25:99. The youth of today are starving
for good entertainment but when there is something solid happening, they
sure know how to rock the party!
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Rappaz
Union in Manang Marsangdi Club
SLC was just over, year was 2000, and the Rappaz Union had just formed and recorded their first single "Pretty Gurl". N' the Mananag Marsnagdi Club had organized a celebration to encourage and honor the students who had just passed S.L.C. and those who were on line. The venue was the Manang Gumba and the audience were mostly parents of the students and the students of the school. It was the Union's 1st performance together n' Caoz Capone still wasn't in the Union at this time, it wuz' just Nirnaya da' NSK, Sammy Samrat n' Richie Rich Rinchin. The other performers included Dipesh Kumar Bhattrai, The Marsangdi-Q Band, Dika, Joheb Manandhar n' some more bands. When da' R.U. got on stage, it wuz' time to bring da' house down n' dat's exactly what they did.. They performed the three singles, Bring Da' House Down, Ji-Li-Li, and Pretty Gurl. Nirnaya mingling and dancing with the audience, Sammy sitting on the stage and Rinchin dancing on the stage, the audience was pretty much out for a shock. As the program ended the R.U. and all the perfomers were given a certificate of appreciation.
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---Getting
Unplugged---
Wave--No. 29--May, 1998
After having successfully put together unplugged nights in the past, the Friends of Music Society did it one more time last month. It was a perfect moment for music hounds to get that good old feeling as musicians bared their souls and invited us in, as Abhaya, one of the performers put it. The evening neatly complemented the saying that music knows no boundaries as people from all walks of life got together on a musical journey. From invitee bands, Nomads, from Kalimpong who despite the bus mishap on their way to the capital were unshaken and did their best delivering a good set of numbers from Eric Clapton to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Abhaya's rendition of Summertime (Janis Joplin) was splendid. However, the stars of the evening were Kashish, Sabina, Kumar and Nirnaya (most of them featured in Teen Talk earlier,). They're no professionals but the manner with which they carried themselves that evening (smiling through mistakes) definitely won them an admirable audience support.
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--Teen
Talk--
Wave--No. 29--May, 1998
Questions
1. Name
2. Age
3. Grade
4. School
5. Dress code
6. Hobbies
7. Passion
8. Aim
9. Wildest thing u've done
10. Funniest thing that's happened to u
11. Most important moment of u'r life so far
12. How often are u allowed late nights
13. Friends or family
14. The opposite of the species….
15. Kind of guy…..
16. Idea of romance
17. Favorite hangout place
18. Type of music/movie
19. When u think Nepal, u think…
20. If given the opportunity, one thing u would change..
21. Complete this: The world's gone….
22. U like to talk about
23. The thing that bugs u most about grown ups..
24. How important do u think traditions and customs are??
25. Describe u'rself
26. Last thing u did before filling this form..
27. Teenage years are..
28. 5 years from now u would…..
ANSWER
1. NIRNAYA
2. 19 years…almost in 20s
3. B.Sc. Computer Science
4. Campion College
5. Loose pants, loose t-shits, canvas or damp n' caps of course.
6. Collecting baseball cards, stamps, coins, holograms and anything that
looks interesting. And yeah, playing sports too.
7. Basketball n' anything that I want to do from inside becomes my passion.
8. Is to reach the top n' pull everyone up
9. Everything I do to myself seems normal but others don't seem to agree.
10. Woke up one morning, got dressed walked to the bus stop, wondered
why nobody was there, looked at my watch and realized it was 4 in the
morning. Just shows how monotonous school life is.
11. When GOD Himself came and gave me a gift. He said…and gave me…..Ha!Ha!
12. If I got a good reason it would be 7 days a week, 365 days a year;
bad reason maybe 1 or 2 times a week.
13. Depends on who's right
14. Is a gift of God made to treasure.
15. Depends on what u'r asking for, to look at or to have. Just kidding
man. (No problem Nirnaya, everyone likes a good sense of humor.)
