Musicians who have sung songs from Asha Bhosale to Melina Rai

He has been close to music since the tender age of 7 and is constantly active in creating music. "I don't particularly consider myself a musician," says Raju, "I'm just a music seeker." I consider music to be sadhana. I am a drop of water in the ocean of music.'

Bhagat Singh learned to play the instrument from Kolkata. Bhagat's father was a courtier. Which made it easy for him to go to India and learn music. He thought that his son should be like him. So Raju started to study music from an early age. Raju's classical music gurus were three, Jitendra Joshi, Shakuntala Pradhan and Bibi Jangam. After SLC he studied with the same gurus from the seven tunes of music to the seven tunes of the baja. Raithane from Kathmandu was not as difficult as others. Continue studying together. His father's dream was to study and become a musician. That is why he emphasized on studies. Also studied western music. Expanded on classical. Along with a master's degree in economics.

At the age of 12/13, Raju used to play dozens of instruments like violin, piano, mandolin etc. The family environment was also musical. He was well-acquainted with the legendary music personalities of that time Natikaji, Pannakaji, Amber Gurung, Narayangopal, Gopal Yonjan, Taradevi, Ramsharan Darnal, Madan Periyar. "They knew me as the son of instrumentalist Bhagat Singh," Raju recalled the golden days of about 4 decades ago, "They loved me very much." He put a lot of energy into learning music. But, I wanted to create my own identity. At the age of 17, he got an opportunity to arrange a song of famous Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali. The song written by Rajendra Thapa collected in the album named 'Sambandh' was as follows:

Naked people don't think they are naked when they are covered with silk

It's because of eyes that they don't consider crooked as crooked

After singing this song, Ghulam Ali slapped him and said, 'Your future is bright. is Never get away from songs and music. That's when Kara's life as a contract worker in Radio Nepal began. It gave him the opportunity to play the instrument in songs from Natikaji to Narayangopal. Which served to bring more refinement to the instrument craft. Written by cinematographer Neer Shah, composed by Shambhujit Baskota and sung by Prakash Shrestha, the

dives deep into the depths,

If you have drowned, don't come back without picking the pearl...

This song played a big role in his life. Immersed in the music, Raju limped towards the pearl picking path. In the first half of the end of the panchayati system and the beginning of the multi-party system, he decided to set a musical journey through pop 'Janara' together with some close friends. And was born, 'Prativimba Band'.

Where did we leave your beloved

Is that girl in love with him?

This song was very popular at that time. The members of the band felt that the influence of Hindi and English songs in Nepal was becoming fierce, now targeting the youth. Along with Raju, Sudeep Rizal, Poonam Pradhan, Paru, John, Shashwat and others were members of the band. "Singing pop songs was the challenge at that time," said Raju, wearing power glasses, pointing with the index finger of his right hand. "It was an even bigger challenge to sustain the band."

Raju considers his songs of that time more modern than pop. However, despite being a member of a famous band of that time, Raju faced an identity crisis. Moreover, the competition with contemporary bands like Crossroads, Nepathya, Kandara was no less challenging.

Born in 2045, the band disbanded almost a decade later. Lakhapakha started with his friends. Someone went abroad. Some are still active in singing. "In particular, the reason for the breakup of our band was financial," Raju revealed, "The band was disbanded after the situation of income and expenses." At the end of the 2050s, Raju met Vasant Bityasi Thapa. The meeting with the lyricist Bityasi took place in a short time. This musician-songwriter duo went on to make four albums. This couple is still frozen.

They are preparing to release an album titled 'Timi Mero Saathi' in the near future. The pair of Raju and lyricist Dumbar Vikel has also been in a relationship recently. Raju has also composed the music for the song sung by Bollywood singer Shreya Ghoshal in the words of Dumbar. The song is getting ready for release soon. Raju has also composed the music for class songs of class 1 and 3. That song was written by Dumbar. He was a singer-songwriter duo at that time. It was a singer-musician duo. But, there was no pair of lyricist-composer,' says Raju, 'we also started working as a pair.'

Has the shape of pop music changed or merged lately? He couldn't figure it out. "Nowadays every singer is becoming versatile," Raju feels, "It is difficult to survive in the industry without singing folk, pop, modern, filmi all."

***

One day he met the singer Anand Karki in a street in Kathmandu. Anand said to Raju, who left the band, "Raju bhai, you are not a musician of the band anymore, you have to become a musician of the country." And the album "Pheri Toor Yaad Ayo" was born. Lyricist Dinesh Adhikari's song is sung by Anand, composed by Raju. After this song, Raju abandoned the path of pop 'Janara' and decided on a journey of modern accessible music.

However, before meeting Anand Karki, he met Gyanendra Gadal, a lyricist from Eelam, in 2047. At that time, Raju was active in Prativimba band. Gadal told him, 'It is not enough to play the instrument, you have to become a musician to earn a name.' Finally, the song written by the same Gyanendra is Raju's first recorded modern song. The song sung by Ratna Baral continued to resonate in Radio Nepal:

as if seen somewhere

as found somewhere

This song was recorded in Radio Nepal on 26th January 2047. One had to wait a week for the recorded song to be played. "That patience was very important in my musical life," Raju remembers, "After the release of the song, I kept listening to the radio for a whole week."

Raju also composed tunes in pop, modern and film songs. However, he could not be happy in the film world. 'Malati' was his debut film. After that, he did films such as Arbaati, The Yug To Yug, Small World, Actors. Some films were not even released. After composing about a dozen film scores in a decade, he stopped walking that path. Now he is active in Sugam Music. He has experience working with Ghulam Ali, Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan to Melina Rai of the latest generation.

Singh has more than 40 albums in the market. Dozens of his songs are hits. "Who contributes more to a song becoming a hit?" He says before the question falls, "The singer contributes more." This is universal truth.' He prefers to call 'Touhuro Ishwar', a collection of Yadav Kharel's songs, his 'masterpiece'. "I also like the songs of Hoon Te Haru, but the songs of this album have influenced my life a lot," said Raju, who became a little emotional, "I cried many times while filling it with music." My attitude towards senior citizens has changed.'

'Empty road...' The song of Bol turned Raju's musical journey. Written by Vasant Vityasi Thapa and sung by John, the song took pop music to the next level. Raju's next song is 'Pheri Tohin Yaad Ayo'. This song by Anand Karki, who left the band for the first time as a solo artist, is equally popular even now. Similarly, 'Mero Saath Phekeka...' this song of Naveen K Bhattarai was once very popular among the youth. The song 'Kati good ali ali dhalkiko chhaya...' composed by national poet Madhav Prasad Ghimire and voiced by Archana Bastola is also in his favorite list. Ramakrishna Dhakal's 'Ashray' album 'Vachan Tode Kasam Ni Tode...' song also introduced Raju.

He feels like a singer football striker. Just as when a striker scores a goal after a good performance, it helps the whole team to win, when a singer sings well, musicians and songwriters also become successful. "Unless the striker plays well, the team won't win, unless the singer sings well, the musician and the songwriter will not be successful," he says. Having found the 'platform' of

music easily, he has the challenge of maintaining his achievements so far. To overcome that challenge, he is constantly immersed in musical instruments. 'Sadhana, honesty and continuity are my great weapons,' he adds, 'the blessings of the elders, the harmony of the contemporaries and the love of the new generation are always with me.'