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Shweta Punjali is a Nepali musician, well known for her debut album '' Udaan'' a number of songs from which were nominated at various national music awards. She is also the winner of the Best New Talent award at the 2016 Nepali Music Video Award and was a nominee for Best Newcomer at the 2015
Tuborg Image Awards The Tuborg Stage Image Awards is a televised annual music award presentation in Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also inclu ...
. She sings primarily Nepali Adhunik, a style of singing marked with traditional melodies from the South Asian nation but with an influence of western instruments such as electric piano, guitar, violin and percussion. She also sings
bhajan Bhajan is an Indian term for any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Dharmic religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root w ...
and Nepali classical songs. Shweta was also a top contestant on a number of national music reality shows
Nepali Tara Nepali Tara ( Nepali: नेपाली तारा, Nepal Star) is a Nepali reality television series that debuted on NTV in 2005. The show is a talent contest to decide the best new singer in Nepal based on viewer voting and participation. It ...
(second season) and Bagina.


Singing style and training

Shweta Punjali primarily a Nepali Adhunik (Nepali modern/contemporary) singer and her songs generally use western musical instruments such as the keyboard, guitar, violin and percussion. In addition singing in Nepali language, she also sings religious (
bhajan Bhajan is an Indian term for any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Dharmic religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root w ...
s) and classical Hindi, Bengali and Pakistani Punjabi and Urdu songs. She also sings western pop and
Indipop Indian pop music, also known as I-pop or Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywood, Tollywood, Pollywood, Kollywood and the Asian U ...
. She has trained under the highly respected music teacher Gurudev Kamat at the Nepal Music Centre in both classical and
contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
styles of Nepali singing.


Career


Reality TV


''Nepali Tara''

In 2006, Shweta Punjali auditioned for, and was selected as a contestant for the second season of ''
Nepali Tara Nepali Tara ( Nepali: नेपाली तारा, Nepal Star) is a Nepali reality television series that debuted on NTV in 2005. The show is a talent contest to decide the best new singer in Nepal based on viewer voting and participation. It ...
''. She progressed through the competition, reaching the top-20 and then top-10 stages. Until the top-10 stage, decisions on retention or elimination were taken by a panel of judges however, once reaching the top-10, these decisions were taken through popular voting sent in through mobile short messages (SMS). Shweta was eliminated at rank 7, becoming just one of three female singers to reach the top-10 and the highest ranked female singer that year. Her song, ''Ko Pase Chha'', composed by noted musician Deepak Jangam and featured in the special ''Close Up Nepali Tara 2 – Top 10'' music CD, was among the top most listened song for that season. While a contestant at Nepali Tara, Shweta performed in numerous Nepali towns and cities, including
Pokhara Pokhara ( ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city located in central Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. Named the country's "capital of tourism" it is the List of cities in Nepal, second largest city after Kathmandu, with 599,5 ...
,
Dharan Dharan () is a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Koshi Province, in eastern Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and I ...
,
Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a List of cities in Nepal, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Koshi Province. With a Metropolitan Urban Agglomeration population of 244,750 as per the 2021 Nepal census, 2021 census, it is the largest c ...
,
Butwal Butwal (), officially Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City (), previously known as Khasyauli (Nepali: खस्यौली), is a sub-metropolitan city and economic hub in Lumbini Province in West Nepal. Butwal has a city population of 195,054 as per t ...
,
Nepalgunj Nepalgunj (; ), also spelled Nepalganj, is a List of cities in Nepal#Alphabetical list, Sub-Metropolitan City in Banke district, Banke districts of Nepal, District, Nepal. It lies on the Terai plains near the southern border with Bahraich distr ...
and
Surkhet Surkhet District (, ) is a district in Karnali Province of mid-western Nepal. Surkhet is one of the ten districts of Karnali located about west of the national capital Kathmandu. The district's area is . It had 288,527 population in 2001 and 350, ...
. She also performed at the finale for that season that saw Santosh Lama win the contest.


