Music is an
art. It is a bond that connects every emotion on the earth without any
language. Just an arrangement of sounds and it speaks a lot more than millions
of words. At the time when western music was rocking the K-town and an overwhelming
number of music lovers, they came up with a different style by fusing
traditional music with modern instruments. The music they embrace is so
beautiful that they never fail in touching a listener’s heart. With the slogan
‘East meets west’ this instrumental band has pulled the strings of many hearts.
They are the band of 7 and are named as Saptak, the 7 souls.
Nagendra
Bikram Rai, Paras Mani Subedi, Hemanta Maharjan, Sanjay Maharjan, Naresh
Prajapati, Sabin Munikar and Nhuchhe Raja Munikar are the charmers of this band
with Lujaw Singh as their band manager. They play different forms of music:
fusion, folk, and modern. Hence, they are very versatile and perform relevant
music forms according to the type of event. This is one of their best
characteristic; fast track on events and parties, peppy and catchy songs in
concert, Newari rhythms during Newar festival and so on. They often play
instrumental on different popular music; however, they do have their own
compositions as well. Some of their highly appreciated own compositions are St.
Thomas and Saptak mix melody Stockholm composition. These are really melodious
and good for ears. They are in the course of releasing their album.
Saptak, as
said before is a fusion of western and eastern music including particularly
Newari musical instrument. Nagendra Bikram Rai plays Flute, Naresh Prajapati plays Dholak
and Madal, Nhuchhe Raja Munikar plays
Madal and Kheen(newari instrument which is like madal but larger in size),
Paras Mani Subedi plays Tabala and Djembe(
African instrument), Sanjay Maharjan adds effect with wind chime, jhyali, symbols, rain stick, and ocean drum and Sabin
Munikar and Hemanta Maharjan play violin.
The co-ordination of these instruments mesmerizes every heart they reach.
They justify their slogan: ‘East Meet West’ indeed.
This five
year old band actually started with its first four members: Sanjay Maharjan,
Naresh Prajapati, Sabin Munikar and Nhuchhe Raja Munikar. They used to play particularly
flute and other instruments during different social programs. During one of
these programs, they happened to meet Lujaw Singh, who offered the idea of
forming a band and throwing a concert but due to some problems and lack of time,
they couldn’t do so. However, four of them had performed on WTC during seminar
program and were able to win hearts right away. Naresh then thought of adding
another group member by welcoming his friend Nagendra Bikram Rai into the gang.
Gradually they needed another member for additional effect and charmin their
music, thus Paras Mani Subedi got into the band. And eventually, Sabin Munikar
introduced his friend, Hemanta Maharjan to the group and thus ended up with a
magnificent group of seven souls. Because this idea of band was introduced by
Lujaw Singh he was the one to baptize the band as Saptak, the 7 souls and hence
he is acknowledged as the band manager as well as the founder of the Saptak.
Seven souls
first chorused their instruments on the occasion of Mahashivratri Nite 2007. It was Saptak’s first live performance
ever after the band formation. They were the only instrumental band among
various other bands present. They were also the last to perform that night but
they sure were not the least. Audience failed to show hints of interest at
first as Saptak was going to perform instrumental unlike other bands that had
vocalist and rocking music. But as the music of Saptak reached its peak,
audience couldn’t help thumping their feet and moving their bodies along with
the flow of music. Sanjay Maharjan tells that it was really a great feeling to
perform in front of a huge enthusiastic mass that night.
They have
performed in many grand events after that. Some of the events where Saptak has
enchanted the audience are: Miss Newa
2010, Aba ko Nepal, Pulchowk street festival, Holi-2068(at 1905), A night of hope, walk of fame (by movers
and shakers), Photokipa 2012, and N-cell purple day 9th Durbar Marg
street festival namely. The band sure has won many hearts through these
events. It has also presented its music to various charity events as like Summer Bash Mega Event-2010,Dhulikhel, Tehbal Dashain Festival,and Basantapur Dashain Dhamaka 2011. Every
event, where Saptak has ever performed, is highly captivated by their music. And
the demand is ever rising. Today, most of the event in the valley is overflowing
with Saptak’s music.
Beyond
Saptak, every member has their own routine life. Some are professionally into
music while some are involved in other professions. Nagendra is a music instructor
at Arco Music Institute and works as flutist in a music studio. Similarly, Sabin
is a violin instructor at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory and he also has his own
violin institute where he tutors the young violinists. Paras is a music teacher
in Occidental Public School. And Naresh can be found at Bhojan Griha during
evening as he plays live there. Apart from this he is also one of the board
members of Anshura credit and co-operative Ltd. Hemanta is a Graphic and
webpage designer in Code Pixel Media. He is also designing the webpage for
Saptak Band as well, that is currently under construction at the moment. Nhuchhe
Raja has been working with World Vision Project lately. Sanjay is an event
co-coordinator for Nepalese Fashion Home and is also a scout. He is known as "Scout ko sir" in schools like:
Dallu Awasiya Higher Secondary School and Intensive Boarding School. Lujaw
Singh, the band manager, is a photographer and a videographer. An international
exhibition of his photography is in process.
 |
| Saptak performing live at Ncell 9th Durbar Marg Street Festival |
Well, they
sure are busy men, aren’t they? But the music flows in their heart and soul.
And even with such a busy timetable they all take out their time for Saptak. At
the beginning, they used to rehearse at Nhuchhe Raja’s Home at Nardevi, and
then they moved their practice sessions to Jyatha. Currently they practice in Sabin’s
violin institute at Lazimpat. There are also times when they can't manage and
maybe that’s one reason why, audience missed Hemanta during their performance
in Photokipa. However, the band has a great teamwork and has an ability to
cover each other’s absence. That’s why, they have been together as close
buddies for 5 years and unlike other bands they have been successfully winning
hearts without any differences and grudges among the group members.
Everything
has its own good and bad aspect. Nobody’s perfect as they say, everything has a
flaw. Saptak is a unique and united band with good-looking members. However they
require more cheerful faces. Fans have been commenting over social networks
like facebook that smile is the missing factor in their performance. They have
a very distinctive kind of music and outstanding performance but what they need
is just a curve around a face known as smile. However, Saptak’s music is really
outstanding. The music is really appreciated and loved by the audience.
Saptak’s music has a power to bring charm people and make them thump their feet
with the music.
Saptak is a
promising five-year old band with enthusiastic and good-looking musicians. A
team of seven close buddies has been touching hearts of K-town through various
events and planning to continuously out more of their originals in the coming
days. Their choice of music according to the event is also a plus point. The
other best part of this band is they are really down to earth and polite. Despite
the presence of huge and great bands in the country, they dare to show their
talent rather through their confidence than experience. They did prove
themselves to rise up and yes, they are rising. The fusion of eastern music and
western instruments is really worth listening to. If you haven’t listened to
them, then you ought to. You can know about their upcoming event through their
events update in facebook fan page www.facebook.com/saptak7soul.
