Well Folks, Sarangi Day went beautifully. We'll have photos and audio up soon (still busy this week getting the old guys into the recording studio). Here's a shot of Jake, Buddhiman, and Raj Kumar bringing in the tourists for the evening concert in Thamel...

Sarangi Day Concerts in Kathmandu

Come one, come all...Not one but two concerts Thursday February 28th. The first event begins at 1PM at the Russian Cultural Center, Kamal Pokhari. There'll be guest speakers, researchers presenting their work, and more importantly, several of the old-school musicians from the hills of Palpa, Gorkha, and eastern Jyapa will be performing onstage. This first event is mainly for Nepalis, but all are welcome.

In the evening, starting at 7PM, the North Palace Restaurant will host the second event, for our tourist friends. Admission is 400 Nrp and gets you a drink and vegetarian thakali buffet, as well as an evening of authentic Nepali folk music and some good karma for helping out the GCAO (and since so many people are asking, we'll have some of those embroidered MMP t-shirts for sale too).

Local Bideshis: We're looking for some volunteers to help out with the concert here in Kathmandu. Please call Jake: +977 980 368 2306 or email us: mountainmusicproject at gmail dot com.

I'm so proud of the Gandharbas who have really come together to make Sarangi Day work. We hope you can join us...

Riley Baugus and the Return of Sarangi Day

So we got our final guest artist to record on the MMP fusion CD project! Our buddy Riley Baugus laid down some awesome vocal tracks; on a song we had done with the Nepalis and then a beautiful old time a cappella piece. He and Danny also sang another duet a cappella song for the video camera, which rocked in the way that only two real Appalachian-raised singers can get it rocking. Hopefully, we'll have a clip of that up soon for folks to see.

Riley grew up going to a regular Baptist Church in North Carolina, where a cappella singing in the Southern Appalachian style was the tradition. And he got real good at it too. ☺ He is an Old Time multi-instrumentalist and has played with all sorts of folks from the big names in the music business to the old mountain musicians from deep in the hills, some of whom are now legends in Appalachian music. He also sang for the soundtrack of the Academy Award winning movie Cold Mountain. Now he will get to add being a proud member of the MMP recording team!

We would also like to say a special thanks to Les Thompson and Cabin Studios for letting us use his phenomenal microphones for the US recording part of our project. He has a fantastic recording studio out in the country near Lincoln, VA and is a great musician. Some of you may know his name from his days in the award-winning band “The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.” Thanks Les!

Meanwhile, back in Kathmandu, Jake's helping the Gandharbas to revive Sarangi Day, a festival of traditional Gandharba music, featuring musicians from throughout Nepal, who will be performing for both Nepali and tourist audiences. The celebration will begin on February 28th, starting in the Russian Cultural Center at 1PM, with a tourist-oriented dinner concert held in Thamel at the North Palace Restaurant at 7PM.

Some of the performers will include sarangi virtuoso Shyam Nepali, Hum Bahadur (who plays with a haunting western-Nepali style) and several of our friends from the Gandharba Cultural & Arts Organization. For our friends in Kathmandu, we'll have more information here on the blog in the next few days, as the program is finalized. It's gonna be a blast and all are welcome to attend both events. Stay tuned...