Bartika Eam Rai () is a Nepalese born-American singer-songwriter based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2016, Rai burst onto public consciousness with the release of her debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Bimbaakash''. Rai has released four albums so far.

Musical career

Bartika grew up in Lalitpur, Nepal and pursued music informally from the age of six. At around 11 years of age, she was already performing in front of small crowds. She recorded a number of children's songs and was trained by Shreeti Pradhan, Upendra Lal Singh, Roshan Sharma, John Shrestha and Gurudev Kaamat. It was only after moving to the United States that she began to pursue music professionally as a career. After moving to New York City in 2015, Rai began to work with Nepali-American musician Diwas Gurung, previously of the Ithaca-based progressive rock outfit, Ayurveda. In 2015, they began working on what would become ''Bimbaakash'', a six-song EP, with Rai writing and composing the songs while Gurung produced. Rai released her first single, ''Khai'', on YouTube in January 2016 to widespread popularity. A review in

The Kathmandu Post ''The Kathmandu Post'' is a major daily newspaper published in Nepal. Founded in February 1993 by Shyam Goenka, it is one of the largest English-language newspapers in the country. The newspaper is published by Kantipur Publications, the publ ...

called the song a "breath of fresh air" and praised the "thrilling aesthetics of its poetry and the simplicity of its delivery". Rai was nominated for Best New Artist, Song of the Year (for ''Khai''), Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female) (for ''Khai'') and Album of the Year (for ''Bimbaakash'') at the Hits FM Music Awards. She won Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female). In March 2018, Rai announced the release of her second album, ''Taral'', once again produced by Gurung. The album was supported by tours across the United States and England and the release of a music video for its first single, Umer.

References

External links

*https://soundcloud.com/bartika
iTunes
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ZODxg0yyY *https://kathmandupost.com/art-entertainment/2018/12/05/one-needs-to-be-reflective-introspective needs-to-be-reflective-introspective {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Bartika American people of Nepalese descent Nepalese pop singers 21st-century Nepalese women singers Nepalese folk singers Nepalese singer-songwriters Nepalese emigrants to the United States People from New York (state) Writers from New York City Musicians from New York (state) 1991 births Living people People from Lalitpur District, Nepal Rai people Nepali-language singers American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters