Musical New Year’s Eve Celebration At Hotel Annapurna 

By Mannu Shahi

With the New Year just around the corner performers and venues are swamped with preparation for a memorable night. Announcements of big banner concerts featuring big musical events under the same banner are flooding through social media platforms to lure in more participation. Foods, drinks, dance, after party and many such attractions are strategically placed to affirm a good time for a very inclusive spectrum of attendees. One such event is – The Biggest New Year’s Eve Party 2080: Lights All Night – taking place at Hotel Annapurna on April 13, 2023. 

Presented by Kajane Events in collaboration with Nepa Music and other partners including Foodmandu, Realme, Vianet, E- Sewa, Jammy’s Bubble Tea, Radio Nagarik and Republica, the concert features a trilogy of colossal groups Sabin Rai & The Pharaoh, Mukti & Revival and Pariwartan. Additional features include an after party with DJ and dance, themed stage, LED screens and immersive lighting, indoor games, special countdown and more. 

The Sabin Rai & The Pharaoh are a pop rock arena rock quintet led by Sabin Rai featuring Binod Lama Tamang on drums, Jeevan Lama on bass, Nikesh KC and John Shrestha on guitars. This group is one of the popular band of contemporary Nepali pop culture with a packed schedule of shows throughout the year. On their recent Facebook post, the band listed their upcoming show dates: April 12 at Herald College, Kathmandu, April 13 at Annapurna, April 15 at Yomgo River Festival, Arunachal Pradesh of India; April 16 at The Tribe By Hi Spirits, Siliguri of India and April 17 at Fikkal Bazar of Ilam.

Similarly, the co-headliner for the night is none other than the blues rock icon Mukti & Revival led by Mukti Shakya on vocals and guitars. The band is comprised of Sunit Kansakar on guitar, Roshan Kansakar on bass and Nikhil Tuladhar on drum. Formed in 1992 the band has had its fair share of line-up changes yet remained stagnant with the current stack of members for nearly a decade now. The quartet believes in creating sweet blues chemistry by sharing their intertwined notes and spaces with each other as music makers and brothers. Aside from touring many cities within Nepal, the band has also graced their musical presence on global stage in countries including USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, UK, India and UAE among others. 

The opening performance for the event are Pariwartan who have been active as a prominent cover group in the Thamel Music scene since 2008. The band published its debut single “Ma Chhu” in July 2020, which garnered a very affirmative reaction and last month in March 2023 they released their seventh pop single “Tha Chhaina”. Led by the founding member and bass player Deepak Gurung. The band with many member changes has finally resolved with this line-up of Gopi Shrestha on vocal and guitar, Pravesh Thapa Magar on guitar and Yugal Shahi on drum. The group continues to perform live cover music set nearly six days a week in many venues across the valley while juggling writing and composing their original material with such ease. 

The show is scheduled to start from 6 pm onwards and the tickets for the event are available at Esewa at Rs. 1000 per entry. Ticket pre-booking is required as they will not be available at the entrance door.