Narayan Gopal, a tabala player

Vocal Test at Radio Nepal

Before starting singing and being established as a well known singer, Narayan Gopal used to be a Tabala player. He was really shy about singing. His close friends Manik Ratna and Prem Dhoj Pradhan knew his singing talents. So, they secretly submitted a vocal-test form to Radio Nepal. When it was time to go for the test, Narayan Gopal wasn't willing to go to Radio Nepal. Manik Ratna and Prem Dhoj had to forcefully take him to Radio Nepal.

That was the incident of around 2013 BS. The identity of Narayan Gopal changed as soon as he passed the vocal test.

Cords - Malai Maaf Garideu (Narayan Gopal Song)

Cords of the popular song - मलाइ माफ गरिदेउ


A               E        A       F#m
Malai maph garideu mera lobhi nazar
F#m                E      Bm

Kahin ksaima dubecha bhane
F#m           E
Ma ta koji rahe te harek chehera ma
F#m         E      A
Meri sapana ki ek preyasi mayalu

A          Bm          F#m      D
U aaunche sandhai ma nidayeko bela
D       E          F#m
Ani dhalche mero chati ma
A       Bm       A
U satche sandhai mera pir haru sita
B              E         A
Uska mitha mitha bhawana aa aa
A             E       A           F#m
Malai maph gari deu mero prem ko kura
F#m                  E        Bm
kahin ksailai bijhecha bhane


A         Bm         F#m       D
Usko ankha ra oonth mero rodhi ghara ho
D         E       F#m
Usko chayan mero saatha ho
A       Bm         A
Usko aansu barsa Usko suskera sisir
B         E        A
Usko muskan mero madhumaaaaaas
A          E       A       F#m
Malai maph garideu maile mriga trishna
E         Bm
Kahin ksailai bechech bhane


Watch it in YouTube

10 Interesting facts about Narayan Gopal

Here are top 10 interesting facts of Narayan Gopal:

1. Did you know that, N.Gopal was in fact the name Narayan Gopal preferred himself to be called. That was why during his entrance to Radio Nepal, he had registered his name as N. Gopal. 
2. Narayan Gopal was one of those singers who became immensely popular by a minimum number of song. In his lifetime, he had only recorded 137 songs.
3. Everybody's favourite singer is Narayan Gopal. Do you know his favorite singer? His favourite singer of Indian Ghazal singer, Mehdi Hassan. He was such a fan that, he also loved pehelmani (body building) like Mehdi Hassan did. Mehdi Hassan once believed that, in order to be a good musician, one has to get into body building. Well, "Syando Pehelman" - that was the name Narayan Gopal once gave to himself.
4. Although Narayan Gopal's mother language is Newari, he didn't record any song in his mother tongue. He did sing three Newari songs. But, they were not recorded.
5. Initially Narayan Gopal had agreed to sing for the movie 'Maitighar'. But, later he denied singing for it. 
6. Narayan Gopal thought advertisements were bad, like tuberculosis, he din't give his voice to any advertisements. He also protested when people tried to use his song in an advertisement.
7. When he was unemployed, Narayan Gopal had also worked as a motor mechanic and there are also reports that he also drove taxi.
8. All his life, Narayan Gopal rode a bike. While he was the managing director of Sanskritik Sansthan, he bought a car for the organization.
9. While working at the Sanskritik Sansthan, Narayan Gopal used drastic tactics to cut costs. He was widely criticized when he sacked 40 artists from their job at a time of Dashain. Those sacked included his own guru Manik Ratna, artists Sushila KC and Haribansa Acharya.
10. The only award Narayan Gopal got for playback singing was from Lions club. But, Narayan Gopal rejected that award. The organizer, Narendra Shrestha has safe kept the award at his home.

Remembering Narayan Gopal by Bulu Mukarung

Today, Mangsir 12, is the 36th remembrance day of Swor Samrat Narayan Gopal. Although he has died a long time ago, his songs are still as popular as before. The musician, Bulu Mukurung, is one of the musicians who had also spent a long time with the singer. He has recollected some of his experiences with the singer.

Moody Narayan Gopal

Bulu Mukarung met Narayan Gopal for the first time in 2036 BS. Mukurung was in Royal Academy at that time in music training. There was a program of Narayan Gopal in the Academy. He went to the stage and started singing.

While Narayan Gopal was singing, one of the persons in the audience started making noise. When the guy didn’t stop making noise, Narayan Gopal stopped singing and cried "Who is that guy. Come here." Narayan Gopal went out of the stage. At that time Mukurang met the singer for the first time - at the backstage. The situation wasn’t good at that time. After a clash few glasses of the Academy building were also broken during the incident.

Vodka Drinker Narayan Gopal

After 2037 BS, Mukurung and Narayan Gopal started meeting frequently. A play of Madhav Ghimire titled 'Shakuntala' was being staged in Academy. Musician Chandra Raj Sharma had agreed to compose the music for the play and Narayan Gopal had agreed to sing the song. I used to be in the Academy when Narayan Gopal came to practice singing.

Narayan Gopal didn’t use to practice singing right away. He used to complain about arrangement or other stuffs. So, he only used to practice on the days he liked. Before practice, he used to say, "Let’s go Bulu." We used to go to a nearby restaurant, we used to drink for a while. I used to drink Limca (a soft drink) and Narayan Dai used to drink Vodka. After drinking he used to say that he was now ready. He used to open up after drinking. He was reserved before drinking.

Editor and Publisher Narayan Gopal

Narayan Dai was close with Madhu Chhetri, Dwarika Lal Joshi, Phatteman, Bhairav Nath Rimal etc. He not only edited one of the poem collection of Bhairav Nath Rimal, he had also published the book. That was around 2034 BS. Although he was the editor of 'Bagina' for a long time. But, very few people know that Narayan Gopal also used to edit poems.

Carefree Narayan Gopal

In 2038 BS, Narayan Dai was the GM (General Manager) of Rastirya Naachghar. He was carefree even at that time. I can call hims 'Bindaas Narayan Gopal'.

One day I went to meet him with my friend Radha Krishna Lamichhane. When we reached his office, he was reading a newspaper in a carefree manner. He had taken off his shoes and had his feet on the table. He didn’t notice when we entered the room. We were there to ask him the stage for a program. He didn’t notice us for a while in the room. He didn’t cared when we coughed to tell him about our presence there. We couldn’t gather courage to call him.

After a long time, he took off his magazine and saw us. "Oh it’s you guys?" We told about the stage. He asked for a guy for the availability of the stage on the date we need. He told the stage is not available on that date and we returned.

Narayan Gopal remembered on the 25th Memorial Day

Narayan Gopal was remembered on the 25th Memorial Day of the greatest singer of Nepali musical industry.

The following video is the singing of 'Fagat Ek Nazar Ma ...'

Video clips of the Memorial Day ceremony and Narayan's photos are overlapped on the video.

74th Birth Anniversary of Narayan Gopal celebrated in Kathmandu

The 74th birth anniversary of Narayan Gopal. Narayan Gopal was born on Ashoj 18, 1998 BS.

Narayan Gopal will always be remembered as the greatest singer of modern Nepal. There are a lot of stuffs written by the great singer in our earlier posts. Please go back and read about a score of unknown facts of the singer.

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