The Days That Were
Chhetri strongly advocates for an effective agency for monitoring the quality of songs to be aired from media
By THAKUR AMGAI
When a young boy merely in his post teens entered Kathmandu from the Nepalese border town of Birgunj in mid 1970s with a strong aspiration to pursue further education and sing songs at the studio of Radio Nepal and become popular among the public, he never thought he would one day reject the proposal to sing songs at the same place.
At a time when the only recording facility in Nepal was Radio Nepal and it was the only broadcasting media of the country, singers, lyricists and music directors would swarm around Radio Nepal requesting for dates to record songs.
Madhu Chhetri, the young boy from Birgunj was one of such promising and talented singers who requested for dates. After three decades Chhetri, who by now is an established singer of honored class at the Radio Nepal, puts off the dates thanks to the conspicuous frustration he encountered towards singing. “When we had energy and aspirations to sing, and pleaded for dates we would not get one, today when they request me to sing, I do not have the urge to do so,” says Chhetri.
While, colleagues, well-wishers and audience urge him to continue impressed by the beautiful songs he sang in the past, Chhetri has kept himself busy in managerial tasks abstaining from singing in the latter years.
Chhetri entered Kathmandu in 2031 with an aspiration to sing songs at Radio Nepal and pursue further education. The next year he passed the voice test from Radio Nepal and started singing songs at the dates of Radio Nepal . ‘Timile Diyaka Bachaharu’ was the first song he recorded. Endowed with a melodious voice and a flair for singing, Chhetri’s songs easily became popular among the audience.
Before coming to Kathmandu , Chhetri had already made his identity as a promising singer in his home town Birgunj. Impressed by the melody of his voice, friends and other people at Birgunj nicknamed him ‘Nepali Kishore Kumar’, while he was studying at Thakur Ram Multiple College . Chhetri himself was very inspired by Kishore Kumar’s voice and performed his songs at the stage functions.
Born in 2013 in Birgunj, Chhetri got an ambience where he could nurture his interest in music since early childhood. On noticing his flair for singing, teachers at school and parents at home encouraged him to practice music.
Like all border towns, Birgunj had a strong influence from Indian culture. With contemporaries like Prakash Shrestha and Sugat Ratna Kansakar, Chhetri enjoyed watching Hindi movies and mimicking filmy songs. In the early days, he used to sing during the gathering of friends. Later, as he grew up, he started performing on stage shows during school functions or social concerts.
When he came to Kathmandu and started recording songs at Radio Nepal , folk songs he sang in those days like ‘Pani Khane Nihunle Timro Gharma Aunla’ and ‘Sainli Ra Maili Poila Gayachhan’ were very well received by the audience and made him popular throughout the country.
Most people, today, know Chhetri through song ‘Phoolai Phool Matra Pani Hoina Rahechha Jeewan.” The song written and composed by senior poet and music personality Bhim Birag tells the reality of life that life is not a bed of roses, but includes a lot of struggles and hardships. Chhetri’s vocal has given it the right feel of the words.
Over the years, Chhetri has sung more than 250 songs including songs of all genre – folk, modern, patriotic and bhajans (devotional songs). His voice has best suited in sentimental modern songs.
After the initial days of immense popularity, Chhetri slowly lost his momentum in singing. Rather he focused on managerial jobs. He is currently the general manager of Rebel Creation, one of the leading music distribution companies. Despite a lot of public requests, he rarely sings. However, he uses his free time to compose music. “I am pursuing the career of singing and composing music as a hobby,” says Chhetri. He himself has composed music for most of the songs he sang.
An easy going and articulate personality, Chhetri feels no hesitation in expressing his dissensions. About the national anthem he says, “Music in itself has no political inkling. A music is neither autocratic nor democratic. There has been a lot of talks about changing the national anthem. The argument to change the wordings of the anthem is justifiable, but we should think about retaining the melody. It is a standard tune and we should write a new prose in the same tuning. That sets a national standard.”
Likewise, Chhetri, a singer of honorary class at Radio Nepal , strongly advocates for an effective monitoring agency to control the quality of songs aired from electronic media. “There has been anarchy in the music industry lately,” said Chhetri. “While songs of all genre should be given equal priority, there should be a mechanism to filter the quality of songs to be aired in the public.”
