Creating Melodies
As a prominent music director and an arranger, Moktan has enriched Nepali music with his beautiful compositions
By THAKUR AMGAI
His days, mornings and evenings all are musical. During the day he arranges music for prepared melodies. During the fresh morning air, he creates his own melodies and adds various musical instruments in them. Even at the off hours, when the family gathers together, most of the talk spins around the issues of music as all members of the family are into music. We could probably say this gentleman eats music, talks music and sleeps music.
Sheela Bahadur Moktan, who was born in the beautiful Darjeeling city about half a century ago, started becoming recognized as a talented music director immediately after his first song ‘Kahile Kahin Malai Pani Herideu Hai Pharkiyara, Sandhai Bhari Najau Timi Ma Dekhi Tarkiyera’ was recorded in Radio Nepal in 2039. Although, he had written this song by himself and has also penned a couple of other songs, he started focusing on music arranging, music direction and teaching music in the latter part of his career.
Moktan began his musical career from All India Radio as a casual singer. He passed the voice test for singing at Kharsang broadcasting station of All India Radio in 2036 and recorded about two dozen songs such as ‘Hoina Maile Takeko, Baduli Lageko’, ‘Ankha Kahilyai Najudhos’, ‘Aja Dekhi Ma’ and ‘Pheri Yad Ayo’. Moktan himself wrote and composed these songs.
In his childhood Moktan was very fond of singing and playing flute. “We used to listen to Premdhoj Pradhan’s songs like ‘Goreto Tyo Gaunko’and ‘Ghumtima Naau Hai’; Bhakta Raj Acharya’s songs like ‘Maya Meri Sanjh Bani’ from gramophone disc records and Hindi songs from the All India Radio and sing them at various religious and social functions such as weddings and village fairs,” reminisces Moktan.
The musical ambience of Darjeeling certainly had a positive impact on nurturing his flair in music. He vividly remembers carving holes in bamboo canes to resemble it with a flute and playing it. He did all this, singing and playing music out of sheer interest and never thought that he would continue to be engaged in this field, let alone become a popular artiste of the entire nation one day.
Later, as his interest towards music grew stronger, he started learning classical music. Initially, he learned classical in Darjeeling with J. C. Rai and later with Surya Kant Goit. When he came to Kathmandu he recorded a couple of classical hymns in his voice.
After he came to Kathmandu in 2040, he started composing and arranging music in Radio Nepal . “In those days Radio Nepal used to be the meeting point of all the singers, music directors and lyricists. So, we too, used to gather at the premises of Radio Nepal and write and compose songs. Apart from our regular dates, we used to prepare and record filler songs instantly whenever the studio was available,” said Moktan.
Moktan’s encounter with Kunti Sundas, who later got married to him, was a pleasant co-incidence, which has helped a lot to boost Moktan’s musical career.
“Two of us used to sing Bhajans on every full moon day with Shambhu Prasad Mishra and Nara Raj Dhakal at a temple at the Royal palace. That gave us a good earning in those days,” says Moktan recalling the good old days.
While he continued working as a music director, Moktan also taught music at various schools for almost a decade. He joined Music Nepal as a part-time music arranger in 2045 and worked for three years. He rejoined the job as a full-timer, where Moktan is working till date.
Over the years, Moktan has given melodies to more than five hundred songs including modern, folk, devotional (Bhajans) and patriotic songs. Most of these songs are sung by his wife Kunti Moktan. Selected songs composed by Moktan has been collected in fifteen different solo albums and a number of collection albums. Likewise, Moktan has also composed music for the songs of two Nepali feature films ‘Jwala’ and ‘Jalan’.
Through his music Moktan is widely known among the audience and earns a lot of respect and love from them. “This warmth and love the audience provide is my greatest achievement from being a musical personality,” Moktan. “As a public figure, I also feel that my responsibility has increased further.”
