One is the small population, on top of that the whole market closes at 5:30 in the evening. While the capital of Tasmania, an Australian island near the continent of Antarctica, was deserted on Tuesday, a large crowd was dancing amid loud noises in one corner.
That place was the 110-year-old auditorium 'Odeon Theatre', where Nepathya was reciting Nepali folk songs. And, after two days, the famous British singer Bob Geldof is going to perform. In this year's series tour that started from Canberra, the central capital of Australia, after Perth in Western Australia and Brisbane in Queensland, Nepathya performed in Hobart in Tasmania.
The Nepali audience was dancing with joy in the full hall from the beginning, but the scene of many foreigners including Martin Hingins enjoying themselves was no less fun than that. From the beginning, Martin was seen standing right at the front of the stage, jumping and dancing to every song.
If the person who looks like a foreigner is a Nepali who looks like a foreigner, he went to the side and asked in English, 'Are you Nepali?' The answer came, 'No, I'm British . And, I have been working here in Australia for a few years.'
'How can you dance continuously for two hours without understanding the language?' He found it difficult to answer in the midst of the loud noise of the concert and noted down his mobile number saying that he would talk later.
Martin, who works at the famous museum 'Mona Museum' here, has been influenced by his Nepali friends who work at the same place. When he went to Nepal and stayed for two months, he liked the song 'Resham' very much.
'Even so, music is a universal language,' he responded on his mobile phone after the concert, 'besides that, when I saw that everyone was dancing from the beginning, I automatically went to support them.' He is interested in different people and their different cultures.
Lately, a significant number of Nepalis have been seen in Hobart and she said that she likes them. She said that she came to see the concert with four Australian friends who were as old as her, out of curiosity to know what Nepali music was like in the same meso. "It's fun," was his response.
The number of Nepalis is increasing in this provincial capital, the most peaceful in Australia. Local records show that Nepali has become the most spoken language after English in this province. Until a few years ago, the second most spoken language was Chinese, but after the immigration of Bhutanese refugees and the increase in the number of young people coming from Nepal, the number of Nepali speakers has surpassed Chinese.
'I got a chance to listen to Nepathya today for the first time in six years since I came to Australia,' Kanchan Aryal, a journalist who once worked in Kantipur Television, was saying, 'I heard Koshi's Pani and the song for the first time in fifty years today in a concert.' Kanchan came to the concert with his family from Launceston, which is two hours away by motor.
"Since Nepathya prepares songs based on research, I keep looking at what is new with this band," he was saying, "another remarkable aspect is the opinion expressed by singer Amrit on the social, political and cultural issues of Nepal." They were telling me to go home even if it was settled once. While singing from the villages, they were expressing their sorrow that the leaders who said they would change the country changed themselves. In the same way, Kanchan was equally touched when he said that 'because language remains our identity, we should preserve and expand this language for future generations'.
Local organizer Sajan Periyar was among the audience at Tuesday's concert. "It is a joy to see the audience enjoying themselves," he added, "organizing a Nepathya concert also gives you an opportunity to learn a lot." He arrived here from Britain only two weeks ago to visit his grandchildren and has seen Nepathya's concert many times before. "Even when I came here, it was a coincidence," he added, "this time it was just as fun." They were telling me to go to the country even if it was settled once. On the
stage, Amrit was assisted by Dhruv Lama on the drumset, Suvin Shakya on the bass guitar, Neeraj Gurung on the guitar, Shanti Rayamazhi on the Madal and Dineshraj Regmi on the keyboard. Apart from this team of artists, a 14-member team of managers and technicians is on the journey.
After Hobart, the band will sail from the island of Tasmania to the city of Adelaide. Nepathya's fifth concert will be held on March 21 at the Hindley Street Music Hall. Nepathya will be presented at the Festival Hall in Melbourne on March 24. After that, it will go to Sydney to organize the last show.
The tickets for the concert held on the evening of March 29 at the "Horden Pavilion" in Sydney, a city in the southern hemisphere of the earth, have been "sold out". After all the tickets for the show were sold out three weeks in advance, another show was added to honor the wishes of the audience. Now Nepathya will be presented on March 30 at the 5,500-capacity 'Hordon Pavilion' hall. After that, the band will return home.
