The Nepali music scene has a long history of its struggles and glory. Social media has been one of the major platforms for both the fresh as well as veterans musicians in recent years, and 2019 took it up a notch. In 2019, many important events took place that is bound to shape or at least shuffle the music scene in the coming years. Here are the five music-related episodes that were connected to social media in one way or the other.

Moral policing of the artists 

On the charges of promoting “anti-social” values, rapper V-TEN and singer Durgesh Thapa were arrested. This generated a considerable amount of outcry among people—both in physical public spaces and social media—who questioned the government’s decision to arrest citizens without significant cause and the curtailment of freedom of speech. Before that, popular folk singer Pashupath Sharma was also threatened by the youth wing of the ruling party for his song, ‘Lootna Sake Loota Kancha’. Sharma’s song, published on his YouTube channel, was deleted after the singer received threats. 

1974 AD’s revival 

From Kta Haru to Brijesh Shrestha, from Prakash Saput to Bartika Rai, every artist found a platform to connect with the audience. Thanks to digital music sharing platforms, mostly urban Nepali music lovers had an opportunity to listen to diverse genres of music.

Platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud have allowed artists to reach out to the mass even if they aren’t backed by big names. ‘Timilai’ by Kelsang Shrestha, the 17-year-old aspiring artist who has received more than 570,000 views and garnered appreciation shows that with good music and internet, you may not require support from a reputed music label. 

Just when the year 2019 begun, Nepali music lovers witnessed something new. As heterosexual narrative has always dominated the Nepali music industry, Sajjan Raj Vaidya’s ‘Hataarindai, Bataasindai’ broke this repetitive portrayal and featured two men who are in love embracing each other in one of its scenes. The video was appreciated for its subtlety and treating love as love, nothing less, nothing more.

Vaidya also came with another song, ‘Pahaar’, the official soundtrack for a web series, Just Another Love Story.

Kta Haru’s catchy song ‘Nare Nisha’ was also appreciated for not only including this year’s Gai Jatra Pride Parade but also having a whole song dedicated towards the LGBTIQ community. All of these were a big hit across various social media platforms. 

TikTok stars venturing into music videos