63rd Birth Anniversary of Gopal Yonzon celebrated

Kalimpong : Musicians from the hills of north Bengal and Sikkim gathered in Kalimpong to celebrate the 63rd birth anniversary of Nepali lyricist and composer Gopal Yonzon.

The daylong programme at Town Hall was organised by Raageshree Kala Niketan — a music school here.

Singers Ajneesh Rai from Darjeeling, Banika Pradhan from Kurseong, Bhanu Ramudamu and Bimla Cintury from Gangtok, Safal Thapa and Nila Mani Thapa from Siliguri and Thupden Bhutia from Kalimpong rendered compositions by Yonzon.

Besides the musicians, hundreds of fans from different parts of the hills came to pay their tribute to the master who died in 1997.

The composer, who provided music for various Nepali films, including the blockbuster Kanchi, was also known. It was Yonzon who played the flute for the scores in Satyajit Ray’s Kanchanjangha.

“Yonzon was a genius. There will never be a lyricist and composer like him. We are all gathered here to celebrate his music and remember his creations,” said Bipin Syangden, a celebrated lyricist himself.

Yogendra Ghatani, the director of Raageshree, said his organisation had plans of celebrating Yonzon’s birth anniversary on a similar scale every year.

The other celebrity singers present on the occasion were Gagan Gurung, Madhusudan Lama, Daisy Bareily and Yonzon’s elder brother Karma.

“The first break for Gopal came when his school’s bandmaster heard him play the flute and asked him to join the band. He was very sentimental and short-tempered. A great deal of credit for his success goes to his wife Tinchen,” Karma said.

Though Yonzon was born in Darjeeling, he earned his spurs in the erstwhile hill kingdom of Nepal. Composer of such immortal tunes like Timro jasto mutu mero pani and Chyangba hoi chyangba, he and singer Narayan Gopal completely dominated modern Nepali music in the seventies and eighties.

Source: The Telegraph