The countdown to Darjeeling MELOtea Fest has started with Darjeeling police announcing the performance by Kee Marcello, a former member of the Swedish band Europe, whose anthemic song, The Final Countdown, took the world by storm.

Marcello will perform at Chowrasta on December 18.

The MELOtea festival will be held from December 18 to 22 and will end with the annual marathon that attracts international runners. The Darjeeling police will organise the event in association with the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Sources said while Marcello and Darjeeling-based Mantra band would be headliners on December 18, Kathmandu-based folk band Kutumba would perform on December 19.

This will be followed by Nagaland-based About Us on December 20. Sikkim band, Girish and The Chronicles, will dazzle the audience on December 21.

Marcello joined the Europe band in November 1986 replacing the original guitarist John Norum.

The band had until then not done any extensive tour outside Sweden but that changed with The Final Countdown reaching the top spot on the singles chart in 25 countries.

In 1987, Europe embarked on “The Final Countdown World Tour”, its first global journey.

The song written by lead singer Joey Tempest is based on a keyboard riff. One of the most memorable performances of the song took place in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 31, 1999, as part of the millennium celebrations. It was the first and to date, the only Europe performance with both of the band guitarists, the original guitarist John Norum and his replacement Kee Marcello.

Apart from headline performances, the MELOtea will also have English and Nepali band competitions with a whopping prize pool of ₹24.5 lakh. The first prizes in the competitions will be ₹6 lakh each. The first runner-up will take home ₹4 lakh and the third runner-up will be given ₹2 lakh.

Sources said entries for the competitions were coming not only from across the country but also Nepal from and Bhutan.“Until now, we have received more than 100 entries for the competition,” said a source.

MELOtea, which is inspired by the words “melody” and “tea”, is projected as a community developmentand outreach programme aimed to promote tourism, along with the region’s rich and famous culture and tradition.

The tagline of the fest is: “Tea, tunes and strings”.