Jindabaad gig review (Bonus: with Momo: analogies)

When somebody asks me to write a review on a gig that I attended, I try to write them as soon as get home. I guess that’s exactly what every “journalist” tries to do- get the material and write. That way, things remain fresh and it is easy to bite on the info that’s stuck on my brain to feed those fingers that promptly teleports the info into something tangible, like the one you are reading right now.

However, if you try writing it a MONTH later, it kind of gets lame. To write I mean.  Not that I didn’t want to. There was this small issue of going to a village and trying to work with the drunk villagers to lighten up their village in between so I was without any resources.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time I am writing about Jindabaad which feels a bit strange. I have been following them ever since they did their first gig together- which was a revelation in itself- but never so to write a single word regarding how I perceive their music. The bands line up is as good as you can get and with their talents merged together as meat is to momo and as momo is to me, the music that they composed was explosive.

At least they were.

The venue

Their latest gig was the first in years that I got to witness. My departure to an exquisite land made me a foreigner in my own; I had nearly forgotten how well our homegrown artists performed on stage and to come and watch them live again was very very emotional indeed *swoons*. Unfortunately though, there was something about Jindabaad that felt strange. Of course, the man on the keys/ the Jap on the keys was conspicuously missing which made the whole experience feel like a plate of momo without the proper soup BUT hey! Jindabaad IS Jindabaad.

That’s what I kept saying.

Purple Haze, the hosts for the night, had a pretty good crowd gathered for the event. I had arrived early and was waiting for an equally enthusiastic friend of mine to arrive at the scene. His arrival meant that we needed something to cleanse our mouths with, so we decided on a can of Nepal Ice each. “Extra Strong” was marked on a very reddish looking object that I was holding which was nothing but strong but hey its beer! And its nepali. So I just shut the shit up and drank it. I have been saying this “hey” quite often these days, haven’t i?

His last song was week long

We marked our presence on the front of the stage waiting for Jindabaad to take it but the opening guy who was trying to make an impression on the already impatient onlookers was doing himself no favors. His last song, which he stated it quite loud on the mike as if to say “hey suckers! You will miss this!”,took a decade to finish. I could have gone to the restroom and brushed my teeth, showered and flossed all of my 32 teeth (yes, I went to the dentist recently) and still manage time to hear his shrills. Although, I have to say, his guitar playing was decent.

And then, came on the guys that we were all waiting for. Except for keys of course. I cant remember exactly how they started out, for that I need to watch the video again, but that was all that I needed. With Yubin and Yubik dai also appearing out of the darkness, everything was bit hard to handle.

What I do remember of the gig was the improvised impromptu Reggae intro to “Shades of You” which went for good two minutes. I have the video intact and plan on uploading it someday but for now I will let you use your creativity to fathom it. It really did steer up the crowd a bit. The background lights for the number was excellent; dark, fire in the water kinda thing..simulated. Kiran dai was simply fantastic on the stool. One last comment about the song though: I still like the older version.

Rohit Shakya doing what he does best

I am in awe with the initial riff to their new self titled song “jindabaad”.  The lyrics and music has way of getting into your head, more like a hangover but in a good way. You can do absolutely nothing to stop from feeling it.  Now chubbier Sau dai’s vocal capabilities are clearly for everyone to witness and I think he is probably the most versatile vocalist in the nepali music scene. As for the song itself, I was pretty happy about the way they composed it. The change in flow of the song right in middle of the track made me want to jump out of the window and dance mad  half naked in midair but I am civilized, why would I do that? Or would i? Kiran dai again had some skills to show for while Sunny dai looked relatively quiet for his standards. Mark the relative.

Taking center stage, Rajan dai was a joy to watch. His stage presence is clichéd, his pendulum like bass playing style admirable and most importantly, he bridged the band to the crowd. For others, what more should I say than what’s been already said in the media. Love the band.

From left: Sau dai, Rajan Dai, Sunny dai.
 MIA: Kiran dai

But something was still not right. I felt the band was just playing for the sake of playing. That WOO! factor that i experienced in my first Jindabaad gig remains as elusive as ever. It all kinda felt forced. But again, its jindabaad.

The gig ended quicker than we thought, hanged around a bit with dais, had some progressive talk on an impending magazine, had a foot long sandwich and finally made our way back home walking at 12 am.

No money for a cab.

Quick note:

This marks a year into Madeinepal’s existence and I would like to thank all readers, skippers, haters, flame throwers, rocket launchers, yeti admirers for their time to read or skip what’s written here.  The content is nothing like the one that started out but what is sure is that the blogger will remain made-in-nepal for ever eternity.

Thanks again.