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Truth Be Told

A young trio sets out to help people share their experiences through music

By AKSHAY SHARMA

"This is not a commercial album, but rather a conceptual one. It is based on real stories of Nepalis here and abroad. Before the song starts, there is a narration by the person who is the story teller," says Dipesh Shrestha, one of the originators of Yathartha (The Truth). "Some of the songs are old and have hit the charts before."

Asked what concept drives Yathartha, Dipesh adds, "The peopleís love for a song varies. One doesn't understand the same song in the same way another person does."

Naresh Dev Pant, who has been writing songs for Navin Bhattarai, has penned the lyrics in the album. "All the songs are of real lives of the people and friends I have met." Naresh told SPOTLIGHT. "What I have tried to do is observe their feelings and put them into words."

"We chose this as the right time to launch the album. It took us nearly seven years to compile all the little details," Naresh says.

"We traveled to so many places around Nepal, from the east to the west," says Bipin Sthapit. "Mostly places like Chitwan, Pokhara, Dharan, Dhankuta and most parts of eastern Nepal."

Dipesh, a radio jockey with Hits FM, provides the narration in the album and Bipin gives the background music.

This is the first venture of the trio. Dinesh says they had to cross several hurdles, "We were trying to find out what happens in real life and itís hard to categorize peopleís lives because everybody is different. And we definitely had problems in putting them in the album. We spent sleepless nights, got caught by the police during the time we were focused on the project."

"We were painting on the walls for publicity of the album at night in Kathmandu. Perhaps because of security reasons we were caught. But they let us out after understanding what we were doing," Naresh says.

"We were confused at first when we first finished recording the album. And the dilemma of whether to release it or not, whether it was the right time and things like these badgered down," Naresh says. "Music can make a person laugh, cry and we have to come to the reality that music plays an integral part in a personís emotions. We tried to take this element to its peak and we rehearsed for it."

"This album is not for people with weak hearts," Dipesh says. "We interviewed people from the ages between 15 and 50 before beginning the project."

"The response we received was of immense value to us," Naresh says. "We took some people to listen to our music. It was strange to see a 28-year-old man cry. One girl tried to slash her wrist and nearly committed suicide. We found out later that her boyfriend was a married man. And she hadnít known it for so long."

"When the girl listened to our album she turned to me and said, ëThere are so many people like me in this world.í She realized that she was not alone," Naresh says.

"We have a website (www.Yathartha.com) for people to share their real-life experiences with us. And we will share it with the world through our songs, be it through music or words," Dipesh says.

"This is not a type of music to listen, it is for people to feel," Dipesh adds. "We tried to put the feelings into painting by well-known artists like Ashok Man Singh. And people can see the form and characteristics of what we mean to say."

"It was in Baisakh 2050 that we met and started on the project because our thought harmonized," Bipin says. "We wanted to give something to society. We wanted to present through music and used it as a medium to what society has given to us."

"Society was the inspiration and the world was the theme," says Naresh, explaining the motivation that drove the Yathartha team.

"Listen to Yathartha, because it might be your own story," Bipin says. "We are planning to print T- shirts and give them to beggars, street children and other people who cannot afford to buy clothes."

The album features singers Navin Bhattarai, Chering Bhutia, Sukmeet Gurung, Promod Upadhaya, Saroj Dutta, Gunu Rajbhandari and a new artiste, Jitendra Maharjan.

"It is a well-known fact that if you share joy, it will increase. But try sharing sorrow," Naresh adds. "Laugh, and the world will laugh with you. And cry, you cry alone. But we want to keep on sharing peopleís real-life experiences. Reality can never be hidden. By sharing the thoughts, we have put forth something we hope people will be learn from."