1974 AD’s' On Air

'1974 AD' is no doubt one of the most popular bands in the country today but when it comes to releasing their album, it seems that they prefer to take their own time. Their seventh album On Air was supposed to be released a couple of months back and the halla created then by them had always been "very shortly" but it never saw the light of day! On the other hand, this very album was released in Germany at the Buntay Republic Festival in June 2006.

On Air is already in the market under the label of Santana Records however, '1974 AD' is scheduled to formally release it on January 5 at Moksh, Pulchowk together with a press release.

They say, "When we had released this album at the festival we had made a special cover design of the album. The reason behind the delay regarding its release in Nepal is because when we had a talk with Santana Records, we agreed to release it only after we complete the promos and the music videos. We were already done with the shooting for the video but since the director behind the making of it -- Simosh Sunuwar -- had not completed his work, we had to hold the release of the album in Nepal. The video has not been completed as yet! However, since we are already late, we do not want to hold it any longer and have decided to go ahead with the release of the album now."

They also inform us that the money collected from the CDs of On Air that were sold in Germany and a huge chunk of the proceeds collected from the shows they performed at while they were there have been passed on to a school in Bhotekoshi. The organizers who were responsible for the Buntay Republic Festival were here. "Some time back during August 2006, they were here and together with them we donated the money to the school," claims the AD's. Great gesture!

Anil Singh Makes A 2007 Headstart

Lately, Anil Singh has been keeping a low profile and he reasons that he chose to do so because of his involvement in his own personal affairs and work related to his fourth album. He says, "In 2006, I really was very inactive concerning my music. However, now I am back in business and very shortly I shall resume my work…my music!"

True to what he is saying, he will be leaving for India sometime during the second week of January for a concert in Shillong and Gauhati. Altogether, he has three solo programs fixed for which the dates have already been finalized. The first event is going to kick-start on January 28 followed by another one on January 29. The date for the last program has not been worked on as yet, as per information provided by Anil himself.

Besides this, he has also completed the recording of his fourth album. He informs, "There are altogether 10 songs on it, each of it varies from the other, and I did so as an experiment. The beats range from fast to slow, sentimental to funky and techno to hip-hop. As of now, talks regarding its release is going on with Music.com but nothing has been decided yet on paper. Anything can happen in the last moment and I may or may not release this album under the label of Music.com!" just to let you know his previous album 'Priyatama' was released under the banner of Samjhana Audio Video (SAV).

Butwal Gets Its Share Of Music

After entertaining the fans at the Industrial Trade Fare, Butwal, together with other well known artists, Hemanta Sharma is now in Rajapur, Bardia. Today, he shall be performing at a solo event organized by Lucky Dance Centre scheduled at Rajapur. Local artists from Bardia will also be sharing the limelight with him. "This is the first time that an event of this magnitude has been organized here," states Hemanta. He will be coming back to the capital on January 7.

Giving us more details of his earlier program held at Butwal he says, "Around 40,000 people attended the show on the day of the programs. The other artists who performed at this event with me were Suresh Adhikari, Badri Pangeni, Bhagwan Bhandari and Purushottam Neupane." He further informs, "Sugam Pokharel and Kamal Man Singh will be the highlights of the shows today and tomorrow at the Industrial Trade Fair. Sources from Butwal say that organizers are planning more events of this nature in the near future because of the tremendous response that they have received so far.

Maya Meri Maya, once again....

According to yesteryear pop star Sanjay Shrestha, veteran filmmaker Deepak Rayamajhi is all set to make a movie titled 'Maya Meri Maya'. Shedding more light on the matter, he states that the title of this movie has been taken from his song "Maya Meri Maya", which was a very popular song during its time. He says, "This flick is going to be directed and produced by Deepak Rayamajhi. One of the songs in this movie is going to be the same track i.e. "Maya Meri Maya" and the rest of the numbers will be composed by me." "Maya Meri Maya is a song included in the first album of Sanjaya Shrestha -- 'Mode'.