16. Just me n' my girl off on a cruise in a handsome little boat to the
Carribean Islands or experience the thrill of being close to nature in
the rainforest.
17. There's no place like home-Bhat Bhateni to Balwatar
18. Hip-Hop rules the world. Most movies are waste of 1 1/2 hour or 3
hours but if I must choose then I would say gangsta movies are pretty
cool.
19. My pride, my own and pollution. All kinds- mind, air, land, water
etcetera.
20. Is the invention of money. Most evil deeds are done out of love and
need for money.
21. Beyond our reach and outta' control.
22. Depends on who I am talking with
23. Is that they are right most of the time
24. Modernization means eliminating the useless traditions and customs,
I repeat useless customs. Not shutting them out completely because it
is those customs that have given us our identity as Nepalese, otherwise
we would all be facing major identity crisis.
25. That's for me to know and u to find out. (well! We did find out that
the guy raps pretty well and is also known as Puffy).
26. Took a shower
27. Sadly I got to admit, they are pretty much over for me.
28. Well, it's 11 o'clock, so, 5 years from now I would probably be doing
what everyone does at night- sleeping.
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Album
Release - Fo' Ya' All
-source- scournepal.com
After much hype n' noise the day had come, Saturday, December 23rd, 2000, for the release of the Rappaz' Union's 1st album, Nepal's 1st Hip Hop group n' album. It was a show organized by the Union and the day was called "Fo' Ya' All", just like the album was named "Fo' Ya' All". The venue was the Hotel Yak n' Yeti, a five star hotel in the heart of the city, Durbar Marg. At 2:00 p.m., the Rappaz Union took stage. The stage was made about a feet high, so that the R.U. could mingle with the crowd. The crowd gathered aroun' the stage n' the live performace began. One after another the R.U. started pouring out their singles, released and un-released. Then in the middle, a break for everyone to have something to eat. The food was great too, n' the Yak n' Yeti staff has to be thanked for that. Then again the R.U. took stage, but this time before they started to sing, a lucky draw was done. From which Deewa Shrestha got the opportunity to officially release the album and hold it high so that everyone could see what the R.U. has been calling their Limited Edition CD's. Everyone was in the mood as the R.U. busted out rhyme after rhyme n' danced their way through the songs, in some singles, the R.U. didn't even sing. They simply handed over the mic to the audience, who sang the song for them. Now the live gig was over n' DJ Mix Master P, took over, who spinned some number that made the crowd bust their moves. At 5:30 the whole show came to an end n' everyone was still longing for more. After the show people could be seen taking autographs on the newly released limited edition R.U. C.D. But all good things has to come to an end, n' so did the "Rappaz Union In Yak n' Yeti." History had been made.
See the video at: scournepal.com
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Doing
hip hop & rap
--Sareeka Yongpang Rai
Sunday Post--December 24th, 2000
When it comes to entertainment business,
some believe that it pays to have made your mark in one field of the business
to be successful in another. Seventy five percent of the people I know
seem to think that Jennifer Lopez would not have sold her records if she
hadn't wooed the movie-going male population with her onscreen performances.
Well, does teh same rule apply back home in Nepal? Does it work to teh
advantage of the Rappaz Union (Rappers' Union for the confused) that one
of the capital's most popular radio presenters is one of the band? Probably.
Which means that you could say that Nepal's premier hip-hop and rap quartet
are talented enough.
To be really honest, I was doubtful whether I could do justice to 'Fo'
Ya' All', the band's first album. I happen to sit on the other side of
the musical fence where hip-hop and rap don't figure large. But what I
could understand about this form of music is that the lyrics can be about
anything from love to life to anger and pain. That is what is impresssive,
I guess. There is varitey in it. It provides some respite to our listeners
who have barely recovered from their overdose of a dozen love songs (we
can't seem to go beyond the words "mayalu" and "priyasi")
before the next dozen are dished out to them.
