Horrible guitar playing guy and Astha Tamang-Maskey

If you haven't checked out the blog intro click here.

Meanwhile the horrible guitar playing continues next door. I should now seriously think about knocking the door and start clapping my hands right in front of his face shouting “Bravo Bravo! Excelento!, 잘해,잘해!” in weird heavy Korianized Italian accent. I am sure he will end up doing well with the strings but he should be quite aware that he could book a practice room for free only a block away from our dorms. I truly regret the time Halal showed me those beautiful looking ear plugs in some store and opted not wasting my time on them. If the "horrible guitar playing guy" or the "guy who should not be named" still continues with his stunt, I shall gladly start mine: singing. He should then have a very good idea with what he’s dealing with. Bring it on, biyatch.

Don’t get me wrong again, I love music. Besides sleeping and eating good food (good things in life eh?) doing stuffs related to music is ultra fun. I listen to it when I am drunk or sober, when I am waiting for the damn subway, when I am taking a dump, when I am in my class staring at the prof..errmm..no no I don’t do that. Point here is that music is as important as food and I am sure most of them out there share the same passion.

In all my time staying and growing up in Nepal, I got listen to some interesting bands from the local music scene. Going to gigs and organizing them, getting music sources from my seniors and having had the opportunity to actually have active scene members in my family, I can consider myself to be very fortunate to have been exposed to such material.

Astha Tamang Maskey needs (almost) no introduction. Anyone who had the opportunity to lend an ear to her should definitely have some idea who she is and where she stands in Nepali music scene. Her talent in music is just extraordinary. It’s no wonder that she attracts the best in her business to play alongside her.

Having had the pleasure of knowing her from a very young age, eating her cheese that she so tactfully saved and hid inside the freeze, destroying her pillows on usual afternoon pillow fights, stealing her money for KitKat that she saved leaving her absolutely no clue, setting her Asterix Obelix and TinTin comics on fire (oops!), forcing her watch me play Age of Empires on her then transparent pentiumII Apple pc and not let her touch the damn mouse should show some degree of how well I knew her.

I also remember her being incredibly intelligent and dynamic. Back in those pre-school Glen Buds days when we were together, she was the one who completed my exams for me, she was the one who won all the medals that could possibly be won and then later went on to play the keys, guitars, violin, show and innate ability to sing, dance and play basketball like WOW! while still excelling in studies at Rato Bangla School. Then there was this small issue about moving to Canada.

An album, an EP and countless gigs, interviews, awards, tours later she has firmly established herself in her favorite field. She is currently working on a new album and should be out before she heads out to Canada in 2 months time.

Album: Sabai Thikai Huncha (studio release)

Producer: Rohit Shakya (currently with Jindabaad!)

Jam packed with 8 impressively written and composed tracks, this album is sure to hit the spot, the way Kumar(Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle) says it when he takes a bite off that White Castle burger. If you want the album, just let me know. Or you can buy the tracks directly from her website which I have duly provided below.

EP: 11:11 (home release)

Producer: Rohit Shakya (currently with Jindabaad!)

Out of 100 hard copies of this rare of piece of art which have been actually made, none of them is actually available for retail sale. Take that! Just kidding. You should be able to listen to the 6 tracks both on her facebook fan page and her website or simply get a digital copy from cdbaby. I shall (again) duly provide the links below.

Like how Malcom Gladwell puts in his book, there's a number of people behind every talent. As someone who has been able to watch her closely, its worth noting the influence and positive encouragement she has got from her ever loving sister Pooja Shrestha all these years. She was able to create an ambiance that allowed Astha to meet a lot of exciting and interesting people that she would later work with. We love you.

Astha Tamang Maskey official website click here.

Facebook fan page click here.

Downloads:

Cdbaby (Sabai thikai huncha) click here.

Itunes click here.

Cdbaby (11:11) click here.

Itunes click here.