The music industry today in Nepal is Dynamic and Diverse. With the widespread of the internet and technologies, the Nepali Music scene has been growing at a fast pace. This rapid growth creates tight competition among uprising musical talents.
Thousands of people dream to make their career in the music industry but only a few major talents succeed. Despite the difficulties, talent never fails to rise and shine. We have brought you the list of 10 talented Nepali female singers in recent times. The talented Nepali female singers included in the list are unique and brilliant talents of today’s music industry. So let’s head to the list.
1. Anju Panta
Having garnered millions of fans globally, Anju Panta is unarguably one of the extremely talented Nepali female Singers, Nepali Music industry has ever seen. She is a well-renowned playback singer who is equally skilled to sing other modern, pop, classical, gazal genres.
The singer’s major hit was an album titled “kampan” which has popular songs like “ma pyar bechi dinchhu”, “basanta nai basna khojchha”, “Karkalo Gabha”, “Reli Khola Bagara”, “Aha Banma Phulyo Phulyo” etc. Her gazal “Na Birse Timilai Na Paye Timilai” is considered one of the best songs of her career.She sang popular numbers including the title song of “Ma Timi Bina Marihaalchhu”, “bhun bhun bolyo bhamara”, “dil yo mero dil”. People hugely loved her songs, making her songs the top CRBT downloaded songs among female singers. She has recorded more than 6000 songs to date. She won a prestigious Gold medal in all Nepal singing Competitions organized by Radio Nepal including dozen more awards.
2. Melina Rai
Another extremely talented Nepali female singer is Melina Rai. One of the most popular singers, Melina Rai was musically trained by her musician father Jibesh Rai. Her Melodious voice and her charming looks have stolen millions of hearts.
Her career in the Nepali music industry kick-started with her Hit song “Kammar Mathi Patuki’ But Kutu ma Kutu heightened her fame. She has secured a special space in the industry with many of her hits like “tmle bato fereu arey”, “Shiraima Shirbandi” and her latest hits “ey hai maya and “ arko juni khai koni’. She has given her voice to more than 600 songs, has sung for over 50 movies as a playback singer. She has received the best playback singer female award at the Radio Kantipur awards 2017.
3. Milan Amatya
Milan Amatya is the most sought after the extremely talented female singer from Nepal. Her ability to sing magnificently in different languages with ease is her special forte. She can sing in different languages like Assamese, Bodo, Mishin, Rajasthani. She sings modern, pop, adhunik, classical, folk, gazal, festival, devotional genres.
She has sung over 300 Nepali songs in collection albums and films. Her most popular single numbers are ‘jaile samma sansar ma’, ‘Dui Thopa Aashu’, ‘Sindoor’, ‘phul tipera mala gasu’, ‘jani najani’ whereas the most viewed movie hits numbers are Slowly Slowly and Gala Ratai. She was honored with the very prestigious ‘natikaji lokpriya sangeet prativaa puraskar’
4. Abhaya Subba Weise
Abhaya Subba is a renowned singer, songwriter, and musician in Nepal. She is the founder, lead-vocalist, and frontwoman of the famous five-member rock band ‘Abhaya and the steam engines’. Her band got a massive fan following as Nepali audiences had never seen or heard such powerful female vocalists. Her music is inspired by Led Zeppelin, Blondie, The clash, Steely Dan, and green day. The bold singer broke the gender stereotype in the band music scene with her powerful music talent.
Her Nepali Music Career skyrocketed with hit songs like Timro lagi, hawa huri majhi dai etc. The band won the number 1 band of Nepal by Radio Kantipur in 2009. She conducted many programs like ’sprite band challenge- freedom to rock’ and ’women in concert’ to give a platform to underrated talents and empower female musicians. She was one of the judges of ‘the voice of Nepal’s first edition.
5. Indira Joshi
Indira Joshi is a Nepali singer, model, and dancer born in Nawalparasi. She is one of the most popular Female singers in the Nepali music industry today. She is proficient in singing genres like modern, pop, Adhunik and playback. She is well known for her stage performance. Indira’s attractive belly dance has captivated a lot of fans earning her the nickname “Nepali Shakira’. Currently, she is a judge of an international franchise reality show Nepal Idol.
When she was a child, her grandmother was the first person to guide her in music. Later, when she grew up she participated in the singing competition ‘ko vanda ko kam’ where she won the title, and Nepali tara where She was able to be the only female finalist.Indira Joshi gained popularity after she released her first debut album ‘dance with me’ from which rato ghagara’ established her as a singer. Her other popular numbers include just one click, behuli, boyfriend, etc. She has also given lots of hit film numbers like udhreko choli, motorcycle ma, Chiya coffee, first love, etc. Her lively songs and energetic stage performance are highly loved by the audience. She is the winner of Kantipur music honors best female pop, de re na awards for international collaboration and most enchanting award Nepali tara.
6. Astha Raut
Astha Raut is one of the most demanded Nepali female singers and songwriter. She was born Born in 1990 in kathmandu. Her first commercialy hit song was a remix number ‘saal ko paat tapari’ elevated her to higher level. She is competent in pop, modern, and playback singing. Her bold vocal is the unique asset that separates her from other female singers. Her songs carry the modern message of traditional beliefs. Superhit songs like ‘Chaubandi ma Patuki’ and jhumke bulaki’ boosted her rise in the music industry. She was one of the judges in The voice of Nepal season 2(2019).
