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Singing The Sentiments
Kharel has sung hundreds of songs in his unique voice
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Khrel : Has a huge fan following |
By THAKUR AMGAI
“Once, when I was doing my Masters in Commerce, my father scolded me severely for being obsessively engaged in playing guitar. I was so hurt and doubted as if I had really committed a mistake that I did not even touch the guitar for several months to come.”
Had this guitar phobia continued Nepali audience would have lost one of the most prominent modern singers – Deepak Kharel. They would have been without songs that he has sung in unique tone.
Fortunately that did not happen. And later, Kharel did pick up his instrument and went back to practicing music. He recorded songs that became popular one after another and got himself established as a prominent singer of this country.
However, this tale does reveal an important part of his personal nature - that Deepak Kharel needs to be coaxed to use and show his talent. He is not the kind who would come out bragging about his aptitude. Instead, he would opt to practice songs with a harmonium or spray colors on the canvas for hours inside the closed doors.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kharel, rarely comes out in the public and tries different ways for popularity. All the popularity he has earned among the Nepalese audience is merely because of the quality of his songs.
Kharel was born in Kharelthok of Kavre in 1956. He was brought to Kathmandu at the age of two and was educated and brought up here. Later in the course of his father’s postings he traveled to different places of Nepal.
Kharel is a god gifted singer. Since his childhood, he could easily pick up the songs aired from the Radio or screened in the movies and could mimic them very well. Parents and friends had noticed this inherent talent. So, every now and then, they would ask him to sing songs of their choice. And Kharel, on his part, enjoyed singing for them. He loved encouragement.
Kharel did not have the slightest idea that he would become a singer one day, let alone become a professional singer. He had always taken it as a pleasant pass time work. It was not until few of his songs became quite popular in the early days of singing, that he thought he would continue singing.
Kharel was passionately involved in another form of expression in his college life. He was a passionate painter. The wonderful paintings of the landscapes and monuments of Kathmandu that he had drawn years ago still hang around the walls of his home. “During my times in college, there are times when I used to spend eight / nine hours painting on canvas,” remembers Kharel.
However, Kharel, who has been a government employee for the past twenty five years, could not spare enough time for painting and his passion for painting soon changed.
Kharel, who has no formal education both in art and music, recorded the song ‘Maile Racheka Geetharu….’ written by Gauri Newa and music composed by Dwarika Lal Joshi, on his first date at Radio Nepal. He had taken and passed the voice test by singing a song by Narayan Gopal.
Kharel is a keen learner. He learned to play guitar, harmonium and even the technical aspects of painting all on his own. He explains this can be possible if the urge comes out of sheer interest.
During his days in college, Kharel used to strum guitars and sing songs with his friends. He became very confident to sing when he collected much applaud in one of the college functions. It was since this incident that his friends urged him to take the voice test at Radio Nepal.
Kharel got encouraged to sing further after some of his songs recorded at the initial days of his career became very popular.
Till date, Kharel has sung more than three hundred songs. Some of the songs have been compiled in 5 CDs and others have been compiled in collection albums.
Kharel, like most other artistes has a deep sense of nationalism. He feels very hurt by the way the Nepalese media is promoting Hindi songs and stars, while keeping the Nepali artistes and songs in shadow. “We should protect our culture and tradition. The media should highlight Nepali artistes and Nepali songs rather than the international ones,” Kharel shows his concern.
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