Listening to Lochan Rijal sing makes for a cerebral experience. His unconventional approach to music has given him something that he was not too keen on garnering when he started out–popularity. Known for his reverence for Nepali ethnic melodies, Rijal is the first South Asian to complete a PhD programme in ethnomusicology.

Rijal is usually busy with his job as an Assistant Professor and Coordinator at the Department of Music, Kathmandu University (KU), and has been maintaining a low profile as a musician, but that’s going to change soon with his upcoming, and long overdue, fourth solo album. Rijal talks to Alok Thapa of M&S VMAG, and shares his love for the simple things in music, something that most people tend to overlook. He also talks about why attaining simplicity in life is the toughest puzzle to solve.