Today marks the one year death anniversary of Nepali Golden Voice, Late Prem Dhoj Pradhan.
Prem Dhoj Pradhan was a regional playback singer, songwriter, and singer. He sang in both Newari and Nepali, Nepal’s two official languages. He was also regarded as the King of Nepalese Romantic Melodies and the Golden Voice.
Pradhan was Nepal’s first guitarist and the first Nepali vocalist to collaborate with Indian playback singer Usha Mangeshkar for the film Maitighar in 1965. He sung duets with Asha Bhosle for the film Mayalu in Bombay, India, in 1985. Throughout his career, Pradhan experimented with several musical styles and recorded over 700 songs in both languages on Radio Nepal, including live broadcasts and recorded songs.
Ratna Dhoj Pradhan, a businessman, and Pran Devi Pradhan, a musician, gave birth to Prem Dhoj Pradhan on June 6, 1938, in Chautara, a tiny town 28 miles east of Kathmandu.
Pradhan’s parents divorced while he was a child, and he was nurtured by his mother and her family, who instilled a passion of music in him.
His mother was a gifted performer who instilled in him a love of music. He also recalls listening to classical music for an hour every night with his grandfather at a time when ordinary Nepalese were prohibited from listening to the radio.In 1967, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Saraswati Multiple Campus, TU.
Pradhan began his musical career in 1952, when he auditioned for Radio Nepal. The station, which was previously only allowed to transmit political material, began functioning as a platform for Nepali singers like Pradhan in the early 1950s, enabling them to perform two songs per month.
Pradhan spent fifteen months studying with the late Ganesh Lal Shrestha two years later, beginning in 1954. Around the same time, he began performing in Kathmandu with a group of eight other musicians, establishing the country’s first concert ensemble. He was also the first Nepali artist to record a song for Radio Nepal, rather than performing live, in 1957, with Tara Devi.
After undergoing surgery to remove a non-malignant polyp in his left vocal cord in 1961, Pradhan had to stop singing for two years. During his absence, he began to incorporate the guitar into his new approach, making him the first Nepali singer to do so. Later that year, he resumed performing, and his song “Goreto Tyo Gaunko” won him a trophy for finest voice at the All Nepal Modern Songs Competition in 1963.
In the autumn of 1963, he issued his first LP records after perfecting his unique style. He has recorded 32 songs by the end of 1969.
Pradhan self-funded eleven of his sixteen discs after failing to get a sponsor. He recorded eight Nepali songs and six Newari songs at the end of 1964. In 1970, in his own music composition, he recorded ten Nepali songs in an album titled Himalayan Bouquet from Swinging Kathmandu. In the same year he also recorded bhajan songs (six pieces) under Jaidev.
In November 2002, He received the Narayan Gopal Sangeet Samman from Lunkaran-Ganga CSKM and also has been
has recognized by Nepal Music Welfare Fund for his tremendous contribution to Nepalese music. Pradhan died on 6 May 2021, at Neuro and General Hospital, Sundhara, Kathmandu, after being hospitalized with breathing problems and chest pain.
