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‘”     October 15, Jawalakhel Ground

Dismantling the humdrum of the metal scene in Nepal, Silence Festival, organized by Silence Entertainment, was a much anticipated concert for Kathmandu’s metal-heads. For the first time, the legendary metal band ‘VADER’ was performing live. Equipped with a stimulating sound-system, the on stage extravagance was complemented by a decent lighting and visual system. Metal-heads were growing gradually in number as the daylight showed the way for the dusk and called for darkness. Security, on the other hand, was tight enough to control the mass.

Hatebook, who have deservedly emerged in the local underground scene, opened the show playing their originals. The fire from their songs was exuded to the rebellious souls of the metal-heads expecting a grand event. Even though the initial crowd was small and with the scorching heat draining revelers’ energy, Hatebook still managed to get the crowd going.

Innercore ‘” the metal band from Hongkong ‘were up next. As they mentioned at the start, the band played metalcore pieces inspired mostly by Lamb of God and As I Lay Dying. Even they were successful in thrilling the slowly growing crowd.

Kalodin were next to occupy the stage. Replacing Innerguilt just a week before the festival, the band was definitely one of the local bands the crowd was looking forward to. Some who were sheltering themselves from the sun at the shades came forward to enjoy the thrilling performance. The overall physical appearance of the band, especially the petrifying make-up on their faces and the metal-ish get-up, would have rather suited them at night with the digital lights shining on them. Nevertheless, their exuberant mentality as they greeted the crowd, followed by a commanding on stage-presence, brought a metallic riot around the park.

Then it was time for a solo-performance by Guido Wyss, the drummer from Enigmatic who played last year in Silence Festival I. Named as ‘Commando Noise Terror’, the project was fresh to the music listeners as it brought the hybrid environment of different genres of music ‘jazz, electronic and classical.

Another foreign band, Helmut ascended to the stage when the sun was setting at the horizon. First up, they fused classical Sitar played by Anil Dhital with technical metal; an experiment that was very interesting and sounded astounding. Then they started playing their originals, ranging from blues to thrash metal. The thrill and technical expertise of a ‘foreign’ band was evident throughout their performance. Helmut remained completely tight and different from the previous bands for the duration of their set.  Be it their music quality, wisdom or on stage energy, they got the crowd enjoying themselves and head-banging during each of their songs.

Antim Grahan, one of the roots of Nepali underground music, played for a comparatively larger crowd as the sky descended into darkness. Playing their well-known songs like ‘Forever Winter’, ‘Infected’ and the cover of Iron Maiden’s song ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, they made the crowd go wild with everyone making a circle and running towards each other like that in every other metal concert. The essence of the melodic death metal could be seen reflected in the reactions of the audience.

Formed just before the Silence Festival, with Founder director of Silence Entertainment, Bikrant Shrestha as the guitarist, Underside took over the platform. The songs they played had the roots of thrash metal and incredibly thrilled the audience with their tight performance. Definitely, Underside has proved themselves as one of the bands to turn to in near future.

Finally, the moment of time the whole mass was waiting for arrived ‘” VADER! With the background music like that of a military marching band and the coherent chant of the entire crowd calling ‘VADER! VADER!’ the entrance was as epic as it could have been. ‘Namaste Nepal’ ‘” a shout out to the entire crowd was followed by a roar in return. When they started to play their songs, metal enthusiasts could not stop themselves from banging their heads to the noise of a Polish legend. They played their own classics such as ‘This is the War’, ‘Silent Empire’, ‘Back to the Blind’ and ‘Impure’. The energy and passion with which they performed fueled the fire inside the souls of the metal-heads as the night was turning out to be one of the marks in the musical history of Nepal. No matter how tiring the entire day was, the crowd couldn’t stop jumping and hammering their heads to the noise of VADER.

After a short-break, they came up with the cover of ‘Black Sabbath’ (Black Sabbath) and ‘Raining Blood’ (Slayer) which were much heavier than the originals. The audience enjoyed the legendary tribute from a legendary band. As they left the platform, they farewelled the audience with ‘Subharaatri Kathmandu’ and gave away drum-sticks and guitar-plectrums.

The festival left an unforgettable memory on the minds of everyone present at the grand metal event. After such an implausible display, the metal-heads are hoping for even a greater festival next year at Silence Festival III! online casino bonus

While the unplanned urbanization has diminished the beauty of Kathmandu city, the once beautiful city lives only in the memories of our grandfathers and grandmothers. Many of us listen to the stories of yesteryears before the unplanned urbanization turned the city into a ‘concrete jungle’ bearing the population beyond its capacity.  But Kiran Chitrakar is one such lucky person whose grandfather not only left him with the stories of the heavenly city but also the vivid pictures.

Kiran Chitrakar’s grandfather Dirgha Man Chitrakar and father Ganesh Man Chitrakar captured the Kathmandu city from 1901-1945. Their pictures tell the story of architectural touchstones of the city and the changes that underwent, showing the modern city in the making. Inheriting photography as a profession, Kiran Chitrakar works for Nepal Television and is looking after Ganesh Photo Labs, founded by his father. Kiran Chitrakar is also handling the photographic treasures left behind by his grandfather and father including the first aerial photographs of the Kathmandu Valley taken by his father.

‘Can you imagine, this used to be the same Kathmandu,’ says Kiran as he flips through the old photos adding, ‘There is no space now, except Tudikhel.’ Kiran sees little possibility of managing the crammed houses and congested roads. He argues that the photographs by his father and grandfather could have been used as a reference by the city planning and management. ‘The government officials do not know the value of these photographs, let alone use this for the city’s benefit,’ Kiran expresses his nuisance.

According to Kiran, the core durbar areas in both Kathmandu and Patan have been the major disappointment over the years. Also, he expresses astonishment as well as frustration over the idea of narrowing down the city’s rivers rather than campaigning for cleaning and restoring them. ‘It is not that these structures and resources cannot be renewed,’ states Kiran, ‘some of the places and buildings such as Garden of Dreams and Dharahara prove that these can be maintained and preserved.’

Kiran believes that blaming only the government will not help at all. The people are themselves not aware. He thinks that the people do not support any programs introduced by the government and thus the many planning programs have failed in the Kathmandu Valley.

The photographs of Kathmandu before the 1934 earthquake and Sighadurbar before it was burnt down are of historical importance for scholars, students and general people as well. Kiran wants to compile these photographs along with others in a book to document them and make it viable even for the general public. Kiran hopes that the book will make people compare what Kathmandu was then and what is left now, and help make them aware of their mistakes. The book will also be a step towards documenting history and preserving the old photographs.

Kiran still owns the glass slides negatives of the photographs but their archiving has now become a huge problem. ‘This is an earthquake zone and these fragile glass plates can be easily destroyed,’ says Kiran. He ultimately is looking forward to open a museum, also showcasing the cameras used by Dirgha Man Chitrakar and Ganesh Man Chitrakar. But there are a lot of financial difficulties to overcome. He has approached the government but does not have their nod, thus he is looking for other donors. Meanwhile, he is also open to working with academic institutions. The colleges and libraries wish to print them and frame them for the walls of their libraries and halls. ‘I don’t need the money, I just want these photographs preserved and open to public view, as long as they are rightfully accredited.’ declares Kiran.

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