the thread has gotten longer since i last logged onto sajha. well first of all it is intellectually dishonest or plain ignorant on the part of Nepe to call dr. pahari's review 'relatively comprehensive piece on Nepali music' or about 'current situation in Nepali music'. let us not make a mountain out of a molehill. in all fairness to dr. pahari, owing to the puny space allocation in the paper, he had to pick an angle and go with that. if this were a comprehensive piece or even about current situation of Nepali music, the author would have to answer lots of questions. nepe ignroes the limitations. i do not even want to get there. well, thanks to ashu for setting the record straight by noting that "the review is based on attending live concerts in the US". There is quite a gap between Nepe's tall claim and Ashu's record-straigthening note. Dr. pahari covers only one, albeit the most dynamic, subset (primarily 'commerically produced Nepali langauge music' that caters primarily to the urban listeners and to some extent rural-urban interface) of what is casually called 'Nepali music'. as to dr. pahari's question about where are these excellent trekking routes, well there is no 'musically happening trekknig route' as such from my side to recommend. the songs heard are all chance encounters - and like I said that's where it's at for me. dharahara, narayanghat bus stop, makai bari in khani gaun. no doubt, if you dig deeply into the hinterland, one may even dig up many more 'bheda ko un jasto' type folksongs like Narayan Wagle did or Jhalakman types. . well now that we know the limited scope of dr. pahari's writing, i still stick by my point: namely that it is still BETTER to consult truck drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers - one of the good indicators of where it's at, as well as one prime medium of diffusion of music- to know about the current situation of commerically produced Nepali music, esp one aimed at the rural urban interface. well for bands touring the USA, dr. pahari is certainly one of the right contacts, himself having been a driving force behind some of these tours, eg. 1974 AD's, if I heard one of its members right. as to dr. pahari's observation that 'market weeds out mediocre songs', i think that is pushing it too far. market may measure successful or popular songs in terms of sales volumes or exposures or celebritydom, but 'great music' - let us leave that to music critics or historians. so many market-flops (otherwise seminal songs are usually the preserve of musicologists and historians) are collecting dust in the Smithsonian music archive, and only occasionally see the light of day. market cannot often be the ultimate arbiter of good or even great music. eg. Harry Smith's overpriced folkways anthologies. well dr. ambar gurung's remark 'i'd be singing pop today if i were young' could be misinterpreted and should not be used to make some bigger case. of course, he can go ahead sing pop, age is no barrier. 'pop' by its very definition means disposable, dispensable. amber gurung is amber gurung luckily because he preceded the pop movement as we know it and is as much a period artist..there is a sizable youth that owes him a debt for sure but surely refuses to be influenced by him....well if dr. ambar gurung wants to be like Millie Vanilli in his latest incarnation while there is still time, I have no problem with that but there is danger in that too. so reading too much into that quote poses its own problems. karmapa