There used to be an era when Shanti Thatal’s songs were widely popular. However, with time, her compositions started receiving even wider accolades than her songs and she was better known as a composer rather than a singer. During that period, there were not many female composers and it would not be wrong to term her as the first female composer in the Music industry of Nepal. Her compositions are still talked about intensely in the music circles.
Until date, she has about 200 songs together with compositions to her credit. Composing music for movies ‘Paralko Aago’ and ‘Bachna Chahaney’ indeed did tremendously well to her career. Critics were more than impressed with her work in those flicks.
Shanti Thatal was born in 1995 BS in Chokbazaar, Darjeeling to Manu Singh Thatal and Chandra Maya Thatal. They had always wished to give their daughter the best of education but on the other hand, Shanti Thatal was more inclined towards singing and dancing. Initially, she had learned music under the guidance of Shiva Prasad Singh and Bhanu Ghosh. Because of them, she even reached to Calcutta to learn music at Ravindra Sangeet Bishwovidhyalaya. Over there, she was able to polish her talent in music. After the course was over, she came back to Darjeeling. Once here, she joined Himalaya Kala Mandir where she again started learning music. She had a good relation with Amber Gurung. Aruna Lama used to be her best friend. Gopal Yonjon and Karma Yonjon were her favorite musicians. She was even close to Dil Maya Khati and their relation motivated and encouraged her to do her best in music. She also started teaching music at Kendriya Vidhyalaya and at the same time was actively involved in doing music.
She received her basic education at Saint Terasa School, Darjeeling She has done bachelors in Music as well as has received her formal education until bachelors. Due to her education background, she was selected to work in a Government Office, Sikkim. Over here, she was the director at Cultural Department. Due to her work, music just became her passion and was sidelined. Whenever, she was free from work she used to indulge herself in music and that was it.
Since childhood, she was a very fine singer and also had a keen interest in composing music. It was in 2020 BS that she did playback music for Ishwor Ballav’s gitikatha called ‘Yeuta Nilo Suryasta’. This was the beginning of her career as a composer! For that particular gitikatha, she had chosen to work with Mani Kamal Chhetri. ‘Yeuta Nilo Suryasta’ was a hit in West Bengal. After this only, she had composed music for ‘Paralko Aago’.
In 2022 BS, she came to Kathmandu and sang “Samhalera Rakha” in one of the cultural programs here. In this event, the Late King Mahendra was also present and her performance had impressed him to the core. She has not sung many songs and has not composed music for numerous numbers but still she was able to make her mark in the music sect. Since she had a job to take care of, whenever she was free she would record songs and this indeed benefit her. She simply loves playing harmonium and whenever she has some free time for herself, she cannot think of doing anything besides music. She also chose to lead a single life and she is happy with her decision as well.
Shanti Thatal is the recipient of Academy Award, Irrigation Award and she has also been honored by Radio Nepal.
by
Narendra Raj Prasai
Nepali to English
Translated by
Dipti Sherchan