Recently, Sanjay has completed the composition for Raju Shah's movie 'Sapana Ko Naulo Sansar' and for Sovit Basnet's new movie. He mentions that his sixth album 'Timi Bina' under the name of 'Crossroads' will be released sometime during April this year; being released after a gap of five years. His last album was 'Jau Timi Jau'. "I am hopeful that today's youth are going to love the songs on 'Timi Bina' since I have incorporated music that they go for! The delay in the release of 'Timi Bina' is because I was busy with my personal work." shares Sanjay.

Since 1992, Sanjay has been releasing albums with the name of his one time band 'Crossroads'. A decade has already passed by since 'Crossroads' disbanded but Sanjay still prefers to use the name 'Crossroads'. When we asked him the reason for tagging the name Crossroads with his new music, he mentions, "The band members of 'Crossroads' as well as the band introduced me to the Music industry of Nepal. Now, though the band does not exist, I still have the sentiments and the emotional attachment to it. People do recognize me as an individual but I want the 'Crossroads' to be remembered for a long time. There was a time when I had thought of adding new members to the band and hit the road but so far nothing has been worked out!"

Middle Marsyangdi works to resume

Following written assurances by the government and the Maoists, the German-based consultants of the Middle-Marsyangdi hydropower project have given the green signal to resume its stalled works.

The Fischner JV – international consultant of the project – withdrew its suspension order on Friday paving way for the resumption of the project construction works, which were stalled a week ago.

All the eight contractors of the project had withdrawn their works citing threats by the pro-Maoist workers who reportedly compelled them to recognize their trade union by using intimidating and threatening tactics.

Soon after they suspended the works, the Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara wrote a letter stating that his party does not have any policy of threatening or using force against contractors or workers of the project. Similarly, the Home Ministry also issued a statement saying it would provide full security to the project workers.

Subsequently, the meeting held among the Nepal Electricity Officials, consultants and contractors on Thursday had decided to resume the project works. The decision was approved by the headquarters of the consultants, which is based in Germany, on Friday. Following this approval, the contractors have decided to resume works from Friday itself.

The 72 MW Middle Marsyangdi project is being financed by German government. Its completion has already been delayed by three years and its costs, too, have doubled due to the delay.

NWSC employees threaten to cut water supply of palace, PM’s residence

The protesting employees of Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) have warned that they will stop the supply of water to the Royal Palace, Singh Durbar, Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar, minister’s quarters and Birendra International Convention Center from Sunday afternoon protesting the government’s move of amending NWSC Act.

The employees have said that they will divert the water being supplied to these places to taps of general people.

Gopi Khadka, chairman of NWSC Employees’ Association, said, “It is shameful that the all-party government has come up with the most undemocratic decision by passing the controversial bill, which was held back even by the royal regime.”

The employees informed that unlike common consumers, who receive water supply from half-inch pipes at low pressure, the palace, Singh Durbar and the Prime Minister’s residence receive water from five-inch pipes at full pressure.

The water supply to most parts of the country was hit Friday due to the strike called by the employees of the NWSC against the government’s move to privatise water supply.

The employees of NWSC has been protesting the parliament’s decision to pass the NWSC (Third Amendment) Bill, that will entitle the government to handover the government-owned water distribution mechanism to a foreign company.

They have also decided to halt the office work on Sunday and organize protest programme across the country.

They have been protesting stating that pivatisation of water a basic human need, will make it costlier and splitting of NWSC will damage the water supply system.

Khadka further informed that water supply was halted during the office hours.

Members of the Joint Struggle Committee of the NWSC Employees’ Associations shouted slogans against the government’s privatisation drive, burnt the copies of the Bill to Amend the NWSC Act and locked the NWSC office on Friday.

The amendment is a part of reform package under the Melamchi Water Supply Project. With the amendment the NWSC will cede control of Kathmandu valley’s water supply system to the recently registered Kathmandu Valley Water Limited in turn will contact out the management of the system to UK firm.

On Saturday, a struggle committee is presenting an appeal to the Speaker of the House of Representaitves, asking for repeal of the amendment, Khadka added.