Reply to Ashu?s second post contd?. Duke Ellington?s quote was in fact meant to imply that people should not adopt really high brow standards for judging music. The exact quote in English is: ?If it sounds good, its probably good?? I believe he meant by that rather than who wrote it, how complex a piece it is, who sings/plays it etc? the test is how does it sound to the ears? If it is pleasing to the ears then it should be taken as good music, period. This is the main reason why nusrat fateh ali khan or ali farka toure or tuva singing, or rai etc.. have caught the world?s imagination even though people have no clue what the artists are singing about. I played some 1974AD, Nepathya, arun upatyeka ka lok suseliharu and some lok dohori to my US friends. People did not go for the lok dohori because it was not musically interesting ? same tune repeated for 15 verses. You have to understand the lyrics to really enjoy/like dohori. Musically, there is not much there except for a very catchy short melody in the best ones. (Other folk traditions like ghantu, chutka, jhamre, maruni, gaine geet, deuda, are far more interesting musically than the overused dohori form.) The others, however, my friends thought were really interesting and fresh, especially the Arun upatyeka instrumental album. Why? Because people who appreciate good music in one culture can most often recognize ad appreciate good music in another, as per Duke Ellington?s aphorism .. So yes, not everything that Amber Gurung has written is excellent, and I do believe some of Dhiraj Rai?s best songs sound better than the occasional mediocre songs of Gurung. Yes to ashu's comments about time to pay attention to non-Nepali language musical output. I'm not in the best situation to udertake that job though. And lastly, why is love such an overwhelming theme in Neali music? I believe I've addressed this above. Nothing further to add. Thanks Ashu for your extensive comments on my first attempt to play music critic. I am encouraged to write more reviews.... I mean it. Anup