Radio Kantipur in coordination with the French Embassy and Alliance Française de Katmandou is dedicating an entire day to celebrate World Music Day on June 21.

According to Sanjay Gupta, a radio jockey at Radio Kantipur, the programme will feature both Nepali and international musicians, lyricists, singers and bands from 8am to 8pm.

“We’re inviting over 50 artists both from Nepal and abroad to talk to them about how they’re feeling during the time of the pandemic,” says Gupta, who is also a popular emcee. “If things were normal, most of them would be performing at various events around the country. But due to the pandemic, most of them will be home.”

World Music Day is an annual event that is observed in over 120 countries the world over to celebrate music in all its forms. Alliance Française de Katmandou has been celebrating World Music Day in Kathmandu by organising live events in the Valley by giving a platform for upcoming artists to showcase their talents since 1994. While they have been organising open air concerts annually, this year due to the pandemic they are making use of the radio—because of its wide reach—to celebrate music.

“We’ve always hosted some kind of event every year. Due to the pandemic that is not possible, which is why we’ve decided to tie up with Kantipur FM and do something like this,” says Prabin Rana, Deputy Director at AFK.

For the programme, Gupta says that they won’t be asking the artists to sing songs. Instead, they will have a conversation with the artists about music and play their songs on the radio instead. “We want the day to be about celebrating everything related to music. Hence, we’ll be talking to everyone—from composers to legends to even young emerging singers,” he says.

Popular singers like Bipul Chettri, Deepak Bajracharya, Samridhi Rai, Sugam Pokharel, Sunita Dulal and lyricist Yadav Khanal are a few Nepali artists who will be taking part in the show. While, Aisha Fukusima (USA), Caravana Palace (France) and Prateek Kuhad (India) are some of the international artists who will be speaking at the show.

World Music Day started in 1982 as Fete de la Musique, a music festival, in France.