There used to be a time when Sushila Kansakar was a household name. Whenever people used to listen to her sing, they were in awe of her. During that era, she definitely ruled over the Nepali Music scene.
The most amazing thing about her is that she has always been a very down-to-earth person. She never let popularity get in her head. Though she does not have too many songs to her credit, the songs that she sang is still fresh as ever. She never asked for favors as such.
She was born on Jestha 29, 2004 BS to Nil Ratna Kansakar and Harsha Devi Kansakar. She had a keen interest in music since her childhood. When she joined Kanya Mandir High School, she was able to make a name for herself because of her singing and dancing capabilities. Whenever there was a function organized in school, she was sure to hog the limelight
In 2018 BS, she sang at Radio Nepal on the occasion of their anniversary. It was then onwards that she came to the forefront. The then King Mahendra had also listened to her and it was also during that time that she was able to bag the first position in the Modern Singing Competition organized by the Radio Nepal. After she came first, King Mahendra awarded her with a gold medal. This motivated her to polish her talents further. Thereafter, the songs that she chose to sing introduced her to the public and in no time, she became the personal favorite of many, fans and musicians alike.
Right from her school days, Sushila Kansakar was not only a ‘gifted’ singer but was equally active in social service as well. She was constantly encouraged to help the society by Prem Bahadur Kansakar. Since she was also one of the members of the scouts team in her school, at times she used to visit places with other scouts and do social work. Once, it so happened that she was given an opportunity to perform at a function where the guest of honor was none other than the then Prime Minister of China Chau Yen Lai. He was so impressed by her singing talents that he couldn’t help but praise her. This indeed is one the most memorable moments of her life. During that time, she had also reached Singha Durbar where she had to perform for a British dignitary. Those days, this was considered a huge achievement.
Sushila Kansakar received her School Leaving Certificate (SLC) from Kanya Mandir High School. Thereafter she joined Tri Chandra College from where she completed her studies until Bachelors (BA) and then on, she joined Tribhuvan University from where she completed her Masters in Economics. After completing her studies, she started working. In 2032 BS, she joined Sadak Bivag as an officer. Here, she met Suresh Raj Dali who was working there as an engineer. They tied the knot in 2038 BS. They have two sons — Sirish and Sohanish.
After getting married, Sushila Kansakar did continue singing but she couldn’t give that much of a time as she did before getting married. Nevertheless, she did sing occasionally and her songs were regularly played on Radio Nepal. She went to Australia where she studied Engineering Science. In fact, she is one of the few first Nepali artists, who has a very good educational background.
During her tenure of service, she even held the post of Vice Secretary at Nepal Government. Veteran artist Natikaji once shared that as she not working more on her music in the latter years of her life, was indeed a huge loss to the Music industry of Nepal. Actually, he was none other than Natikaji himself who first introduced her at Radio Nepal.
She has been honored with Birendra Aishwarya Sewa Padak. The numbers that she sang, be it in Newari, modern or even patriotic, she did justice to all genres. She has not recorded many numbers but the few that she has done is so popular that it is still doing the rounds on various FM stations.
by
Narendra Raj Prasai
Nepali to English
Translated by
Dipti Sherchan