''Bagina''

Shweta was also a contestant on the Nepali classical music reality show ''Bagina'' in 2005. The show aired on Nepal's national TV channel, Nepal TV.


Singing


Debut album – Udaan

On 4 April 2015, Shweta Punjali launched her debut album ''Udaan'' (translated: Taking Flight) in the Nepal capital
Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...
's Theatre Village. The album was launched by renowned singer
Deep Shrestha Deep Shrestha () is a Nepalese singer and musician. Deep Shrestha is one of the coaches in '' The Voice of Nepal'' Season 1 (2018) and 2 (2019) and Season 3.He is also judge in '' Mero Voice Universe'' season 1. "Jhaskiyecha Maan Mero", "Biteka ...
and the event was attended by the who's who of Nepal's music scene. The album was also simultaneously launched on iTunes Store,
Google Play Music Google Play Music was a music and podcast streaming service and an online music locker operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, i ...
,
Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...
,
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
,
Deezer Deezer is a List of companies of France, French music streaming service and media service provider founded in 2007 that provides users with access to a vast library of music tracks, podcasts, and radio stations. It offers streaming services in ...
and other online music stores. Udaan was also the first mainstream Nepali music album (fully produced in Nepal) to be released online to a global audience. Udaan includes six songs, all of which are written by noted Nepali poet
Durga Lal Shrestha Durga Lal Shrestha (born July 1935) is a Nepalese poet of Nepal Bhasa and Nepali. He was conferred with the title of ''Janakavi'' ( lit. people's poet) by Nepal Bhasha Parishad in 2003. He is considered as a progressive litterateur. He was award ...
and composed by master composer Nhyoo Bajracharya. Several songs from Udaan have been nominated for top national music awards, including at the 2015 Tuborg Image Music Awards and the 2016 Nepali Music Video Award. Shweta won the Best New Talent award at the 2016 edition of Nepali Music Video Award for her song Achamma Lagyo Malai from Udaan.


Second album

In October 2015, Shweta Punjali announced that she is working on her second album, which would include songs written by Durga Lal Shrestha and Nepali poet and philosopher Viplob Pratik, and music composed by Nhyoo Bajracharya. Some of the songs featuring in this album include Aau Na Aau, Maile Palasha and Dekhnu Timilai.


Singles

Shweta Punjali has also released few singles by herself or in collaboration with other artists and musicians. Two prominent singles include: ''Sanchi Mero'', a bhajan-inspired song, written by Ratna Shamsher Thapa and composed by Prabhu Raj Dhakal; and ''Ko Pase Chha'', written Gita Pantha and composed by Deepak Jangam.


Concerts

In addition to performing at various towns and cities of Nepal, Shweta Punjali has also performed in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
,
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
and in New York City,
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
State, United States of America, and performed with musicians such as Nhyoo Bajracharya and singers like
Babu Bogati Babu Bogati () is a Nepalese pop singer and actor. He has also played in several television shows. He started off his career as a singer. He featured his first song called ''Maya Ko Aauti Chino''. After that he started singing and then acting. In ...
.


Discography and awards


Documentaries and films


Personal life

Shweta Punjali originally hails from the Nepali hill district of
Arghakhanchi Arghakhanchi ( ) is one of the districts of Lumbini Province in Nepal. The district headquarter is Sandhikharka. The district covers an area of and has a population (2011) of 197,632. Its neighboring districts are Palpa District, Palpa in the ea ...
. She was born in Palpa and grew up in Pokhara and Bhairahawa before moving to Kathmandu for her master's degree at the Kathmandu University School of Management. It was at this school that she met her future husband, Vibhu Mishra. They married in 2008. The couple moved to Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2012 and from there to New York City, USA in June 2016. They have one son, Vivaan Ajay, as well as a daughter, Simrik Punjali Mishra. Vibhu also features in the music video of Shweta's song ''Bato Heri Rahechhu''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Punjali, Shweta Nepalese musicians People from Arghakhanchi District Alumni of Kathmandu University 21st-century Nepalese women singers