Kathmandu: Get ready to groove to the music from different genres, from 80’s retro to rock, pop to contemporaries, including Bollywood and Nepali numbers. Initiative International is all set to rock the Valley with one of the most awaited concerts of the year — Women In Concert (WIC) Part V. Along with Abhaya Subba, Preeti Kaur, Yankey Ongmu Lepcha, Rachana Gurung, Sheri Thapa and DJ Payal who are not only regular participants at the concert but also established personas in their careers, few new aspiring singers are performing in the concert too. New na-mes in the list of performers this year are Arati Gurung, Salini Lama, Ayesha Giri, Bandana Tamang and Stuty Maskey.

The concert is organised each year to encourage aspiring female artistes to perform with professional artistes. Certain amount of the proceeds generated from the event will be contributed to Sewa Kendra Leprosy Relief at Gaushala. The concert will be followed by a dance session with DJ Payal who will be presenting her techno and house mixes. Women In Concert Part V will take place at Hotel Yak and Yeti from 7 pm onwards on October 5. The event is being sponsored by Tuborg, co-sponsored by Qatar Airways, VLCC and Jolly. Official print media for the event is The Himalayan Times.

Here we introduce you two of the new participants of the concert. — HNS

Salina Tamang

Salina Tamang, a social worker involved in sexual health rights and human rights programmes for sexual minorities in Nepal. Except for a few performances during her college days she has not performed for a large-scale audience.

Participation in WIC

She had heard about it last year and this year when Sheri Thapa approached her she could not say no. “After all it was about women empowerment and for a noble cause and I am proud to be a part of it,” says Tamang.

No catty behaviour Being in an event where all participants are of the fairer sex, female bonding is stronger. “When there are a group of girls working for something people generally expect them to cat fight but that’s not true, we get along like a house on fire and have great time practicing,” she says. “We are worried that once the programme is over we wont be seeing each other so often,” she adds.

Stuty Maskey

Presently working in the marketing department of APCA Nepal, Stuty Maskey learnt Indian classical for almost two years. Highly inspired by Lata Mangeshkar, this is the first time Stuty will be performing in front of a large audience.

About WIC

She had heard about the concert but never thought of participating in it. When she came to know that this time the organisers are keen to have Hindi songs as well she decided to give it a try as it is also for a social cause.

Experience of lifetime

“The experience is thrilling. Performing along with talented people and sharing the stage with them feels great. The concert will give me an experience of a lifetime and the joy of performing in front of huge audience. But what makes it better is the thought that I will be contributing to society through it,” says Maskey. She adds that spending time with other artistes has been wonderful.