This collaboration, while making a contribution to Nepali music, also aims to revive the once-famous music industry of Darjeeling Hills. Considered to be the heart of Nepali Art, Culture, and Music at one time, Darjeeling today seems to have lost touch with its musical heritage and forgotten its glorious past.

The song is titled “Harek Sanjh ko maun suskerama” and slated to be released on YouTube later this week.

About the Collaborators

• YANKEE YOLMO: The VOICE of Nepal sensation, who recently came back from her musical tours at Nepal, UAE, Hongkong, & UK, 
• VEDANT BARAILY: Music composer and arranger is the frontman of Ginger feet Band, that has played at the MTV Xtreme Music Festival and featured as opening Band for Slash (Guns N Roses) ft Mikes Kennedy, NH7 Weekender Festival (opening for Mutemath), Orange festival Dambuk (Co-headliner with Yngwie Malmsteen). Vedant is an Engineer in Electrical & Electronics Engineering by profession and holds a Distinction grade (ATCL) in Western Classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London. He has composed original instrumental pieces like “Daydreaming”, “Something is gotta give” and has recently scored the background music in Nepali film “Chayya”, which is yet to be released.
• Mrs PUSHPA RAI: Famous Nepali feminist, columnist, songwriter and a novelist, recipient of the prestigious Badri Narayan Purashkar. 
• DANIEL RAI:  Having worked as an official photographer for Vans, DC & Red Bull, and some of India’s top social media influencers like Komal Pandey and Dolly Singh, Rai recently headed the behind the scenes of the upcoming feature film “Broken Wings”. Daniel was recently felicitated by Ufirst magazine in photography and cinematography.
• NINAD VAJRA RAI: A commercial pilot by profession, Ninad is the Director of “Walling House Productions”.

Tell us about your experience from the journey as the participant of the VOICE (Nepal) to the recordings of “Harek Sajhako maun suskera ma…”

Yankee Yolmo: The Voice of Nepal, for me was much more than just singing a reality show. It was a platform that not only gave me exposure and showcased my talent, but also gave me recognition in the Nepali-speaking communities across the world. I am glad to have experienced such a once in a lifetime experience and grateful to all the amazing coaches who helped me in the journey to realize my potential.

All the coaches have mentored me to improve, not simply by encouraging, but also pointing out my flaws and pushing me hard to practice.  Through this show I also had the opportunity to meet many amazing artists and genuine people who gave me the encouragement to sing better every day, and the blessings  and best wishes of my close friends and family is my constant source of strength.

There is still a lot more to achieve in my career as a singer, but I am always grateful that I choose The VOICE of Nepal as a stepping stone to realize my dreams as a singer.

The new song, Harek Sajha… is a stepping stone into the world as a singer with originals and pray that all the viewers will appreciate my work and bless me with warm acceptance. 

Where did you give live performance after the VOICE and how do we see Yankee after 5 years??

Yankee Yolmo: I had done several live shows before VON in various places like Sikkim, Siliguri, Kalimpong, but after the VON journey it was different experience performing in front of massive crowds. I went to many parts of Nepal – first at Taplejung, then UAE, Hongkong, & UK. There were more opportunities but because of Covid 19, the shows took the backseat. The last I gave an online Live performance was at the Park Studio, Darjeeling. 

Well to see me after 5 yrs down the line, I would say Music is my passion and will remain as an integral part of my life. So, you’ll be seeing Yankee Yolmo with more originals, music and just music.  

Your experience on shifting genre from Western to Nepali song. 

VEDANT: I have always wanted to explore Nepali Music since my early days. The harmonic panorama of great Nepali composers like Shri Gopal Yonzon, Shri Amber Gurung, etc and deliverance of giants like Swar Samrat Narayan Gopal and Smt. Aruna Lama to name a few, have always intrigued me musically and has had an immense impact on the way I hear things now.

I would not call it shifting heads totally but an opportunity for me to compose/ arrange Nepali song with such immaculate depth of lyrical writings has made me realize the essence and beauty of music being served as a universal language, challenging task yet beautiful.

Your mood as a composer with “Harek sajhko maun suskerama…” and justifying the lyrics of a prominent feminist writer??

VEDANT: It was a complete new experience for me to compose Boju’s (Mrs. Pushpa Rai) song, which has so much of depth and clarity in her thoughts. To justify the message through music in itself was a greater challenge that stood my way. I have tried my best to keep it upbeat to cater young listeners and also enhance harmonically to justify the lyrics.  The mood eventually got driven to a Jazz-funk genre, guess it’s a flavor of Nepali music. Hopefully I have been able to deliver.

