Nepali Times

Since its creation in 2009, Eleven11 Production has been bringing international acts to Nepal while supporting the local music scene as well. Last year, this artist management and booking agency launched Dance Valley at 1905 in an attempt to create an electronic music movement in Kathmandu.

Despite being a first-of-its-kind, this first edition had an ambitious line up with the talented Nepali producers Kichaa M Chitrakar and Nishan Manandhar, along with acclaimed Indian DJ, Dualist Inquiry.

After the first hit, Eleven11 Production organised their second Dance Valley last Saturday 7 February in the newly opened venue, Club 25 Hours in Tangal.

The Nepali electronic music producer, Ranzen Jha warmed up the audience that evening with a live set. His well-polished melodies intertwined with breakbeat patches set a buoyant ambience in the basement of Club 25 Hours.

Raban Rana, a.k.a. DJ RabbiT, continued the evening by alternating between Glitch hop and heavy Drum & Bass. Planning to compose his own songs from this year, Rana’s deck techniques on Saturday gave a hint of what his productions might sound like.

The much-awaited guest of Dance Valley 2 was Nucleya, former member of Indian electronic fusion collective, The Bandish Projekt. Known for his Moombahton sound, the producer from Ahmedabad was playing in Kathmandu for the first time.

Nucleya’s set had lengthy passages with somehow astonishing mixes, spinning a few of his productions, as well as elements of Reggae, Dirty South and even the incongruous Dance tunes.

Some beautiful elements of classical Indian music spiced up his set as well. The DJ from India had a lively and energetic stage performance, conveying much enthusiasm to the crowd.

Visual artist C4 is another Nepali performer who deserves praise. During the DJ sets, he screened hypnotic patterns along with Lindy Hop choreographies from the movie Hellzapoppin and extracts of the animated film, Asterix and Cleopatra on the back wall of the stage.

Like its first edition, Dance Valley 2 exposed talents of electronic music scene of Kathmandu who deserve as much attention as the foreign acts. Unfortunately the quality of the sound system at Club 25 Hours, with the trebles set too loud, didn’t allow for a full appreciation of these skilful acts.

Organisers and artists of Dance Valley were satisfied by the event but expected a better response from the public. “It would have been nicer if people had come earlier to support the local artists too,” commented DJ RabbiT, on the fact that most of the audience came only for Nucleya.

“People always look out for last minute chance to grab tickets,” says Spandan Mocktan, from Eleven11 Production. “They need to understand that organisers spend ample time looking for artists to bring to Nepal or else the entertainment business won’t last long.”

Dance Valley 2 also revealed Club 25 Hours as an elegant location full of potential in Kathmandu. It is surely a quality alternative to Thamel’s scene, but some work can still be done for the sound quality.

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