Rai Ko Ris

Biography

BAND MEMBERS: Sareena, born in 1973,Nepal plays bass/guitar.Previous bands ‘Skinhead Barbie' 1990 / ‘Bruce Lee' 1994-97, ‘Jutoh' pre 2000. Olivier, born in 1964, plays drums – born in France and has been living in Nepal for fifteen years, been involved with humanitarian related work. Previous bands in the 80's include ‘Eutexie', ‘Divergence', and in the 90's ‘Cheparo' and ‘Jutoh'. BAND ACTIVITIES: We've had at least four line up changes since we began Rai Ko Ris in 2000. Presently, the band c...

BAND MEMBERS:
Sareena, born in 1973,Nepal plays bass/guitar.Previous bands ‘Skinhead Barbie' 1990 / ‘Bruce Lee' 1994-97, ‘Jutoh' pre 2000.

Olivier, born in 1964, plays drums – born in France and has been living in Nepal for fifteen years, been involved with humanitarian related work. Previous bands in the 80's include ‘Eutexie', ‘Divergence', and in the 90's ‘Cheparo' and ‘Jutoh'.

BAND ACTIVITIES:
We've had at least four line up changes since we began Rai Ko Ris in 2000. Presently, the band comprises of just the two of us however, we collaborated with a friend (Bodh Ghale from Knife) the past year after our previous guitarist went abroad.
We did a mini tour of France in July 2001. During the tour, we not only had a good excuse to holiday with our kids but we had the opportunity to meet people who really inspired and encouraged us to continue socio-political activities here in Nepal , with punk/hardcore as a vehicle, and giving respect to D.I.Y. ethics.
Chris Luppi (Arise zine and Elephant Eye Records) in Thailand was also extremely encouraging as we fumbled through the beginnings.
Rai Ko Ris then toured Malaysia in March 2002. The incredible experience of meeting and learning from fellow Asian punks added more fuel to our fire. The collectives and individuals we met allowed us to rock ourselves to a heatstroke in the name of active punk.

We visited Sri Lanka & South India (travelled by road/train) at the end of last year. Played our acoustic set to some mafia who owned bars and kept guns in their kitchen – and who recorded us on their mobile phones!
We didn't find any d.i.y. hc/punk scenes in either Sri Lanka or South India , but there was a mass of metal/rock genres, pretty high-fi events, & not much on the socio-political front (even though we were not just looking for that). We couldn't afford the live gigs advertised on posters! The fun of watching Angus Young on a big screen at a metal bar in Bangalore & students headbanging along wore off as fast as our cash did.
A lot like Nepal , the most pro-active people we met were local musicians who live in villages and came begging to the city centres, or human rights activists. But rock is for sure alive and kicking in both these countries we visited!

Present Activities:
The band organises benefit gigs with a purpose to hold interactions about political and social causes that are pertinent to us in Nepal . Speakers are invited to gigs, e.g. anarchist/anti-war activist Milan Rai (from ARROW, Justice Not Vengence, Voices in the Wilderness) and coming to the next gig, Amnesty International, Reason To Believe.

Food not bums!
We have a little ambition that is just seeing its beginnings: from the small amount of money raised from gigs we pay a tiny bit to those participating (at least enuff for half a drink and a ride home!), some goes towards transporting the gig equipment, and the rest goes towards free food and medical for the homeless. We have done this activity ourselves, a couple of times already, sometimes with doctors. We don't make promises to eradicate poverty like some idiots have been doing for the last twenty years with their programs in Nepal and fat salaries. Instead, we hope to continue this activity just to make sure those on the street (especially with HIV) get visits from friendly nobodies like us at the dead of the night, in case they didn't eat that day and have emergencies that need tending to. P.S. Drivers, wanted!

Home distro & zines
Rai Ko Ris have now accumulated a nice collection of D.I.Y released hardcore/punk/grind/crust/ska music and zines that we would be glad to distribute to anyone who cannot access such material. Write to us, and come visit to see what we have, to trade, to tape stuff off us, photocopy, or whatever. If you happen to come, you're always welcome to jam with us too.

CONTACT:
Sareena Rai , c/o NK Rai, PO Box 21778, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Email: raikoris@mail.com.np

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