Singing has, for the most part, been about emulating an artist’s song. That’s how we all learn to sing. Riding on this, covering songs is a huge affair today. A great number of up and coming musicians begin their musical careers not by releasing original works but by performing their versions of popular songs. Most cover artists are music lovers who have nothing more than a guitar and a passion to bring their music to people. While covering songs and posting them on the web initially gained traction in the west, it wasn’t long before Nepal picked up on the trend too.
The Week’s Rakshya Khadka spoke to a few cover artists and here they talk about their motivations and their ultimate love for music.
From dreaming to being
Like most children hooked onto Disney shows, Surakshya Malla was taken by its music. As a child, her favorite show was Hannah Montana and she loved everything about the show. From the dual life Miley was leading to the plotlines of the episodes, she enjoyed it all but what she loved the most were moments Miley took on the stage.
“I’d imagine myself in her place and think about performing on stage myself,” she recalls. As it happened just then, her older brother began playing the guitar and taking an interest in music. With shared interests, they explored more musical artists and learnt to play the guitar together.
Back then, Surakshya’s playlists were dominated by Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Disney soundtracks. Today, there’s a greater variety. “My taste and preferences in music have evolved greatly since then. I prefer indie music now. Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, The Staves and more are the types of artists I now listen to,” she says.
Surakshya is actively performing on stages these days. She has gigs lined up for days and she is living the dream she once wished for. And it all began because of her covers. The first cover she posted was nearly eight years ago on her own YouTube channel and she has posted covers consistently since then (through her accounts on Instagram and Facebook). “My earlier cover videos are just me enjoying the music and having fun so I got quite a significant number of negative remarks,” she says.
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Because she hadn’t quite mastered editing videos people would often criticize her for lip syncing or bad audio. In later days some called her out for using Auto-Tune, an audio processor to measure and alter pitch in vocal and music. Although such comments were disheartening, in retrospect they helped her grow musically as much as the comments that were made in favor of her work.
Having recently finished her Bachelors, Surakshya currently works in marketing and hasn’t quite made up her mind as to what she would like to do with music in the future. But this much she knows for sure: for as long as she can she will perform on stage. “Along with playing the piano, guitar and ukulele I also write original stuff. I compose and write too so I would definitely love for some of my works to get published,” she concludes.
The evolving singer
Jatayu Records’ Palsang Lama is quite the favorite among casual music listeners. As the lead vocalist at Jatayu Records, she has been involved in quite a number of covers, each of which has racked up thousands of views on YouTube. Palsang also posts snippets of her solo covers on Instagram and has quite the following on the social media site.
Palsang never knew that she could do more than hold a note of a song until she participated in a singing competition. It was an inter school competition, meaning there were many talented participants. Her friends put in her name for the competition as a joke and Palsang remembers being terrified at the prospect of having to compete with tens of people. Add to that the fact that she wasn’t sure about her own singing abilities. “But I won and I was surprised that I did. That was the start of my love for music,” she says.
People told her that she was good so she signed up for musical events and made friends who were musically inclined. During her Bachelors program, she was approached by Jatayu Records who explained to her that they had been planning to have her join them for quite some time. It was then that singing became more than just a hobby but something that she did actively. She mostly covers western artists and has been praised for her simplistic style of singing.
There was a time when she listened to a lot of Taylor Swift, The Edge Band and her preferences for music were a reflection of what was trending. Over time, her taste in music has changed and that is also why music means change to her. “Now that I look back, music is my marker for maturity and change. And this is also why it’s even more precious to me,” she explains. Currently she takes great inspiration from artists such as Sam Smith.
So far, Palsang’s musical genre has been RnB and pop but her music is definitely evolving. She occasionally works on original pieces and is in the process of discovering herself through her music.
The Wanderer
Ankita Pun grew up never knowing that she could sing, and sing very well at that. She would casually participate in group antaksharis (a singing game) and join in with her friends. For her singing was fitting in with the tunes of others and an occasional indulgence.
Only when she won a music competition in grade four did she realize that music was her calling. She imagined herself being a musician as an adult and this dream appealed to her more than anything else ever did. So she listened to a great deal of songs, the classics, and the trending. “Back then we didn’t have internet so I listened to whatever that played on the television and whatever my father had stored in his phone,” she recalls.
Born and raised in Dang, Ankita had limited access to popular music growing up. Despite that she listened to a lot of artists whom she grew to respect. She particularly admired Jeevan Gurung’s music. “The melody of his songs and him singing as though he were entranced by his own music captivated me,” she says.
She took basic guitar lessons and practiced singing all by herself. She guessed that her family wouldn’t be all too pleased about her musical direction. But she wanted a platform to share her music and, inspired by the legions of cover artists on YouTube, decided to open an account too. So, in May 2018, she opened her YouTube channel and began uploading her covers.
Some of her earlier covers were from Aastha Tamang Maskey and Tribal Rain. To her surprise, people warmly received her covers and seemed to like her vocals. But it was her cover of ‘Hattaarindai Bataasindai’ by Sajjan Raj Vaidya that brought more people to her channel. The video has been viewed 110,000 times and the Vaidya himself commented on the video praising her for her cover.
Today, Ankita has close to 9000 subscribers but has yet to monetize her account. She’s taking a break from studies and is the vocalist of the band Ethereal. Although her mother has always been supportive, her father is against her taking a gap year to pursue music. But Ankita explains that her hiatus isn’t just for music’s sake but because she has yet to determine what she wants to do in life. “Music, I know, will always remain with me but I sort of feel lost. But I will do my very best to pursue music as I continue my studies,” she asserts.