In the Rappaz Uninon's first album, even love songs are handled differently.
The lyrics are English to begin with and there are plenty of interesting
expressions thrown in. Mushy lyrics get balanced with phrases like "No
doubt" and "in da' house" thrown in here and there. 'Pretty
Gurl' i.e. Pretty girl in simple English, for instance, starts off with
the annoucement of "da rappaz union" being "in da house"
before the lyrics flow in praise of somebody of teh fairer sex.
And before anybody gets alienatd, RU adds a distinct Nepali touch to teh
songs sometimes with the word like K.A.T.H.mandu and sometimes with the
accent, perhaps. A perfect examle is "Some say", a musical advice
on giving up that bad habit. It inclines towards the well-known Nepalese
culture of spreading the message of loving everybody. Samply lyrics, "You
say you can do it better than us.....well, that's for you to know and
me to see.....I just want some peace and harmony." The highlight
of the song, composed by members Nirnaya da' naughty soul kid, Sammy Samrat
and Richie Rich Rinchin, are these words (in Nepali), "ji-li-li...hami
sabai mili".
The rappers profess their desire to bring awareness thru music and they
try to do that thru "24-7-365" where they protest in the name
of Mother Earth. Incidentally, the band uses paper instead of plastic
for the CD covers. "24-7-365" also showcases the vocal talents
of Axata, who has sung a number of commercial jingles. Most guest artists
are in store you on songs like "Live Today" where Sammy and
Dolma of the all-girls band Sparkle, take on the subject of overcoming
sorrows to live a full life. And in "I want to dance" Nirnaya
and child artist Aviraj form an unusual combo.
My personal favorites turned out to be "Dat' sumthin". Alas,
a love song but it is the catchiest track in the album because of a well-done
opening and an interesting chorus which somehow reminds me of cheerleaders.
Another favorite, albeit a controversial one was "Real Gangsta Sh#t".
If Nepalese listeners can learn to ignore the explicit lyrics, then rapper
Caoz Capone should become the next hot property for his excellent performance
in the song.
My third and final pick from the album should be, "I want to dance".
It's happy and cheerful, it's unusual and it's part Nepali and part English
which means the best of both worlds. The band has projected this album
to be for everybody, the album's title makes tat obvious. I cannot guarantee
that the average Nepalese listener will like it. But i do guarantee that
if marketed well, this should be a dacne floor staple at the clubs. No
doubt about that one!
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Hot Pop
Wave--No.60--December, 2000
Look out for two new albums by upcoming
Nepali artists due out this month. Both the albums are West oriented.
.......
The Second album is by the rap group Rappaz Union. The album is titled
Fo' Ya' All and contains 19 tracks, including 12 songs, an instrumental
and short skits. The absolute hip-hop oriented album is going to be realeased
on the 23rd of Dec at the Hotel Yak & Yeti. Limited Edition CDs will
be sold only on that day in Yak & Yeti, and the launch party will
also have live performances, and mixing the records will be the DJ 'DJ
Mix Master P'.
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BRINGING
THE HOUSE DOWN
Hear This
Wave--No. 61--January, 2001
A warm December afternoon got hotter as the frist rapper
group from Nepal got ready to launch the first hip-hop album in the country.
The four-man-rapping group known as Rappaz Union made their debut with
their album titled Fo' Ya' All. The album was launched the Durbar Hall
in Hotel Yak & Yeti on the 23rd of Dec 2000. One of the members of
the Union, Richie Rich is in Cananda and couldn't make it, but the three
remaining members made sure that nothing was lacking in the launch party.
