Kathmandu, Oct. 19 -- Rajkumar Shrestha flicked his baton, musicians raised their instruments, and the audience at the Academy Hall in Kathmandu stood up for Nepal's national anthem gloriously rendered with violins, violas, cello, sitar and flute by a 60-member orchestra.
The lyrics of Sayaun Thunga Phool Ka Hami, Eutai Mala Nepali ("We are different flowers of the same garland") evokes Nepal's ethnic diversity, but last Wednesday it also defined the diversity of the musicians from Norway and Nepalis of various ages and ethnicities.
And because this was a project of the Nepali-Norwegian Orchestra, the soothing tones of the Norwegian national anthem came next. In the center of the orchestra, surrounded by violinists was Eivind Rossbach He...