The man with the brilliant guitar riffs, Kee Marcello, reached Mirik on Monday and set the tone for Darjeeling’s grandest music fest MELOtea.

Marcello, known for the anthemic song, The Final Countdown, and many others, reached Mirik along with his band members. The celebrated Swede musician will travel to Darjeeling after spending a night beside Sumendu Lake in Mirik.

"We are so amazed by this beautiful setting and the warm welcome we had. We are so happy to be here and we look forward to play.... And it is going to be a great show,” said Marcello on reaching Mirik.

The guitarist said he was “blown away” by the panoramic view on his way to Mirik.

"We were at the Tingling viewpoint and took some photos.... and we were totally blown away,” said Marcello who added that he had visited South India some 30 years ago, but was coming to this part of the country for the first time.

MELOtea will kickstart on December 19 with Mantra, a well-known Nepali rock band, and Marcello performing on the opening day.

Music lovers who have followed Marcello's career, especially in hard rock bands like Europe and Easy Action, are excited to have him here.

Marcello had joined Europe in November 1986, replacing the band's 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”, their first world tour.

Darjeeling Police, which is organising MELOtea, along with the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) also announced 12 finalists for the D-Rock Open Band competition (English) and the 11 finalists for Nepali category competitions.

The finalists include bands from Nepal, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and from Bengal.

On December 22, the annual Darjeeling hill marathon will also be organised. This event attracts international runners to the hill town.

Gangtok-based band, Girish and The Chronicles (GATC), will headline the performance on December 22. GATC has shared stage with global legends like Guns N’ Roses, Bullet for My Valentine, Hoobastank, Poets of the Fall and Nazareth.

The other bands invited for headline performances during MELOtea this year are Kathmandu-based Kutumba and About Us from Nagaland.

The prize pool for the music competitions is ₹24.5 lakh while that for the marathon is ₹9.8 lakh.

MELOtea, with its tagline "Tea, tunes and strings", is inspired by the words “melody” and “tea”. It is as a community development and outreach programme of Darjeeling aimed to promote tourism.