Seturam Shrestha ( ne, सेतुराम श्रेष्ठ) (1891-1941) was a Nepalese musician, singer and composer. He was an important figure in the development of modern music in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

at the beginning of the 20th century, and has been hailed as an

Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi ...

. In addition to songs of love, Seturam sang songs with messages of social reform. In 1908, he became the first Nepalese artiste to record a song on

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

disc. Among the songs he recorded in a studio in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India was the iconic

Rajamati ''Rājamati'' () is a 1995 film be made in Nepal Bhasa. The first Nepal Bhasa movie is '' Silu'', released in 1987. ''Rajamati'' is about a luckless Newar girl named Rajamati from Kathmandu who gets involved in a series of failed relationships. Th ...

. Janak Lal Shrestha, proprietor of Bhadrakali House, the main record store in Kathmandu then, sponsored the recording session. Seturam has also been credited with pioneering

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

music in Nepal. Ghazal is a poetic form with origins in ancient Arabic verse that expresses the beauty of love. Seturam was born in

Asan Asan () is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It borders the Seoul Capital Area to the north. Asan has a population of approximately 300,000. Asan is known for its many hot springs and is a city of spas. Asan has grown into t ...

Kamalachhi,

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

to father Krishna Dhar and mother Hari Devi Shrestha.

References

1891 births 1941 deaths Musicians from Kathmandu 21st-century Nepalese male singers {{Nepal-singer-stub