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Tara Devi
| FROM ISSUE # 122 (February 2006) | IN THIS ISSUE | |||
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Which Nepali hasn't fallen in love with Tara Devi's songs? Even those of us who are into hip-hop and metal have heard of her. When she died of Parkinson's disease on 23 January, Nepali music lost a star. 
Tara Devi started singing at age seven and recorded more than 4,000 songs in her lifetime. Some of her hit numbers are Ukali Orali Haruma, Phoolako Thunga, Kali Paray Dai, Nirdosh Mero Pachhyaurima, A Kanchha, and Himalako Kaakhama. A graduate in music, she also studied under Ustad Bhairab Bahadur Thapa's tutelage. For three decades she worked at Radio Nepal and was the first female singer to perform a duet with Narayan Gopal. Though she sang many songs, she only has three albums to her credit. Music Nepal has promised to bring out her albums posthumously.
Tara Devi had difficult periods in her life after she lost her 25-year-old son to blood cancer. Soon after, her husband, pilot Shiv Bahadur Shrestha died in a crash. For nearly eight years then, she lived with Parkinson's disease. Last month at age 61, she passed away. She's survived by a son and daughter.