Entertainment
Music at Gothale
A musical performance marked the end of the first drama staged at Gothale TheatreThe theatre, which has been running regular shows of Shilpee Theatre group’s surrealist drama Coma—A Political Sex at its premises for the better part of the past month, bid adieu to its first stage play as Monday’s musical evening marked the end of the staging of Coma. Adhikari and Chamling, who gave the drama its musical score, performed songs from the play, beginning with Sustari, Sustari.
With only the rhythm of their acoustic guitar accompanying their voices, the duo gave an entertaining performance, rendering the strange lyrics of the song—penned by playwright Kumar Nagarkoti—a charm that, although difficult to comprehend, was outlandishly interesting.
It was a fitting conclusion to the first drama staged at a theatre that has been named after the noted playwright and litterateur Govinda Bahadur Malla, ‘Gothale’, who was the mind behind such masterpieces as Pallo Gharko Jhyal, Bhussko Aago, Prem Ra Mrityu and Chyatiyeko Parda.
Adhikari, a former pupil of Nagarkoti’s, went on to sing the songs Masaan Ghat and Pidako Upatyaka, both of which were penned by the latter. “I had never thought that I would get to sing songs written by my favourite teacher in school,” he said as he addressed the audience. “This has been a wonderful experience for me, a few moments of bliss, if you will.”
The singer also performed a few Hindi and Urdu songs upon request from audience members. Camila, a theatre artist from Denmark who has worked with Shilpee Theatre in recent days, also performed two original songs during the concert.
Ghimire Yubaraj, artistic director of Shilpee Theatre spoke about the group’s decision to end one of its plays with a musical concert. “We were taking up something extremely experimental when we decided to do Coma,” he said.
“We had not thought of ending it with a musical note but the audience loved the musical portions of the drama and we felt like we simply had to give the songs, its writer and its musicians their due by dedicating the final show to them.”