”Now I decorate the songs and music of my own community, I enjoy it”
With the prevalence of social networks based on 'video clips' such as Tik Tok, it seems that most of the musicians of the last generation are busy in the process of becoming 'viral'. In this way, the founders who are involved in the revival of songs and music of their community or region are falling into the minority.
22-year-old Lakshmi Rana of Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan city of Kailali-13 Rajpur is currently enjoying the songs/music of her own Tharu community.
Growing up humming the songs sung in her community since childhood, she took a three-month training in song/music after her SLC. After dropping out of Dhangadhi for higher education, she studied, learned music and started singing.
'At that time, music was more important to me than earning, I thought that I would have been able to sing songs,' says Lakshmi Thus, Lakshmi, who is engaged in singing and music, has now become a popular singer of the young generation in her Tharu community. Not only this, she is the only one in her community who studies music. 'In our community, there are very few singers in the new generation, there is no one who sings after reading,' she said, 'new singers are very few, even those who make records are rare.'
When Lakshmi started singing in music concerts, She planned to become a singer. She used to sing in every concert in Dhangadhi. His maternal uncle was also a singer. Little by little my mother also used to sing songs. "But the songs they sang are not recorded anywhere," she adds, because of the family's musical atmosphere, she is also drawn to music.
After starting to sing little by little, Lakshmi reached the rural areas and started looking for the traditional songs of Ranatharu. She collected verses of songs sung in various festivals and fairs. What is the song sung on Teej? I learned all these, which are the bhakas sung on Holi,' she said, 'from various pujas to cattle grazing, I also collected the songs sung during paddy planting, and started singing the songs sung in the room in the community.'
Lakshmi has recently graduated in music from Padmakanya Campus. Before that, she had recorded various songs in Kathmandu. The songs he has recorded so far are from his own community. His latest song 'Jawaniki Dosh' is getting a very good response.
More excited by this, she has so far recorded more than two dozen songs of the Ranatharu community. As it is Maghi season, she is seen in various programs at this time. But she says that her attendance at fairs and festivals is very low. He complains that communities other than the Tharu community invite artists from outside but do not care about local artists.
Just two weeks ago, Lakshmi won the first place in the folk singing competition organized by the Sudurpaschim Pragya Foundation and the National Folk and Dual Song Foundation. She also won 20,000 awards. Earlier, she also participated in 'Voice of Nepal Season 2'. She has reached different places in the country to sing songs. Although she has sung other songs in fairs and festivals, she has recorded only Ranatharu songs. 'Teri Yaad Satave' is the first song he recorded 7 years ago.
Now she is teaching music in various schools in Kathmandu. He has experience that there is a lot of difference between singing after reading and singing without reading. She says, 'Now I decorate the songs and music of my own community, I enjoy it.' She is the youngest among three siblings.
