Kathmandu:

The programme that was washed out by the rains on October 20, was re-staged on October 29 at the Garden of Dreams , Kaiser Mahal.

A sizeable crowd had turned up for ‘Ramailo Saanjh with Aavaas’ presented by Infinity International in association with nepalaya.

Aavaas was introduced by poet Manjul: “The evening is beautiful so are the lit lanterns, the trees, the flowers, the grass... and to add to the already beautiful evening, we give you Aavaas.”

The singer dressed in his signature deep-blue kurta started the evening’s programme with Ambar Gurung’s number as a salute to his guru and mentor.

This set the tone for the evening.

Aavaas dug into his collection of unfamiliar and unrecorded (a few recorded) songs and attempted to win his audience’s and a handful of his fans’ hearts. As the evening wore on, the songs of unrequited love piled one on top of the other, one as sad as the other one, the second one sounding similar to the first one...

Yet the audience perked up at his Oh Tenzing, maile yo prem ko pahad kahile nanghne hola (Oh, Tenzing, when will I be able to climb this mountain of love?). This number was well received perhaps because it was different in beat and tune (though not in theme), from the previous ones.

His composition of a Pakistani poet’s work was also well received. Introducing it as “a geet (song) set in the ghazal-style”, Aavaas was able to put a soulful strain to the words Ab kya dekhen raaha tumhari, beet chuki hai raat, chhodo, chhodo gham ki baat, beet chuki hai raat...

Credit goes to the singer for interspersing his performance with a little information about the songs that he was singing like Srawan Mukarung’s Lampost, among others. Though it was supposed to be a ramailo saaanjh (enjoyable evening) with Aavaas, one cannot say it was ramailo for everyone who had come — perhaps the sharp chill should be blamed for taking away the enjoyment as it has made sitting out in the open in the late evenings quite a torture.