Nirnaya a.k.a. Da' Naughty Soul Kid, frontman of the Union mingled with
the audience before the main event (performance by the gruop and the CD
launch) kicked off, and teh shy audience refrained from stepping onto
the dance floor. But as soon as the Union got on stage to perform their
songs, the audience needed little or no encouragement to start grooving
to the beats of the Union. Caoz Capone, Sammy Samrat, N.S.K. got the crowd
going with their original tracks. N.S.K.'s strong stage presence like
always was a big help to keep the party flowing. 'Stage fright does not
exist in my vocabulary', claims the Kid, and it showed in his performance,
as he was on, off and around the stage, dancing and rapping with the audience.
The confidence and the comfort with which the Union members carried off
their performance was indeed credible, for it is the first time in Nepal
that an entire hip-hop oriented performance by one preforming group has
been staged. 'It feels good to have the audience singing along to your
own songs...' said Nirnaya, and the RU members must have been flattered
to hear the receptive audience sing along to their radio hits, Bring the
House Down (a dance-mix version of teh rock oriented song was performed),
Ji Li Li, Pretty Girl and Live Today.
The Union also held a lucky draw of the tickets, assisted by the audience,
and the lucky winner got to be the one to hold up the CD and unwrap it's
plastic wrapping to reveal the CD to the rest of the audience. Deewa Shrestha
was the lucky girl who shared the stage with the RU and officially lauched
the first Hip-Hop album from Nepal- the Rappaz Union's Fo' Ya' All. She
was then presented teh CD. The CD, that was launched, is the limited edition
of the album with paper packaging. After the limited edition is sold out,
the group hopes to produce the regular edition in plastic packaging. After
the performance was over, Pritam a.k.a. DJ Mix Master P mixed music to
keep the dance floor occupied. Rs. 650 for a limited edition CD, dance
party and food at the Yak & Yeti was a very good bargain but even
though the turnout was good the RU had hoped for more. Majority of the
audience also decided to show up fashionable late, which in turn delayed
the event by an hour. ' We were ready to go at 1 (p.m.) but we had to
wait for thw audience. The tickets said 1 p.m. sharp. We decided to start
at 2 because we couldn't annoy the audience that were already there waiting',
said teh N.S.K. The latecomers missed the performance and ignorantly delayed
the event for those that were there on time. The tickets also had the
options of not including the CD, in which case it would have cost Rs.
350 (minus the 300 for the CD). Cds sold in the market will cost more
than what it did on it's launch party.
'We hope to start a trend with this.....the album, the launch party...',
said the N.S.K., and the trendsetter was pleased that not only the RU,
but the audience too had fun.
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Fo'
Ya' All- Rappaz Union ****
NEW RELEASES
Wave--No. 61--January, 2001
Outstanding***** Good**** Worth Listening*** Not
Impressive** A Waste*
Rappaz Union is the brian child of a local radio show
host Nirnaya Shrestha, a.k.a. Da' Naughty Soul Kid, who hosts a hip-hop
oriented show on K.A.T.H. 97.9 fm, called Bring The House Down (Friday:8-9pm).
After collaborating with Sammy Samrat, Caoz Capone (from Seattle) and
Richie Rich (Rinchin) (from Canada), the Rappaz Union was formed.
The title of the album was inspired by the people that have support4ed
and inspired the Union members since their singles started getting air
plays in local FM stations. The album starts off with an Outta' Da' World
Intro, a converstaion between what sounds like children in an almost surrealistic/dreamy
setting. Then it moves on to the first song Ji Li Li. The song introduces
the N.S.K. and Sammy Samrat as it flows into a laid-back beat, with the
two rappers rapping about dance and parties. The song title really doesn't
mean anything. The album then moves into a short skit, Total Caoz and
then into the 4th track, Some Say. This song is in response to those people
that criticize the efforts of these young rappers, and those who claim
are better than them. It has a 70's soul/funkadelic touch to it, with
the guitar swinging in the background and all the other effects that are
used in the song. The 5th track is a another skit (titled Sumthing for
Richie Rich), this time for the missing RU member, Richie Rich. Pretty
Girl is the 6th track from teh album, and also the 4th single released
in the airwaves of Kathmandu. The song talks to/about a pretty girl, and
the music again is retro, only this time it sounds a little like the sounds
of the late 80s-early 90's hip-hop. Story of our lives starts of on a
raggae-like note with Nirnaya singing a short Nepali chorus. It explodes
into a full bloom rap, but with the reggae feel still haning around in
the background somewhere. The Nepali chorus that starts the song later
is sung in English. The lyrical content finally shifts to more serious
aspects of life other than partying, dancing and talking to critics and
pretty girls. This is one of the songs in the album that sounds mature
and the rap is also good. Most of the songs in the album sometimes sounds
a little prosaic, probably because the grooves and the arrangement sound
retro, and the lyrics are typical rap lyrics. Real Gangsta Sh*t is probably
the most offensive song in the album as it contains explicit lyrics. It's
production brings out the gangster rap feel and has a good flow to it.
