The Night Band
Night is an independent new-school folk band from Kathmandu, the valley capital of Nepal formed on early 2006. Band’s composition is the result of influences by music from all over the world and musical and cultural exploration of sounds across different regions of Nepal. Our composition features wide array of Nepalese traditional endangered instruments, alongside some western instruments.
The repertoire is the effortless amalgamation of traditional and contemporary musical thoughts and ideas and is the reflection of passion for our musical heritage and willingness to explore uncharted terrain.
Similarly, compositions for their debut album Ani ukali sangai orali also have been inspired by band’s extensive travels to remote regions in the country, and our encounters with different ethnic communities that reside in the places we visited. The terrain of Nepal's remote regions being mountainous, one is inevitably bound to walk up steep, uneven slopes, and roll downhill afterward like rocks. Thus the title of their album Ani ukali sangai orali which alludes to the experience of climbing up and rolling down – a daily given for hill villagers in Nepal. The album is inspired by the places they travelled and the new friends they met.
From place to place, they were fascinated with the people, the vibrant music culture and their simple way of life. This has greatly influenced us in writing songs based on their personal experiences and memories. The theme and concept of the album's songs, also, mainly revolve around the hardships of village life in Nepal.
The band recently released their debut music video entitled “Kathor”, one of the tracks from their upcoming album, which has gained lots of positive comments from the viewer.
Band is also involved in the composition of upcoming Nepali feature film “Chhadke”. Along with music, band is also involved in giving training to learn the nearly extinct instrument “Mahaali”. It is a sacred, traditional instrument used by the Jugi (tailor) caste musicians of the Newars (an ethnic community) of Bhaktapur, Nepal.
Night has been collecting a small fund to revive the Mahaali, gathered from proceeds from the band's performances in Kathmandu. The fund will provide an opportunity for interested students to learn how to play the Mahaali for 3 months.
