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I was roaming around the premises of Moksh during an album launching ceremony in search of our photojournalist Bikram. After few minutes of hunt, my eyes stuck on a guy moving down the ladder and I recognized the back hairstyle. I followed him towards the auditorium guessing if he was the one whom I was looking for. When I tapped my hands on his shoulder and called by his name, I found that I caught the wrong person. But fortunately, he was Swapnil. “Hey! Swapnil, it’s you, I thought of somebody else.” He returned my greetings and started a prescribed talk. Few minutes of formal talk went to the end and I asked him if we can talk about the journey after his birth. He happily accepted and we took our way to the first floor.
Standing against a railing, I questioned why ‘The Shadows’ was only a shadow and not coming into the floodlight again. I was sad to hear that the band members were perusing their education abroad and was happy at the same time when I knew that they are still together. It was even great to know that the band is receiving helping hands from Rohit Shakya and Sunny Tuladhar from ‘Jindabaad’ during their concerts in different places. I thought, ‘Thank God, help can create great encouragement.’ Besides that, it was known that ‘The Shadows’ are also opportune to receive helping hands from other session players.
Swapnil Sharma who celebrates his birthday every year on 7th December remembered his schooling at Small Heaven School, Narayanghat after I raised my queries regarding his early life. Sharing his hindsight, he said, ‘I was really into music since my childhood. I still remember those days when I used to sit next to my dad, Sudan Sharma and watch him playing the guitar and singing songs.’ ‘My dad’s song ‘Lekali Hai Choyako Doko’ is still surviving, isn’t it?’ he questioned. Feeling proud about the proclivity of his dad, he expressed his glow of glee while describing about his first song ‘Hidne Manche Ladcha’ written by his father during his upbringing. Without caring about the part full of environment,
I was listening to his achievements about winning many singing competitions in his the then school. My mind was drawing a clear picture of small Swapnil who used to attend different functions upon heartily invitations along with his life account. I was flabbergasted to know that the song ‘Hidne Mancha Ladcha’ was the then hit song in Radio Nepal’s ‘Baal Geet Competition’ and was later adhered in their rock remake which can be heard as its intro.
Along with his growth, the craze for music amplified in him and it was in early 2000, Swapnil found himself in a transition period. Taking afters clutched in between my fingers, I listened more attentively as he conveyed his mother’s suggestion to choose a solo career or an offer for a singer in the band ‘The Shadows’. I found his mother to be very encouraging even after he'd said that he wanted to be both the fields. After we changed our sitting position, he said, ‘Later, I chose the band because the choice of our songs matched perfectly.’
Again, I sketched about retro Kathmandu city in my mind when Swapnil recollects saying, ‘at that time, there was no recording facilities except in Radio Nepal and I used to travel long to record a song. I was fortune to sing in multi-track system installed in Radio Nepal for the first time. But, though I won the ‘Baal Geet Competition’ with a prize of recording a record, it was painful to wait for long and lobby almost all the time. After all, it was also a government owned organization.’
I clapped within myself when he said, ‘I do not regret but instead, I take that as a lesson that has created a huge impact for me to toil hard in the future. Now, I am triumphant.’ That time, I thought of searching for ‘Swapnil ka Geetee Yatra’ in the Radio Nepal’s music archive and listen to him singing 8 songs in his young voice. He described, ‘Like today, the album does not have any songs related to a love between boy and a girl but reads about the love, inhumanity and society. I had sung about my homeland ‘Chitwan’ and ‘Naalaa Pani’.
After an interruption from a friend of mine, we continued with our sharing again. The music from behind got louder as he began to share about his musical likes. Swapnil who talked Steven Tyler as his idol shared, ‘Most of the time, I listen to Narayan Gopal because his songs suit in every environment and in every mood. ’ I was alarmed by my mobile ring but I let it go as his conversation was more interesting. Story about his love life was still to come.
Having asked about a musical contribution for Ranju Gurung, his girlfriend, he said, ‘Timro Man’ sung by Dibya Subba is my composition upon my dedication for my dearly love. I am really thankful to Dibya Subba for singing the song in sublime state of presentation.’ I cursed myself for not becoming a romantic like him. I questioned within myself. It was nicer to know that he has composed another song for Ranju, i.e. ‘Jindagi’ this too is dedicated for his 5 years of long relationship with her. I regained my own story when he shared that Ranju likes ‘You and Me' by Lifehouse and sings ‘Timro Man’ whenever she misses Swapnil.
My attention directly went to the length of his hair when he shared that he is employed as a trainee in Choudhary Group. Surprisingly, his hair was uncut. He shared, ‘Nirvana Choudhary is a cool person and he does not care about my hair rather he enjoys my dual profession.’
Exploring my watch, I asked for a leave but before that, he requested all the organizers to manage musical concert so that their bitter experience would never repeat again. He further wished for paper contracts between bands and concert organizers to be valued in the future. After an end note, he said, “without appropriate laws, this situation will not be professional like it is in developed countries.”
2011-02-23 12:46:15
2011-02-22 14:50:31
2011-02-22 11:45:52