SREYOSHI GUHA THAKURTA
CALL FROM THE HILLS-
THE NEPAL GYPSY JAZZ FEST
G
ypsy jazz is a very strange genre of music to stumble
upon- it is more of a lifestyle, than a musical style.
It is packed with strange harmonies and it is quite
a feat to keep up with the fast rhythm. This music, which
originally hails from India, after travelling all over Europe
and the rest of the western world, has found its newest
heroes closer home, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The Nepal Gypsy Jazz Fest held in Kathmandu every year
likes to take a leap of faith and shatter all stereotypes by
bringing together gypsy jazz played in different techniques
and styles from all across the world. The man behind this
seven day long festival is Hari Maharjan. With no formal
training as such, Hari started playing music at a very
young age but never thought he would become the face of
gypsy jazz in South-East Asia.
“I didn't choose gypsy jazz, it just happened to me!” says
Hari, recalling how he would listen to Django Reinhardt
and Stéphane Grappelli on mix tapes he would get from
friends, without even knowing what he was listening to
back then! Soon after his shift from rock music to gypsy
jazz, he started incorporating Nepali folk in his music and
gave it his own touch. This was exactly what prompted him
to start The Nepal Gypsy Jazz Fest on his own, without any
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financial support from anybody. The festival kicks off in the
first week of April every year.
He sees this fest as a melting pot for gypsy jazz styles and
techniques spread all across the globe. Musicians and
music lovers, not only from Nepal and India, but from
France, Amsterdam, Germany and USA, come together and
celebrate gypsy music in their own ways.
Additionally, the musicians also head various workshops
and cater to the ones who want to incorporate the gypsy
style to their specific genre of music, or have just picked up
a guitar to learn the gypsy way. Notable figures in the gypsy
jazz circuit such as Irene Ypenburg, John Rijsdijk, Daniel
Givone, Jérémeie Pellaz turn up at the festival every year.
A typical day in the fest would start with you finding
musicians, who might not even know each other’s style or
way of playing gypsy jazz, jam together. The day ends with
everybody playing together new pieces they have picked up
during the course of the day- moulding it in their own style.
Hari says that this cultural exchange that manifests itself
through the interaction of music is everything he stands
for when it comes to this fest. He believes that music is a
way of discovering self and others around you- it has no
boundaries and one can never stop learning.