Balaram Chaulagain

Many Nepalis may have viewed a video of the Nepali song, ' Timro Nai Maya Lagdachha Sahilee' in social media platforms like You-Tube, Face book, Twitter and Tik-Tok. The You-Tube persona in the song, Arko Pravo Mukharjee, has entertained the lovers of this song by altering the music of the song of a special folk genre that also includes popular folk songs such as Resham Firiree, Mohani Laglahai, Ama Le Sodhlin, Timro Nai Maya and so on.
Nepal is known for its cultural diversity with over 100 ethnic groups. The country's music, culture and religious as well as other activities have an important role in sensitising and uniting the country. Music is indeed a symbol of our national unity which refers to the existence of various music genres that are played and listened among a wide spectrum of people from time immemorial.

Music Is Art
Music is an art consisting of sequence of sounds with especial tones of definite pitch organised harmoniously, melodiously and rhythmically. In other words, music is a skill of sound that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythms, tunes, agreement and colour. People from 80's generation remember legendry singer late Jhalakman Gandharba for genius he was, but many from the younger groups of the present time may not be aware of his contribution to Nepali music.
He is credited for more than 100 popular songs like Amale Sodhlin Khoi Chhora Bhanlin and many other songs of this kind. Among them, 'Timro Nai Maya Ladachha Sahilee, Samjhanchhu Chhin Ka Chhin…' has now been making a comeback on social media platforms.
At a time when some artists are trying to rid Nepal of musical misunderstanding of previous days by introducing new genres to Nepali ear, one of the most recent popular cover on YouTube has successfully attracted an overwhelming majority of viewers.
Indian composer, singer and lyricist Arko Provo Mukharjee 's version of the song that this scribe composed for Jhalakman some 40 years ago has now heralded a new dawn in Nepal's musical spectrum with new style and resonance. Late Jhalakman Gandharba is not with us, still he is remembered as an epitome of Nepali music.

Jhalakman Gandharba
Different types of inspiring, sentimental and appreciative songs from the melodious voice of late Gandharba are also equally striking. He was born at Batulechaur of Kaski district in 1992 BS and died at the age of 68 in 2060 BS. While expanding the Nepali musical field much wider than before Jhalakman served in branding, designing and developing folk songs with new vision and sounds to Nepali ears.
The late singer, known for crooning folk Nepali songs, was one of the most prominent singers representing the early days of Nepali musical history. An another veteran singer and poet, Dharmaraj Thapa, was also an inhabitant of Batulechaur, so he also tried his best to explore the potentiality of singing songs and playing Nepali folk violin, known as sarangee, of Jhalakman.
Apart from serenading songs, Jhalakman was perfect in tuning violin or sarangee as per the need of time. Sarangee is a hollow wooden string Nepali musical instrument with chord tuner which produces fine tune to listen. He served in the state owned Radio Nepal as a folk singer since 2022 to 2043 BC as a sincere government employee. He was decorated with different awards for his outstanding contribution in the Nepali folk music. He is remembered as long as his everlasting songs continue to play through broadcasting channels.
Let us talk about social media platforms like YouTube and their impact on widening Jhalakman's musical spectrum among aspiring singers.

Writing Songs
It must have been in 1980 when this scribe used to contribute contemporary articles on contract basis for the state owned Radio Nepal for programmes to broadcast. In course of time, once late Jhalakman came to me and requested to compose a folk based modern song suitable for his voice.
Soon after, I replied, oh! Jhalak Dai how can I compose a lyric matching to your voice. In the mean time, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to record a melodious song in the voice of a legendry singer like Jhalakman. Then I promised with Jhalakman and said 'Dai ( brother) I will surely compose a song and will deliver you within a week'.
It was difficult for me to compose a lyric with poetic version as I used to prepare write ups in prose style only.
However, I composed a lyric as mentioned above and handed over it to Jhalkman. A few weeks later he recorded the song in the tuning of renowned musician Ganesh Pariyar.
At present, he is not with us but the lingering image of Jhalakman set in my mind as a fit and fine personality of musical arena will never wipe out from my mind. Many vicissitudes of his life, sometimes joyful, sometime appalling provide invaluable references to music contributors, who are toiling hard to do something in this sector.
The then only nation-wide broadcasting station of our country, Radio Nepal used to broadcast this most popular song quite frequently, even after 40 years or so, the trend of airing this popular song has continued as before. Time has changed as social media platforms have become a very effective medium for music lovers and entrepreneurs.
On February 6, 2019 Arko Pravo Mukharjee and Hari Maharjan jointly launched a musical journey of friends His team has serenaded the same song as a cover song of Jhalakman. Mukharjee along with his group members Hari Maharjan, Naomi and Dolinman have jointly performed the cover song with resounding voice and scale.
Popularity of Song
The popularity of this song has escalated further high across the globe as a super-hit song of the Nepali language. This is why the contribution made by Mukharjee in flourishing our Nepali music worldwide is praiseworthy. Mukharjee is an established singer and musician of India, his remarkable contribution in the field of Nepali music has crossed the political boundaries of two countries. The playing of flute and mandolin with suitable Nepal wordings arranged with musical sounds indeed creates a magical environment.
The international band of Arko's group which hails from Kolkata (India) has clearly modified the old Nepali music. The popularity of Arko band has grown so much that You-Tube viewers among the Nepali speaking communities have even coined the term for it 'musical journey.'
Other aspiring cover singers like Sradha Prasai, Ankita Pun, Hemanta Rasaily, Manoj Thapa Magar among others are concurrently singing the same song as the cover of late Jhalakman. It is difficult to know when or how the trend of giving a twist to the original song in rap style originated but such trend may have been practiced only after the entry of western music in Nepal.
Despite the rising popularity of such altered songs, there are many who prefer to stick to original old songs. The flavor of evergreen song entitled 'Timro Nai Maya Lagdachha Sahilee..' sang by venerated singer late Jhalakman has not been declined even after the singing of the same by the Arko's team.

(Chaulagain is the writer of the folk song, Timro Nai Maya Lagdachha Sahilee')