How do you see Nepali Music Industry in Darjeeling in the next 5 years?

VEDANT: Well Nepali music has reached an evolutionary stage of experimentation, with a lot of influences open from the western world, we are now in a stage where a plethora of sounds can be introduced. The audience now is receptive to these changes and I guess now is the time to represent our literature and music globally.

Your experience as a DOP and the team behind the scenes in the song and message to young entrepreneurs who have taken Mass Communication as their major in Colleges?

DANIEL RAI: I personally wanted to shoot Harek Sanjh myself but I wanted to really understand my vision. I shared my ideas with Bibek Thapa (DOP), who is a graduate from Mass Com Dept, St. Josephs College, currently working with A Monk and the Warrior Production on the feature film “Broken Wings”, he completely understood my vision and I decided that he would be perfect to be my DOP. My editor Issac Thami, Negacy Angom (Student of Mass Com), Manish Chettri, Farman Khan assisted me behind the scenes of the song. 

The future is really bright and has always been for the students that have opted for Mass Communication. Most top class journalist, photographers, cinematographers, writers have made their mark in this world via their major but not only do the studies count but the physical aspect, the technicalities, the love and the craziness also goes a long way so my advice would be to love what you do, without sacrifice there is victory and without handwork there ain’t no glory.

Ninad Vajra Rai: The production house has recently published a novel “Farak Bato…” by Dr Remika Thapa, and is dedicated fully to contribute and promote Nepali literature through non-profit publication works. Ninad told our correspondent over the phone that Darjeeling was popular and known for music, Western or Nepali songs. Music was and is an integral part of our culture but due to lack of scope and paucity of funds it has taken the back seat.  We need to give a thought and come forward to revive this glory. Let few people like our production house come up with more songs and create platform to young talents, to encourage and tell the world that talents in Darjeeling are not dead and lastly would beseech all the viewers to share the song in maximum as a step to boost the morale of upcoming musicians.

The video is slated to be public very soon and I would also like to thank Mr Deep Arora uncle (Forbidden Fruit) for all the help and arrangements and Mr Ajnish Rai for the wonderful translation of the lyrics and recording of the voice.

The recording was done at The Wild Wood Studio, Darjeeling and mixing at Mumbai.

The DC congratulates and wishes best of luck to Yankee and the entire team for their grand success. 

The interview was originally posted in Darjeeling Times.

The post Darjeeling Artists to Collaborate on the first Nepali Jazz-Funk music appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

About Rahul Singh

While in school he and a couple of friends formed a band and called it Insanity (2003) and the journey began. The band split after it cut its first Nepali album called Stainless Tears. Rahul was 14 years old then but the album was a major milestone. He instantly decided to pursue music as his career.

During his high school days Rahul co founded Third Eye, a popular rock band from Darjeeling. The band toured and played prestigious music festivals across the country including Independence Rock (2008). Rahul, during these days bagged many music awards, but finds the best Vocalist award during the Spring Fest, IIT Kharagpur (2007), when he was just 18 years old, the most inspiring moment of his life. 

Rahul is also a popular session player for various Bollywood artistes both studio and live

About “For the Love”

‘For The Love’ is a song about love and the video is a nostalgic reminiscence of the young spirit. With plain simple words, the image of romantic rural charm, and the soulful music can make a lasting impression in your memory. 

• Recording engineer: Rahul Sharma ( AMV Studios, Mumbai) Singer/songwriter: Rahul Singh
• Mixed and Mastered: Chris Brown ( Abbey Roads Studios, London )
• Concept/Direction: Sohit K Sarkar Thakuri
• DOP: Sailesh Bhosle
• Asst.Director: Razzak
• Editor: Fakhre Alam 
• Creative: Tanuj Bohra

TheDC had covered Rahul’s journey in 2016 when he was beginning his journey to Bollywood. We are replugging the story here for our readers to enjoy and get inspired.

The Bollywood Journey

Currently based in Mumbai, Rahul Singh has been as a part of the Bollywood music industry for the past 8 years. Darjeeling, Rahul, in the country, is one of the most reputed audio engineering colleges in the country, School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in the West Point School after completing his Higher Secondary Education. Ever since his sixth standard Rahul will tell his family and friends that his ambition is to pursue music and follow it big. While in school he and a couple of friends took a band and called it Insanity and the journey started. The band split after it cut its first Nepali album called Stainless Tears.

Rahul was 14 years old then the album was a major milestone. He instantly decided to pursue music as his career.

During his high school days he co-founded another band called the Third Eye. The band was a success. It won the IIT Kharagpur spring fest by Rahul the best Vocalist in the year 2007. The following year the band also won the Times of Youth Challenge Competition Kolkata. The same year The Third Eye moved on to the finalists for Independence Rock 2008.

