Jyoti Magar
(also known as Jyoti Thapa Magar) is a Nepali folk (lok dohori) singer, model,
and an actress.
She started her professional musical career
in 2006 and since then, she has given a number of hit albums and has travelled
extensively within and outside Nepal to perform in stage programs. Jyoti has
been criticized by some media outlets and Nepali social media users for her
provocative and glamorous way of dressing and dancing.
Early Life & Education
Jyoti Magar was born in a village in the
Rolpa district of Nepal. However, her family migrated to Dang when she was
still a toddler. In interviews, she has often said that as a young child she
was more interested in dancing than in singing. She has also said that she
comes from a family that deeply loved music, though not professionally involved
in it.
Jyoti completed her School Leaving
Certificate(SLC) from a school in Dang. Though she joined a college to study an
Intermediate Degree in Arts (IA), she dropped out and decided, instead, to
focus in music.
Music Career
Jyoti Magar signed up with a Kathmandu-based
record company and recorded her first album in 2006. A music video was also
produced, but the company later decided not to release the album, possibly due
to risks involved in producing an album of a new singer en masse.
Magar’s second and third albums Maya Sanga
(with love) and Ui Mulako Sinki Ui Mulako Chana became instant hits all over
Nepal and among Nepali diaspora abroad. As of 2015, she has produced more than
half a dozen albums, giving voice to nearly 30 Nepali folk songs. Jyoti Magar
normally writes and composes her music herself. She also appears as a model in
her music videos. Some of her famous songs include Piratima Dam Chha and Jimmal
Bauki Chhori.
Apart from folk (lok dohori and teej songs)
singing, Jyoti has also appeared in a Gurung-language film and has done radio
dramas and street dramas in the past.
In an interview with the NepaliHeadlines,
when asked if she had any suggestions to newcomers, Jyoti said that music is an
worship to lord Saraswoti and it needs a lot of patience, practice and
sincerity, and if you are entering the musical world just for name, fame and
money, just don’t do that. When asked whether her glamour was appropriate in
Nepali folk music, she responded saying that like curry needs salt; music needs
glamour, and glamour not only in songs, but also in words, meaning and music.
In the same interview, she demanded that the
government of Nepal should provide a different passport or at least an identity
card to artists and celebrities to facilitate international and domestic
travels.
Jyoti Magar has travelled in many countries of
Asia, the Middle East and Europe to perform in musical stage programs mainly
organized by non-resident Nepali organizations abroad.
Controversies
A few television interviews that she appeared
on were either censored and not broadcast at all due to her ‘inappropriate way
of dressing’. Jyoti Magar’s interview conducted by Nepal Telivision Plus (NTV
Plus) was never broadcast because the censor team found it apparently vulgar.
Another interview for Himalayan Television was also censored due to dress
issues.
Jyoti has slammed the claims that she dresses
inappropriately and in a vulgar way. While questioning NTV’s decision not to
broadcast her interview, she said to a Nepali online magazine, “showing little
bit of cleavage is common even among those women who censored it, I was there
in Nepali traditional dress, but it shouldn’t have been censored like that in
any way”.
0 comments:
Post a Comment