Jazzmandu

I was lucky in that the annual jazz festival, Jazzmandu, was taking place the same time as I was back in the Kathmandu area. Not ony that, but there was a concert in Patan the evening of my first day here. It took place in the courtyard of the Patan Museum, a spectacular setting.
The band was Condenza, and it experimented with fusing Eastern music with Western jazz.
A funny thing was that when they were setting up the stage, and all the lights were up, the power went out. Boom! Total darkness. It came back on, but it started you wondering about how the concert was going to go. Actually, it was fine. After the first set, just as they finished saying they were going to take a break - boom! Darkness again. Talk about timing.
The music was a really cool mix of east and west. There were Indian style musicians seated in front - sitar, drums etc - and jazz musicians on either side. There was a famous Nepali singer who sang in the classic Indian style, but would sometimes modulate is voice differently so it had a slightly more western style rythm that matched the saxophones. Very cool. By the end, it was like a big jam session with the musicians all trying different things.