Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 25

Shanti — An Art for Hope Project’ was launched in March last year at the Nepal Art Council. The project, a collaboration between the Siddhartha Art Gallery and World Peace Propagation Forum (WPPF), was a multi-faceted programme that included a video presentation, paintings and poetry by 400 Nepali children.

On January 25, the organisers announced that the project was now shaping into its next stage. A musical concert featuring some of the top music artistes of Nepal such as Nabin K Bhattarai, Deepak Bajracharya, Karna Das, 1974 AD, Aastha Band, Karma Band, Sunil Bardewa, Nalina Chitrakar, Anil Singh, Lochan Rijal, Raman Shrestha and Nirwan Music Link will be held on March 13 at the Dashrath stadium. The concert has been aptly named ‘Sangetik Itihaas 2060: Malai Shanti Chaheko Chha’ (I want peace).

These artistes will be singing songs that were penned as poetry by the children on ‘Peace’. “We are doing what we can to realise the children’s dreams in various forms,” said Hari Dhakal, president, WPPF.

“Children’s words are sometimes more powerful than that of adults,” said Sangeeta Thapa, director of Siddhartha Art Gallery. “They can tell of the effect that the violence in the country has had on them. To have words that they wrote sung by famous artistes is a big encouragement. They will feel that they are an agent for change and we have to believe in our children.”

The artistes have selected the songs from a book ‘Children’s Manifesto for the Peace’, a collection of selected works from the ‘Shanti: An Art for Hope Project’. Most of the artistes composed the songs themselves and they shared, “To know that even students of class four felt the difficulties of the country was an eye-opener. These songs are not our songs nor are they the children’s only. They are songs that speak for the nation, that gives voice to its citizens.”

Raman Shrestha, one of the artistes, shared that they felt these songs were better than songs in their own album numbers. Soon these tracks will hit the air. The funds raised from the concert will be utilised in building a park for children with a memorial monument for those children who were victims of violence.