Singer-songwriter Shiva Mukhiya describes how, thirty years ago, the concerts were unprofessional and a hangout spot for drug users and gang disputes. The notorious audience used to bring weapons inside their bags. Many concertgoers have even lost their lives during the concert. He is amazed by the changes in concert culture from then to now.
Back then, the artists used to perform mainly cover songs by western artists in the concert. It was evident that they did not have any motivation to create original songs. Moreover, the audiences too were not conscious of various genres of songs. They would attend the concerts without considering the performing artists’ genre of music.
“But now things are different,” says Mukhiya. “People just go to watch the artist of their choice. The crowds at concerts are dispersed according to the genre they like.” And today’s crowds are very decent in comparison to the past, he adds.
Thriving concert culture
After all these years in music, Mukhiya is happy to see the concerts becoming more and more professional each day. He says the companies, through their professionalism, have drastically changed the shape of concerts.
“Earlier only the youngsters, to meet their passion, used to organise concerts. They always used to bear losses from the concert and run away during the time of payment.”
Regarding concerts, currently, the technology, management, professionalism, crowd, venue and payment, everything has improved significantly.
The other thing in the concert that surprises Mukhiya is the presence of the female audience. The number of female audiences is more than the number of males, he says.
Concerts have been a place for Mukhiya to observe the sociological change in society.
Mukhiya’s band The Axe was formed in 1992. Since then many bands have shown their presence but most of them were as ephemeral as mayflies. But The Axe remained consistent with their music. The band kept giving music and performing in the shows. The songs namely Lukna Deu Malai, Euta Chitti, Timi Ko Hau and others are their massive hits, which are performed even today in restaurants and other musical spaces.
Consistency in music
Many people are still in wonder about how the band has consistently produced great tunes one after another. So what’s the secret behind their consistency?
“We did not expect to make much money from the music,” says Mukhiya. “This is the main factor driving us to make music for three decades.”
I can’t afford to be rich. The more money you will have, the more trouble you will have to face adds Mukhiya. Being overambitious towards the financial aspects causes disbanding of the band.
Moreover, creativity has always been Mukhiya’s priority. He loves writing and composing songs rather than anything else. Mukhiya’s biggest dream is to make people listen to his songs.
It’s not that Mukhiya has never been pressured to earn by doing something except music. He too had been through pressure and he tried his luck in the British Army twice, but couldn’t succeed. He tried to be in the British Army because of his family pressure. He actually did not have any interest in it.
I never wanted to leave my country for a job, I can easily earn adequate money for myself in my own country. I can’t remain detached from my country, culture, festival and family, says Mukhiya.
Even today when he goes on an international tour, he starts feeling homesick within a month.
Creating patriotic music and more
Such a nature of Mukhiya has helped him to write and compose patriotic songs like Simana, Desh Chodi Pardesh, Hamro Nepal and Ko Cha Ra Amar Yaha. And the same feeling helped him to become a filmmaker too. He has directed films on stories of different indigenous communities in Nepal. Go Su Naya and Naso, are two indigenous short movies directed by Mukhiya. Currently, he is busy working on another indigenous feature movie.
Likewise, Mukhiya has already collected stories from communities like Tamang, Tharu, Bhujel and others to make films about them.
So what makes the song beautiful? While being asked about it, Mukhiya shares his songwriting process with Onlinekhabar.
First, Mukhiya chooses a topic, then creates a story on it and writes lyrics. He says that all of his lyrics come from his own experience. About composing songs, he says every word has its own expression and we need to put melodies on it accordingly.
With that, Mukhiya especially focuses on the pentatonic scale for composition.
“I find Nepali essence on the pentatonic scale.”
Similarly, he also looks up to ragas for the composition. For instance one of his musical pieces Praya Sadai is based on Brindabani Sarang.
While Mukhiya uses various ideas to write and compose the song, he sees a lack of creativity in the young musicians. Today due to technology, making music has been an easy task, he says. They totally rely on samples that are already included in the software.
“Such technology is killing their creativity,” he says, adding, “Actually they are not using software but the software is using them.”
Mukhiya’s band The Axe has not released any songs in the last two years. Their recent release was Dhanyabaad. But for the next year, the band has so many surprises for their fans.
We have around six songs in the pipeline, and a couple of them will be released in early 2023, says Mukhiya.
The post Shiva Mukhiya talks about changing concert culture, making music and many more appeared first on OnlineKhabar English News.
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