This week I spent hours listening to Robin n’ Looza, who perhaps are one of my favourite Nepali bands of all time. Memories of little Astha listening and singing along to Robin n’ Looza make me so emotional 🕯.
Released in 1998, I had the ‘Nepal’ album on cassette, and I must have listened to each song on the album thousands of times on my Sony Walkman :). My sweet Pooja didi, would send me care packages all the way from Kathmandu to Canada, and the cassettes and CDs she would send over became the foundation of most of my music inspiration in my teenhood, especially once I started writing songs. Over the years, I had collected all three Robin n’ Looza records which I listened to religiously. Robin dai’s presence was mesmerizing #NasaDya , his lyrical phrasing of Nepali words were particularly quirky and Looza’s musical chemistry had sparked a wave of creativity that our generation felt so deeply inspired by.
Pooja didi was the main source of my connection to all the amazing and creative people I would later meet in 2008 including Looza ko dai haru. Robin n’ Looza’s songs are so special to me, especially because I never would have expected in a million years ki, I would grow up to record my debut album “Sabai Thikai Huncha” in their studio Rec Records bhanera 🤯. So many memories of 19 year old me learning about songwriting basics and music business with Rizu dai, recording instruments with Sunit dai, sitting through hours of loadshedding while mixing with Sharad dai, and learning how to play in a trio with Prajol dai…crazy how life works out, hai?
Track 6 on the album, the song ‘Nepal’, is one of my favourites to sing when I’m by myself. I used to plug my mic into my guitar amp, jack up the reverb, and entertain myself for hours with power chords lol (the only chords I knew how to play at the time 😛). The joy of singing for no one but yourself is really something—a part of myself that I have been reconnecting with these days. Sharing my rendition of this beautiful song with you today.
Listen to the original here:
