SDF Video film on Namchi bazaar

Namchi,Sep15: The new look of Namchi Bazar can soon be seen in a musical Video of SDF party soon. The video for the song ‘Saino K Paryo’ was filmed Monday with the local artists here at Central Park. Chairman Tea Board Gagan Rai and the newly elected MLA Binod Rai started off the suiting in the noon with a ‘Subha Muharat’

Sapna Rai of Sikkim wins ‘Sworshree 2007’

Darjeeling, Oct 8: The final round of ‘Sworshree 2007’ has been held at Capitol Hall in Darjeeling today. Musical talent hunt contest was held by GDNS (Gorkha Dhukha Niwarak Sammelan). Participants from different Darjeeling hills and Sikkim were participated in the contest.

The winner of ‘Sworhree 2007’ was Ms. Sapna Rai, class X student from Ranipul, Sikkim. A cash of Rs 10,000/- and a promise to bring out a solo musical album by GDNS was the deal with winner of ‘Sworshree 2007’.

Winner of "Sworshree 2007", Ms Sapna Rai from Ranipul, Sikkim

Poverty strikes Sikkim sarangi player

GANGTOK, Sept 5: Forty-four-year-old Gopal Gainey who has the distinction of playing sarangi for some of the country's major radio stations is now reeling under poverty.Gainey, a resident of East Pandam in Rangpo, however, has preserved his sarangi, a traditional musical instrument, and still wants to popularise the art in modern world."I am a sarangist by profession from the age of 14. I am the third generation of my family in this profession and I won't let it die easily. I have taught seven of my students and hope that they would keep this art alive in the modern era," Gainey, said. Gainey who has played sarangi in metropolitan cities, such as Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and in several radio stations in Katmandu, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Gangtok, is still unknown in his own homeland."I played sarangi with Mr Narayan Gopal, an eminent Nepali modern folk singer, and with other eminent singers such as Mr Ram Thapa and Kumar Basnett in Nepal and Mr Ganesh Sharma in Darjeeling. We used to play folk songs and Lok Dhori, a Nepali traditional marriage," he said. Gainey added that he also played Sarangi with a French team in Mumbai and stayed with them for three years there. "Our people are not conscious in preserving our own tradition and culture. The foreigners, however, still respect our tradition," he said. Despite playing sarangi for more than two decades and popularising the art countrywide, Gainey is reeling under poverty these days. He has to run from door to door earn his livelihood. "I proudly say that I am not a beggar. I am an artist so I entertain people. In returns, they offer some money or food," a dejected but confident Gainey, said. "I earn Rs 50 to Rs 200 per day," he added. Gainey had played sarangi for the state-sponsored AIDS awareness programmes also. He had also taken part in the golden jubilee celebrations of the cottage industries here. "I earned Rs 5,000 during a month-long AIDS awareness campaign in the state last year and Rs 4,000 in 10 days during the golden jubilee celebrations of the cottage industries this year," he added.

Hunt for musical talents in the hills

Gangtok: Inspired by the huge success of Prashant and Karmas’ musical performances in the national level, series of musical contests will be held in Darjeeling hills & Sikkim for new talents.

Kanchanjanga music society Kurseong has decided to initiate “Kanchanjanga Voice of 2007” with the object to support upcoming new talents of the hills, which had an audition round in Kurseong, Darjeeling, Mirik, Kalimpong, Siliguri, Dooars and Gangtok, from August 4 onwards. The society is supported by Contractor association of Kurseong. The winner of the contest will have its own album later and complete supports will be provided to contest for national level.

The audition round for Sikkim was held in a hotel in Gangtok in which a number of aspiring singers took part.

