A whirlwind Friday night

One of the many advantages of staying with Sapna and Rabi is that they seem to know pretty much everyone in Kathmandu and are never short of invitations to parties and concerts.  Sapna is particularly well-connected in the music world (her mother was a famous singer).  They are also fun loving people, and a night out just isn't a proper night out unless there's a margarita or three involved.

Friday night provided a good example of a varied night out; three very different activities, none of which I'd have made it to without my hosts.

The evening started with a concert hosted jointly by the Russian and French embassies.  It was a piano concert on the occasion of the centenary of Messiaen's birth, featuring two pianists, Irina Kataeva and Cristina Vinas Lefevre.  The fist part consisted of each of them playing some works by Scriabin, whom I'd never even heard of.  The music was challenging, both to listen to and no doubt to play, but totally worthwhile.  In the second part, they came together to play Messiaen's "Vision d'Amen" for two pianos.  The Russian ambassador reckoned it was the first time there had ever been a two-piano concert in Nepal.  I've always been a little scared of Messiaen but I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed a concert more.  The playing was an absolute tour de force - Kataeva was particularly expressive (at the end of one climax, as she hit the culminating low note, I swear I heard her say 'pow'!)  The music was much more tuneful than I had anticipated and the rhythms induced an almost trance-like state.

From the concert, we rushed to the wedding reception of one of Sapna's cousins.  It was a grand affair, in the ballroom of the Yak and Yeti - the smartest hotel in Kathmandu.  I made the faux pas of presenting the bride with something I shouldn't have.  (We were all given a scarf on arrival and several people then placed theirs around the bride's neck.  I did the same, but not being an elder relative of hers, that was inappropriate).  At least I looked so clearly out of place and confused by the whole thing that there was no doubt that I simply didn't know any better.  We stayed long enough to enjoy the ample buffet and chat with some of Sapna's friends and relatives.  Then it was time to move on again.

The third part of the night was at a dive-y bar in Patan, where some people Sapna knows from the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory were performing.  It was the first time since I've arrived here where I've been in a room with more white faces than Nepalis.  This was a particular shock having just come from the wedding reception, where I was the only white person amongst about 700 Nepalis.  The bar could have easily have been in London or Toronto as Kathmandu.  There we met more of Sapna's friends, including a keen cyclist who goes out on regular mountain biking excursions.  I'm going to join him on some (Sapna and Rabi will let me ride their son's really good bike for this - as you may have guessed from my previous post, the bike I bought just isn't up to that).  

So, as you can see, I'm still having a lot of fun.