MusicCafeNepal Artist Story Series is a part of a series that tries to showcase the untold story of the Artist. We mostly know about the front face of the artists, whereas we usually don’t know about the years of struggles and the things they have gone through in their life to reach the stage they are in today. This #story series will try to bring out their stories to the community.
For this First Episode of Artist Story series, we talked with Sunny Manandhar, the co-founder and the guitarist of the well-renowned band Albatross. He was born in 1981 and he spent his childhood days in Pako, New Road, Kathmandu. He founded the band with Avaya S. Bajracharya in late 1998.
Let's read his story along with the Questions we asked him for this series.
What was the most challenging thing when you started?
The most challenging thing for me and the band was to collect proper equipment. We were just kids and didn't have much money to spare but we had huge aspirations and dreams. So we didn't have much gear and what we had was crappy ones but that didn't stop us from jamming to our idol’s song. Everyone at that time thought that the music would take us nowhere. We didn't get much support from anyone. We learned music through our ears. We are self-taught with our shitty pieces of equipment.
Who is your most supporting person?
For me, that would be my mother. In the beginning, she didn't like the idea of me doing music because she had other plans for me. But then she realized that I was made to make music. She then fully supported me in my musical journey. Without her, I don't think I would have been able to pursue my dreams. Thank you, mommy, wherever you are right now.
Who is your biggest motivation?
All the musicians whom I ever looked up to have inspired me a lot. And when I saw those local artists doing it at that time, I became even more motivated. I can’t really name exactly one person that motivated me but everything around me such as the air, the water, the food and the dust was motivational for me. Everywhere I looked, I got motivated.
What is your Happiest Moment?
Well, my happiest moment would be when people started recognizing the work and efforts we put in as a band. Our creativity got noticed by everyone. People started appreciating me and the art that I made.
Can you share your saddest moment?
My saddest moment would be the loss of my parents. I lost my mom in 2009 and dad recently in 2018. It was a heartbreaking moment for me. They were everything for me and I felt like a big boulder came crashing down my head.
Do you want to highlight about your love story?
Well, I don't think I am a romantic person, to begin with, but when first started talking to my wife I knew that she was the one to be my soulmate. To be honest I thought I had fallen in love before but I only found out that this is the love I had yearned for all my life. And of course the love for the guitars. First I fell in love with the guitar and only then I got attracted to music. So it has to be the guitar that I fell in love and then the music came along like our child.
Any suggestions to the Nepali Music Community?
The community we live in has its advantages and drawbacks and I am not here to point those out. All I wanna say is be good, do good and live simple. Do unto others as you would want others to do onto you.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We will be bringing more stories from your favorite Artists on this Story series. Your feedback and suggestions are highly valuable to us, please send us messages at info@musiccafenepal or directly to our Facebook page.