In memory of Gopal Yonzon

Homage to maestro from singers & fans

Kalimpong:Musicians from the hills of north Bengal and Sikkim gathered here today to celebrate the 63rd birth anniversary of Nepali lyricist and composer Gopal Yonzon.
The daylong programme at Town Hall was organised by Raageshree Kala Niketan — a music school here.
Singers Ajneesh Rai from Darjeeling, Banika Pradhan from Kurseong, Bhanu Ramudamu and Bimla Cintury from Gangtok, Safal Thapa and Nila Mani Thapa from Siliguri and Thupden Bhutia from Kalimpong rendered compositions by Yonzon.
Besides the musicians, hundreds of fans from different parts of the hills came to pay their tribute to the master who died in 1997.
The composer, who provided music for various Nepali films, including the blockbuster Kanchi, was also known. It was Yonzon who played the flute for the scores in Satyajit Ray’s Kanchanjangha.
“Yonzon was a genius. There will never be a lyricist and composer like him. We are all gathered here to celebrate his music and remember his creations,” said Bipin Syangden, a celebrated lyricist himself.
Yogendra Ghatani, the director of Raageshree, said his organisation had plans of celebrating Yonzon’s birth anniversary on a similar scale every year.
The other celebrity singers present on the occasion were Gagan Gurung, Madhusudan Lama, Daisy Bareily and Yonzon’s elder brother Karma.
“The first break for Gopal came when his school’s bandmaster heard him play the flute and asked him to join the band. He was very sentimental and short-tempered. A great deal of credit for his success goes to his wife Tinchen,” Karma said.
Though Yonzon was born in Darjeeling, he earned his spurs in the erstwhile hill kingdom of Nepal. Composer of such immortal tunes like Timro jasto mutu mero pani and Chyangba hoi chyangba, he and singer Narayan Gopal completely dominated modern Nepali music in the seventies and eighties.

Nepali language recognition Day in Gangtok

Gangtok & Namchi: The Nepali Sahitya Academy organised a function to celebrate 15th anniversary of language recognition day here in Gangtok as well as in Namchi.

A function was organised at Sahitya Parishad Bhawan in Gangtok today by members of the Sikkim Nepali Sahitya Committee to celebrate the day. Mr Amrit Khaling, a noted Nepali litterateur from Kalimpong, was the chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the function, Mr Khaling, said:“Language is the identity of people. It is a matter of proud for all of us that the Nepali language has been registered in UNO and can be used as an international language.” A poetry reciting competition was also organised to mark the day. Those who took part in the competition included Mr Munna Baral, Mr Arjun Pious, Mr Bhim Thatal, Mr Kishore Moktan, Mr Pravin Rai Jumeli and Mr Sudha M Rai. Students from Tadong Senior Secondary School performed cultural dances and sang songs on the occasion

At the function, Organisation also acknowledged and awarded Nepalese personalities who have contributed in the struggle of Nepali language recognition movement .The Chief guest of function Shri Amrit Khaling from Kalimpong spoke on need to modernise Nepali language and also insisted on need to update Nepali language dictionary and grammar at the interval of every 10 years . Many poets on occasion recited their work before the gathering which also included Shri Kiran Rasaily, Motilal Lakhotia etc.The celebration ended with a small cultural programme.
In Namchi a similar function was organised to celebrate 'Bhasha Manayata Diwas' and also felicitated Shri B.B.Subba, noted musician on occasion.

It may be recalled that the Nepali Language was given recognition by the Government of India in 1992, according to the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Bhasa Samiti, an association of literary figures from Darjeeling and Sikkim, had played a major role in ensuring government recognition for the Nepali language.

Indian Idol3 Judges Says "PRASHANT TAMANG YOU ROCK"

Gangtok: The theme sixth Gala rounds of Indian Idol 3, telecast on SONY was Folk Songs as this episode was graced with presence of popular folks singer Ila Arun as guest judge.The contestants of Indian Idol 3 performed on slow and fast folks numbers from Bollywood movies.All of them were dressed in extremely colourful and bright designer wear.
The good news in today's round that local boy Prashant Tamang who sang a song from movie 'Mission Kashmir" called " Aao yaaron, mere sang sang bolo He, rind posh maal gindane graaye lo lo Ae aaya hoon main pyaar ka yeh naghma sunaane Saari duniya ko ik sur mein sajaane "
The performance by Prashant was simply rocking and after many weeks, all the judges showered positive reactions.

Alisha: Prashant,You are back.
Javed Akhtar: I thought only Darjeeling and Kolkatta always voted for you but after today's performance all of India will vote for you.
Udit Narayan: I was telling you last week that mood meh aaono padhso..and today you are in mood..great performance.
Ila Arun: You reminded me of Darjeeling .

Annu Mallik: I do not think all other judges are right about you and my experience with Indian Idol 1,2,&3....(he gets up and goes up to Prashant on stage) You are first who got a judge to get up and come on stage to express his appreciation.

To vote for your favourite contestant sms the contestants first name to 2525. A BSNL/MTNL fixed land line user can televote by calling 19024242525 followed by 01, 02,. or call on the IVR 1255525 to place your vote. Mobile and wireless consumers can call up 5052525 followed by 01, 02,..to cast your vote. You can also vote Online at www.indianidol.sify.com/iwayvote/

An Interview With Deepa Narayan

From being an airhostess, Deepa Narayan has come a long way. She is now the top notch-producer of Bhojpuri films. A chat with the filmmaker ...