24-7-365 is an environmental song and features Axata Singh (Rusty Nails)
on the chorus. Dat Sumthing is one of the most popular singles from the
album but it takes you right back to the days of Vanilla Ice and Marky
Mark. I wanna Dance is another song that starts off in Nepali by a child's
voice (Aviraj) and breaks into NSK's rap for the verses. The music this
time almost sounds like something from Gina G or an Aqua album. The chorus
sings about leaving behind the aims of life, concerns of others and simply
wanting to dance. Bring the House Down, the first single from the album
released in early 2000 is the only rock oriented song. Music credits goes
to Samir Khadka (The Allstars) on the guitars and Pranab Joshi (Xmarica/The
Allstars) on bass. This song is also interesting as it is the only song
that actually uses musical intruments, as the rest of music in the album
is produced digitally. The lyrics of the song contains political messages
and one of the verses shout 'chor-choryo desh chhod', a line that was
asked to be censored before it was allowed to be played on the radio.
The album Fo' Ya' All is a huge step in the Nepali music industry as it
is the first hip-hop/rap album, and the only Nepali lyrics in it are not
more than a few lines. The album contains 19 tracks of which 4 are skits,
an intro and an outro, music track to the song I Wanna Dance, and 12 songs
including fast jumpy tracks, gangster raps and laid back hip-hop beats.
It's a lot of good effort by 4 young boys who have put up this whole show.
Some of the songs such as Bring The House Down, 24-7-365, Story of our
Lives, Narcotics n Hydrolics have more originality than others. The album
is convincing, and hardly has any Nepali musical touch to it. It is however
at times a little childish and cliched. The music was composed mostly
by the Union members and arranged by studio technicians who have never
arranged hip-hop music before. This in turn leaves improvement for better
sound production. The CD production in all is good. The limited edition
paper packed CD looks as agood as any other CD, even it's cover designs
are retro, as if it is from the early days of Naughty By Nature, or Run
DMC. The music could use a lot more new grooves and the lyrics, well,
it's a rap album so look out for a lot of self-talk/praise and lyrics
that sounds like you've heard so many times before (you've got dat something
that no other girl has...you got my heart pumping...). If you're into
hip-hop, then the album is a must, at least to see what a hip-hop album
from Nepal sounds like. If you're into any other musical genre, then this
album could be an interesting experiment to the ears. If you want to see
what the boys in the hood have been up to, check dis out, it's Fo' Ya'
All.
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Gimme Five
Wave--No. 58--October, 2000
5 Words That Describe You Best
1. Hip hop iz how I live, dress, listen to, sing (I wear my pantz low,
I let my rap flow, makin' everybody in da' house say ho!!!).
2. K.A.T.H.mandu iz where my heart iz at.
3. NSK (Naughty Soul Kid) iz what I'm known as, (I don't find myself naughty
but people find me naughty, I guess it mus' be da' soul).
4. Chillin' iz how I am, cool about most thingz.
5. No Doubt iz what Isay, I usually neva' say no, alwayz yes.
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