About a year since the pandemic-imposed isolation, the world is slowly thriving back to life. Everywhere around us, the frosted barrenness of winter is giving way to the tender renewal of spring. And this spring comes full circle for Nepathya Band that had performed its last live concert around this time last year.

On 29^th February last year, Nepathya had performed at Bhrikuti Mandap to raise funds to rebuild a public school in Dolakha. The school building had collapsed during the 2015 earthquake.

The year since the concert unfolded a strange drama between virus and humankind, threatening to dismantle the seemingly stable foundation of human civilization. Each of us experienced uncertainty and insecurity from close quarters. Amrit Gurung, the lead vocalist of the band, retired in his ancestral farmland and battled the year as an ordinary farmer.

But the tides are changing.

Nepathya is ready to launch a live music video of their all-time hit number 'Jeevan ho Ghamchhaya'. The live video was recorded during their last concert in 2020 just before the pandemic struck.

The song is an apt release for the time as it meditates upon the transitory nature of happiness and sadness and reminds us not to let adverse situations compromise our humanity. The song has been a popular number since the band released it two decades ago in their album ‘Resham’. The song was composed by Shyamsung Tamang, a Pokhara-based musician.

“Long before we released the song, we used to sing it among ourselves,” Amrit Gurung reminisces. “Since we loved the song very much, we wanted to record it.”

“Shyamsung had already recorded the song with his local band and was unwilling on the first request. But when I brought up the idea again, he permitted us to record it.

“Once we got the permission, we listened to the song once again. The then guitarist of the band, Naresh rearranged the song, infusing Nepathya’s flavour,” says Amrit Gurung. The new arrangement was both simpler and yet more evocative.

“I felt the new arrangement allowed for the words to flow with effortless ease and grace,” Amrit adds. “It touched the deeper chords of the heart.”

Particularly the refrain of the song – 'Yo Jindagani, Yo Jindagani' has come to become a quintessential part of Nepathya concerts, driving the audiences to frenzied participation.

“For a truly successful concert, it is very important to find ways to channelize audience participation. This song has been arranged in such a way that when we come to the refrain part, the music accommodates clapping and chorus, allowing the audience to sing along with us. This always enlivens the concerts.” Amrit said.

The song might be new for the new Nepathya audiences, but for those who grew up listening to Amrit’s songs, it is a cherished memory of the past. 

The audio-visuals of the song had been arranged earlier with the footage of reactions from differently-abled audiences from Khagendra Navajeevan Kendra, a Kathmandu based organisation. But the latest video is a compilation of raw footages from the last concert in 2020 just before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Nepathya has been using their YouTube channel www.youtube.com/nepathyaofficial to release new singles as well as re-launching previously released songs in the form of new videos - lyric videos and live videos.

The newly released video can be viewed through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXKLiPoeXsM

Photos: Dipit Raz