Together For Mental Health—Inside City Gigs, a music campaign spearheaded by the pop-rock band Mental Radio, is slated to kick off this Friday. The tour will start with a show at Old School Bar & Pub, in Dhobighat, and will then travel to major music venues around Kathmandu and Pokhara such as Moksh, Reggae bar, Sports Hive, the Attic, and Krazy Gecko Bar and Rest Nepal, in Pokhara, among others. 

The three-month long tour, according to the organisers, focuses on raising awareness on the issues of Mental Health and puts forward the band’s involvement and activities in this sector. 

Mental Radio started-out as a cover band established in the year 2010, before transitioning into making their own music. The band’s first album in Nepali was released in August last year. Although they call themselves a pop-rock band, Mental Radio’s music spans across a variety of genres. 

Although their chief meeting point is music, the band has been working in the field of public health, especially towards mental health awareness. “It is the band’s belief that mental health issues have not received the platform, or the visibility, it requires due to the social stigma attached to it,” informed Prabin Maharjan, the band’s manager. “People are having difficulty coping and getting on with their lives resulting in stress, fear, anxiety and depression. Mental Radio believes the only way to counter the stigma of mental illness is to make more people talk about their mental problems and acknowledge it.” 

The Mental Health ensemble comprises of Garima Gurung (on vocals), Iman Bikram Shah (guitars and backing vocals), Nischal Gurung (guitar), Sanjog Pradhan (percussion), Ashim ‘Funky’ Tamang (on bass and backing vocals), and Niraj Baraili (on guitars). 

Previously, the band carried out a music and movement therapy sessions in three schools in Kathmandu. As part of the programme, the band, in coordination with psychiatrists and volunteers, helped the ninth-graders learn about mental well-being through a variety of musical games and activities. 

The upcoming three-month long musical tour will draw to a close with a gig featuring a host of other bands and artists at Lainchaur Ground on October 10.