After reading 'Louis Banks comes back' (#188) I noticed tickets priced at Rs 2,999 for an evening of jazz and an infinite supply of alcohol. I have been a jazz enthusiast for many years now, but despite my love for the music, there really is no way for me or others like me to watch Mr Banks live. And I wonder if I would even want to. Imagine being a non-alcoholic guy who only wants good jazz, but is surrounded by people who only want to be at the 'hip joint', binge drinking all night and not quite respecting the art, for which the event is supposed to have been in the first place. The question of making Jazzmandu accessible to actual jazz lovers or those wanting a taste of it is something I wonder about too. The ticket prices really speak for something-and with audiences full of farangs really, is Jazzmandu about Jazz in Kathmandu, or has it sold its soul to alcohol?

S Kashish,
Kathmandu

. Louis Banks is an Indian of Nepali decent, but seems to love the place he has lived in, the place he grew up in, more than some far away land where his parents came from.

Bhumika Ghimire
Florida, USA