Born and brought up under the musical guidance of a folk singer father and lyricist mother, Raut was musically guided from an early age. The talented singer won the title three times in the Kathmandu valley singing competition while she was just in class 5. Her notable songs are ‘saal ko paat tapari’, ‘jhumke bulaki’, ‘chaubandi ma patuki’, ‘kadam chala’ etc. She has also given hit movie numbers like ‘maya yo maya’ (maya’s bar), ‘chalak chalak(dhuwani), baal matlab( lanka)’ and many more. She has won the Image Award for best vocal performance, young mind awards, best pop female vocal awards. Astha is growing as a successful playback singer and launched her second album aadhar 2 in 2019 from which ‘nakaima fuli’ song became the most loved and viewed song by the audience.
7. Trishna Gurung
Talented singer Trishna Gurung is a Kathmandu popular singer, songwriter, and composer among the Nepali youth. The beautiful singer was born on September 5, 1994, in Bhairahawa. She can sing many genres like lok, dohori, rock, jazz, etc with ease but she loves singing folk and pop. Apart from singing, she is highly skilled in writing composing her own songs. She can also play guitar and harmonium well.
She was raised in a musical environment of guitarist brothers. Since a small child, she sang and later started practicing music with her brothers. She takes her brothers as her musical inspiration and mother as her idol. This self-taught singer made her debut in the Nepali music industry with the slow rock song ‘Daiba Janos at the young age of 13. Trishna rose to fame with her song Khani ho yamu ” w happened to be the milestone for her music career. khani ho yamu was her first song to reach a million views on youtube that eventually heightened her music career. After the success of her second song, she took short-term music classes and released her first album Trishna in 2013. The album is a collection of 5 songs. She gave us many hit numbers like Gainey dajaile, Maya pirati, sajhako bela, Gurasai phulyo, kati baschau pardesamai, rail lai ma, maya man bhari, and so on. Most of her songs are available on her official youtube channel. She is a nominee for Hits FM music award and radio kantipur music award.
8. Samriddhi Rai
Samriddhi Rai is a well-known singer, songwriter, journalist, vlogger, and media personality of Nepal. Samriddhi rai cant is described in one single word. August 13, 1987, born singer/songwriter is a multitalented artist. She has been a journalist, VJ, RJ, emcee, sportsperson, beauty pageants titleholder, traveler. Her friends and family call her by nickname ‘sam”. She sings pop genre. She is most known for her original singles and lyrics on self-love and women empowerment. She is of bold nature and authentic attitude. She pens down her thoughts and ideas into lyrics. Some of her songs are about dreams.y love while others reflect the social issues.
Her songs are enriched with soulful melodies and have provoking meaningful lyrics. She started off her music career with her debut song Biswas in 2014, released on youtube. The song was written and composed by herself. Although the song was praised for its meaningful lyrics it went underrated. Soon, in the same year, the singer released ‘ma chai Nepali written, composed, and sung by herself. The song was praised for its meaningful lyrics and melodic tune of the sarangi. The song was a superhit and established Samriddhi rai in the Nepali music industry. Her other successful song is “prayers”, a hit collaboration with Rohit john Chhetri.
Later in 2019, She released her first album ‘ma dami chu’. The album has 5 songs as of now. Some of her hit numbers are Ma Dami chu, ma chai Nepali, prayas, samaj ko Kura, herana which have over million views on youtube. She won the National music award for the best female pop vocalist in the same year. In 2016 she took onto a thrilling move and started the youtube travel series ‘Sammy adventures’. She has been a very successful personality in multiple fields and is an inspirational role model to youngsters.
9. Bartika Eam Rai
Bartika Eam rai is a celebrated Indie genre singer/songwriter from Nepal currently based in the US. Her thought-provoking lyricism and haunting voice make her music stands out from mainstream Nepali music. Writing being her major strength, her use of authentic Nepali words and tongue is the unique part of her music. Bartika’s career in the Nepali music industry took off its flight with the song ‘Khai’ from her debut EP ’Bimbaakash’. She has given many hit numbers such as ‘Khai’, ‘Najeek’, ‘Timi ra ma’, ‘Umer’, ‘Simana’, ‘Taral’ etc. Most of her songs are the abstract portrayal of her feelings and experiences that resonates with global audiences.
She won song of the year and best female pop vocal performance at the hits FM music awards 2018 for ‘Khai’ whereas Aasha(ii) from Taral won her song of the year hits FM music awards 2020.
10. Jerusha Rai
Jerusha rai is a multitalented singer, composer, and musician of the Nepali music scene based in the US at present. Jerusha started her musical journey in 2011. Jerusha is an independent artist who makes ambient soft rock and electronic music with a touch of traditional Nepali folk. Coming from an indigenous background herself, She focuses on exploring the hidden genre in indigenous music. She is a powerhouse for a person who writes, records, arranges, produces, designs, and performs her songs.
She is also a multi-instrumentalist and plays Tungna, African mbira apart from the guitar. Apart from Nepali folk music, Her music is greatly inspired by Cameroonian music and artists like Francis Babey, Richard bona, Mali music, and bands like Tinariwen which bears similarities with Nepali folk. Music for her is a spiritual thing—a meditation and she doesn’t think of coming to the mainstream scene rather contributing to the growing indie scene in Nepal.