Elimination round of Women in Concert today

Kripa Shrestha / Kathmandu: For its fourth iteration, Women in Concert (WIC), an annual musical event, has now expanded into a competition that will hold its first and only elimination round today. The elimination round will act as a pre-event to the concert on March 8, and will feature 12 shortlisted participants from an initial 135 applications, of whom only 8 will be selected for the yearly WIC concert.

Abhaya Subba Weise, lead singer of popular rock band Abhaya and the Steam Injuns and founder of WIC, says that WIC has received more attention as a competitive event than it had in previous years. Although participation this year is centralised from within the Valley and a few other places such as Ilam and Dharan, she visualises WIC as an event that brings together and empowers women from all over Nepal, and from all walks of life. Nevertheless, Weise confides, “It’s really sad that I have to create a false sense of drive and make WIC a competitive event so participants are driven to work harder and appreciate the platform as more than just an opportunity to appear on stage and perform with a band. It inspires them to put in more effort than they might have otherwise, and hard work is a very important thing if you want to be a musician in the long run.”

Weise personally mentors each of the 12 participants on a daily basis at her house and invites them into her “creative space” or “jam pad”, where the participants each get to jam with band members from Abhaya and the Steam Injuns and prepare for the pre-event.

Adrenaline runs high among the participants, comprising mostly of teenagers or women in their early twenties, some of whom have never performed on stage or with a band prior to this event. “I am very excited for the pre-event as it will make us more confident for the actual concert in March. Even if I don’t get selected as a finalist, I will still get something that adds to my wealth of experiences, and in the form of friendship

with other participants and mentorship by Abhaya didi,” says Ashra Kunwar, 22, who will be performing an original Nariko Abhash, and Heartache Tonight by the Eagles at the pre-event.

The judges at the pre-event alongside Weise will be Viplov Pratik and the audience themselves. “This year, we’re hoping for an amazing winner who’s going to make an amazing role model for young girls and women in Nepal. I hope that the person we’re going to choose more than just sings but also composes her own music and writes her own songs so she can dictate the direction she wants her music to take and become the full artist that she can be,” says Weise who confirms she will be judging more than musical talent but also their personality as she promises to personally mentor the winner along with her band for a year. The theme WIC has undertaken this year is Pledge for Parity, the International Women’s Day theme for the year 2016.

The pre-event will be held at The Tulip in Tangal, Kathmandu, tickets to which are Rs 1000. Source: The Kathmandu Post