Heartfelt reflections, with tender tunes and impactful lyrics — that’s the kind of music Nepali singer-songwriter and musician Ankit Shrestha has come to be known for. After many years in the US and UK, when the talented artist returned to the subcontinent, having gained extensive busking experience, he became an immediate favourite with his indie/folk sensibilities.
Having visited India only a handful of times before, Ankit, now a sophomore album old, is headed to the country with a guitar in his hand and hope in his voice to connect and learn much about the crowd. With the tour spread across the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, alongside cities like Gangtok and Siliguri, the crooner gets candid with us ahead of his show in Benglauru. He opens up about the highlights we can expect from his show, how travel and busking in different cities and countries influenced his songwriting and why the guitar has always been his companion.
Ankit, this is your first tour across India. How are you feeling as you head into the first show in the city?
I always wanted to come to India and connect with people there and there should be more people collaborating and connecting India and Nepal. India is a big market! I sing in English and Nepali both and these days people are accepting and listening to other languages as well. Also, India is so diverse. There are so many languages inside the country and there is a Nepali audience as well! So, we planned to target the Northeast (since many Nepali-speaking Indians live there) alongside the metros like Bengaluru, which also has a big Nepali-speaking crowd. So, that’s how everything came about.
What can we expect from your shows?
We have both Nepali and English songs, but we’re trying to focus more on English songs. There’ll be some old ones, some new and we’ll be travelling as a trio band. Sarin Bajracharya will be playing the drums and Aman Karna is playing the keys and guitar. I’ll be playing guitar and singing as well. In the Northeast it looks like it’ll be more mellowed down, like an intimate café kind of setup.
A highlight or hook you plan during the show?
I feel like a lot of people know me from the The Underwater Song that I released in 2013. That was the first actual song that I released as a solo artiste and a lot of people, whenever I play that song, like seeing the fingerstyle, lap-tapping rhythms.
You recently released your sophomore album Naya Din and had a successful Nepal tour with hundreds showing up. How have you approached your songwriting on different subjects?
With every song I try to write about something different. Most of them are pretty personal, talking about relationships with people. Some of the songs are also derived from the fact that I moved a lot. I moved to the US about 15 years ago and I lived there for 10 years. Even inside the US, I’ve moved around a lot before moving to London. One of my Nepali songs, Anaginti Aatma talks about what it feels like to actually move to a new city. I feel like a lot of people relate to that song because every day, there are many Nepalis leaving their families and going abroad to study or work. I feel like a lot of my songs also bring being hopeful as a recurrent theme. I feel it’s like therapy when I’m writing and trying to express.
Your relationship with the guitar is quite intimate. How has it evolved over the years and how integral is it to your songwriting process?
I’ve been playing the guitar since I was nine years old. So, it has always been there for me. It’s like a companion. Earlier, when I was growing up in Kathmandu, when there used to be a lot of 16-hour power outages a day, the guitar would always be there and I could just pick it up and play. Whenever I’m writing songs, the first thing I do is pick up the guitar because that’s what I’m most comfortable with. And even in terms of writing, if I find a chord progression or a guitar riff, if it gives me chills, only then do I go ahead with a melody using my voice. Only after that do I write something.
Going forward, how do you want to approach your new original tracks?
I really want to explore traditional instruments from Nepal and do a fusion with my kind of music. Like my voicals, guitar and a traditional percussion and maybe a sarangi and a bansuri.
INR 499 onwards. November 14, 9 pm onwards. Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Koramangala.
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