In the end of year 2008 Rahul moved to Mumbai to join SAE. “The college was a great learning platform and it was a wonderful experience” – says Rahul.

He passed out as a topper in the year 2010. Rahul started off and a couple of Television Soaps for programming and arranging. Eventually he started playing guitar in Bollywood as a session player both live and studio. During this time he also appeared in some commercial advertisements like Nerolac paintings, Cadbury Eclairs and Cafe Coffee. “I think it was just luck that I made it through the auditions but the ads pay good money and it helps you like a city like Mumbai in the sustainability” – says the forever smiling musician.

Initially Rahul started playing with Indian Idol and Saregama singers like Meyeng Chang, Swaroop Khan and many more in a few months and he started playing for a lot of Bollywood musicians. The list ranges from Shivani Kashyab to Pakistani Sufi rock band Reath. Eventually it listed names like Gajendra Verma, Gaurav Dagaoukar, Shalmali and the big names like Mohit Chauhan, Arijit Singh, and Ankit Tiwari.

The young lad from the hills says that it was a dream to come true in Berklee College Of Music, which has produced legends like John Mayer, John Scofield, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, and many more during his month long tour to US and Canada with the Bollywood biggie, Mohit Chauhan in the year 2014.

The 29 year old cherishes his moment when he played at Wembley, London last year. I was really excited by the stage of a stage where the bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and many more.

Rahul has already done two US tours with Mohit Chauvan and Ankit Tiwari respectively covering almost 52 out of 52 states. He has also toured most of Europe and Asia in his recent Europe and Asia tours with various Bollywood artites.

Rahul has contributed his guitars to Bollywood movies like Table No. 21 and sixteen and a couple of TV soaps / ads and recently for the movie RUSTOM starring Akshay Kumar. He has also done background scores for daily soaps for Channel V. There are commercial jingles produced by him as well.

He has also featured in MTV Unplugged with Ankit Tiwari and has played in GIMMA Awards, Mirchi Awards and IIFA Awards (Malaysia) in the year 2015.

The greatest achievement of his life is his first Bollywood movie- “The Legend of Micheal Mishra”, which he debuts him and his music partner Som Burman as Music Directors. Som and Rauhl as they are known in Bollywood music fraternity these days, each other in Mumbai while pursuing their course in sound engineering from SAE college. It was during this period of time when they both realized that they share common musical taste and likes. Ever since they started living together as room mates. The goal was common, that is to score for the mainstream Bollywood movie as a composer duo.

The Struggle

Their struggle started in the year 2008, which includes sleepless nights, rejection from producers, misleading by fake filmmakers etc.

Mumbai is a wild city and is here to survive a task in itself. In the meanime, to earn their bread n butter Som started off programming and the Bollywood tracks arranged professionally, which he continues till now. He has produced tracks for music directors like Amal Malik, Vivek Kar, Gajendra Verma. He has tracks for movies like “Sanam Re”. “Meruthiya Gangsters” .. “Direct Ishq” .. “One Night Stand”.

Som-Rahul also hit television for hit music shows like “hum se hai life” .. “Suvreen Guggal”, “BFF”. Thereafter Rahul chose to visit a guitarist with renowned singers like Mohit Chauhan, Ankit Tiwari and so on.

Som continued to show music for TV shows like “the buddy project” .. “Savdhan India” .. “Palak pe Jhalak” and the latest musical drama “Meri Awaaz Hi Meri Pehchaan” aired in “And TV” with very talented music composer Shivi. R.Kashyap, while Rahul toured almost the entire world with Bollywood biggies.

The Big Day

In 2014, Rahul’s friend Upasana Chettri, who is a profession assistant director, gave them a call saying Manish Jha is a film directing, why not you guys come and pitch it? “This phone call changed everything in Som-Raul’s life.

They went for pitching and Manish Jha, well known for his critically acclaimed film “Matrubhumi” and “Anwar” to give the situation to the song in his movie.

After a week of hard work, they went to his office with 17 different tracks. Unfortunately, all of them rejected. Frustrated, they came home and locked themselves up in their room. All of a sudden both of them woke up and the tune of the song “Nikhattoo” clicked in. Next morning they went to Jha’s office for the pitching. Manish Jha, after listening to the rough cut his head and said “bingo! This is the track I was looking for. Go downstairs and sign the agreement!”

This was the biggest day in Som-Taul musical career.

So, stay tuned for some unique and crazy musical experience and keep your love and support to this young and very talented musician from our beloved hills .

The post Portrait of an Artist: Rahul Singh appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.