Tara Devi - “ A Legend of Nepali Music”

Tara Devi was a Nepali singer. She was known as the "nightingale of Nepal" having recorded over 4,000 songs during her lifetime. Much of her music revolved around the themes of patriotism and love. Tara Devi was born to Krishna Bahadur and Radha Devi on January 15, 1946 at Indra Chowk, Kathmandu. She got married to pilot Shiva Bahadur Shrestha in 1966. Later, she gave birth to two sons -- Sashi and Ravi and a daughter Charu. Since her early says, she started showing her talent in singing. When she was five years old she went to Radio Nepal with the veteran artist Bhairav Bahadur Thapa. When she was singing, everyone who heard her were extremely impressed . Right from an early age, she was able to charm people's attention with her voice. During that period she sang many songs on baal program broadcasted regularly on Radio Nepal.

Since her early days, Tara Devi was appreciated by many. Together with her studies she carried on with her music. After the School Leaving Certificate, she did Bachelors in Music. During the initial days she used to earn Rs 5 for singing one song at Radio Nepal and as time passed she started earning Rs. 100 for each song she sang. With this progress, she was more than happy. As time passed, she was able to get recognition in the music circles as well as the general public. During that period she was also appointed as a Khardar at Radio Nepal. Gradually, she held the position of Nayab Subba and Upasachib and spent 30 years of her career there. It was then that she recorded numerous songs almost in every field such as patriotic numbers, bhajan, modern or even folk numbers. With all of this she was able to contribute her songs to the music loving fans of Nepal.

Tara Devi was in the music scene for more than 50 years and during this time she was able to establish herself as a true daughter of Nepal. She was decorated with ‘Suprashidda Gorkha Dakshin Bahu’ and 'Mahendra Ratna', Indra Rajya Laxmi award, Jagadumba award, Chinnalata award,'Maina' among many others for her contribution in the musical field. When Tara Devi was granted with an honor “Swor Samragi”, she had reached the height of popularity in Nepal as an artist and as a versatile singer. Her popular numbers includes - Ukali oraliharuma, Phulako thunga bagera gayo, Timilai hasera bidamatrai, Saguri bari ni hau, Shubhakama bhari etc. Throughout her singing career, Devi gave her melodious voice to more than 4,000 songs.

Life does not move according to our wish and it does not go according to what we desire. It moves on and on and we are never aware of what will happen the very next moment. Life is all about happiness and sadness. Likewise Tara Devi’s daughter, Sashi expired at a young age due to cancer. Due to this, she went into depression and it had not even been four years when another tragedy struck her life. Her husband died in a plane crash and this added more grief. After this tragedy, she became physically unfit and later was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease . Due to this, she stopped singing further and her new songs were hardly heard. On January 21, 2006 she died a peaceful death at the age of 60. Event though she is not with us right now but her contribution to Nepali Music will be remembered forever and ever and will remain in the heart of music lovers. We, the Nepalese people, should salute such a great legend of Nepali Music Tara Devi, who has given a lot of contributions in promoting Nepali Music.