How did you start your singing career?

From an early age I had desired to see two places. One was Bombay, because I wanted to get into crooning that I knew could be achieved here, and second-London, because I wanted to see the Buckingham Palace. In one word, I craved to become a famous person. Having set the above in mind, I came to Bombay 25 years ago. Luckily, I got a job with Air-India as an air hostess. Though I was very happy travelling around the globe, my wish to become a singer was constantly appeasing me. I was a great admirer of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle and aspired to sing like them one day. Suddenly there came a lifetime opportunity to cut a Nepali album Hamro Geet in which I got a chance for the first time in 1979 to sing along with Udit Narayan. The recording quality was so good that from then all Nepali filmmakers started recording their songs in Bombay.
What about your association with Uditji and when did you start singing Hindi songs?

Having sung for a couple of more albums, I fell in love with Udit, after which we got married in 1982. Life was going on fine with Udit making rapid strides on the music scene. I vividly remember that it was in 1989, when Udit was at his peak. He was called to perform in many shows around the country. Once we had gone to Kolkata to take part in three shows of which two shows were limited to a capacity of around 2000-3000, but the third show which was held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium drew a much larger crowd. We had hired a local band and singers to perform. The second show was going on but when it was the turn to sing the duet ‘Ae mere humsafar...’ from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, the female singer’s mike gave way and the song had to be cancelled. I got extremely disturbed. To my dismay, the same thing happened the next day. When the female singer who was to sing the number forgot her lines.
Was it then that you stepped in?

Yes, I made up my mind to sing the number along with my husband but before that I sought permission from him. Once I was given the go-ahead, I went to my mother’s place near Kalibari and rehearsed my lines all night. The next day I sang the song for the first time with Udit in public. Next time when one organiser, Todon Ghosh, from Kolkata came over to negotiate for some shows, I asked him if he had seen the last show we performed titled ‘The Land of Joy’. Upon affirmation, I queried whether the girl who sang with Udit could also be part of the programme? They never recognised me because on stage I was Deepa Jha.But when we went for a particular show at Malda in West Bengal, giant posters reading Udit Narayan and Deepa Narayan greeted us. From then on, I have been regularly singing with Udit, both in India and abroad. Till now, I have done over three thousand shows.
When did you start singing in films then?

Music director Babul Bose heard me in one of the shows and signed me for my first Bengali film Mon Mane Naa. From then on, the doors to singing in films were flung open and I started singing in many languages. I have so far sung in Bhojpuri, Oriya, Maithili, Gujarati and Telugu besides Hindi.
What made you turn producer?

(Giggles) You see I am a keen observer. Travel-ling with Udit to places like Fiji, Mauritius, Holla-nd and Trinidad, I noticed that there were many people there who couldn’t speak Hindi but spoke broken Bhojpuri. At one of our shows in Mauritius, I learnt from organiser Naresh Gajadhar that many people there were originally from India. Their great-grandfathers had come to Mauritius over 100 years ago on the temptation of getting gold and money by the then French rulers, the condition being that if they did not work properly, they would be killed. Today those very people rule the country. Impressed by the talks, I hit upon an idea to make my first Bhojpuri film Kab Hui Gawna Hamaar which went to become a super-duper hit. After this, Bhojpuri film producers started shooting their films abroad.

You have also made another Bhojpuri film.

Yes, I then made Kab Kahaba Tu I Love You starring Amar Upadhyaya, Gul Hamid, Yukta Mookhey and others directed by Anand Ghatraj. This film was a moderate success but I had expected it to be as big as my previous film.
What are your future plans?

For a change I am making a Nepalese film titled Darjeeling Ki Cheli, Kathmandu Ka Jamai. The plot comes from the feeling in the people of Kathmandu that though people came to Darjeeling from Nepal 100 years ago there’s a lot of difference between them. But I am determined to prove them wrong. Take my family’s case. My great-great-grandfather came to India from Nepal about 150 years ago and he was then the first Nepali Magistrate in India. My father was the DIG in the Intelligence Bureau and being a devout music lover he started a trend to have modern music in Nepali language.
Tell us something about your son Aditya?

Aditya has made a place for himself by singing songs which people have liked immensely. He is now the darling of the masses and is currently hosting Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. What he now needs is all the blessings from his fans and listeners.
Do your in-laws live with you?

Yes, they have been happily staying with me since a long time. I take them to every place of pilgrimage all over the country.
Finally how would you sum up your career?

My life started with hope and ambition and now I am enjoying the fruit in anticipation of more name and fame.