Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu:

My musical roots are in Nepali classical, and Nepali folk, but I also play everything from jazz, Celtic to kirtan. My philosophy is think not what music can do for you, but what you can do for the music. So I’m just trying to bring good music to everyone.” — Manose Singh

Manose’s hometown, Boudha, Nepal stands on the ancient route leading from the Himalayan mountains down into the Kathmandu valley. It is just upriver from Nepal’s most holy Hindu temple and is home itself to an important Buddhist shrine. An influx of Tibetan refugees who naturally congregated around the great Boudhanath shrine, and the outward growth of Kathmandu city has created there a nexus where everyone from religious pilgrims, to rowdy enclaves of traders and Western adventurers converge to meet, mingle, haggle and gawk. Typical of crossroads the world over, it is dusty and colorful, a Babylon of languages and traditions.

It was here that eight-year-old Manose fell in love with the bamboo flute one night, when a fortuitous breeze wafted its song through his bedroom window. Truly, the sound of the bansuri is seductive. Compared to a silver flute it has a resonating quality that seems to actually penetrate the listener. And because it is not valved like a silver flute, its potential for subtle expressiveness is practically limitless. We can understand therefore, young Manose’s instant infatuation. He purchased a two-rupee flute from a street hawker and began to carry it with him in his school bag where it vied for space with his favorite sling shot. His real relationship with music began, however, when Manose heard about an old man who played haunting music on the shehnai. That man, Madan Dev Bhatta, a disciple of Ustad Bishmilallah Khan, initiated Manose into the study of classical raga music, often known as North Indian classical music.

At the same time, Manose began to collect cassettes by flute maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia. To augment the lessons he was getting from Bhatta, Manose would play the cassettes again and again, trying to copy what he heard, often practicing five or six hours a day. “I wanted to learn,” says Manose. “I wanted to have something.” Now, as a performer in a variety of genres from raga, to Nepali folk, to fusion rock, his sound, Manose has matured into something at once virile, tender, and playful. From the demanding study of raga music, he has acquired technical mastery and an astonishing ability to improvise. At the same time, we find him wonderfully free to draw inspiration from wherever he finds it, be it the swaying sweetness of a samba, or the lightening fast lines of Celtic masters. When asked what or who has had the greatest musical influence on his playing, he thinks for a moment and says “the sound of the flute.”

Manose is widely recognised as Nepal’s premiere flautist and is the recipient of national awards including Instrumentalist of the Year. And even while living in the United States, he still manages to be a vital part of the music scene back home. His debut music video airs regularly on Nepali TV, he is a member of one of the county’s most popular pop bands and last year he performed in Nepal’s first jazz festival where he shared the stage with Australian great Don Burrows. In USA, Manose performs and records with the likes of Grammy-nominated fusion artist Jai Uttal, The Chicago Children’s Choir, singers Krishna Das and Deva Premal, tabla maestro Swapan Chowdary, and blue grass great Peter Rowan. He is also a member of the New Maihar Band, an ensemble created by living legend Ali Akbar Khan. He has performed in Canada, France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, and Malaysia and most recently in Australia where he toured with 1974AD — Nepal’s most famous rock band. Currently Manose has been preparing new material with the drummer from the famous band The Doors.

‘An Evening with Manose’ will be hosted at Patan Museum at 7 pm on 29 April. This will be Manose’s only solo concert in Nepal this year before he returns to San Francisco on 1 May 2005. The purpose of the concert is to benefit the Kirateshwor Sangeet Ashram. Tickets are available at East Meets West Music, Thamel, just dial 4256411.