|
 The hall was nevertheless packed to capacity as
entertainment outlet in Gangtok was as scarce as Palm Oil these
days. Then a girl student in her early teens took the microphone and
rendered a popular Hindi song (Hum thhe jinke saharay from the film
"KHAMOSHI") which stunned the packed house who listened to the
number with rapt attention in pin drop silence. Though hardly 13 or
14 years old the girl's faultless rendition and the perfect timing
of the song could be compared to the performance of any professional
singer. The number sung by the girl, who of course stole the glory
of the evening, naturally became the talk of the audience after the
show and there was no second opinion that a singing sensation was
born that day before whom laid a bright and glorious future in the
world of music. The girl was Sukmit Lepcha who was born and
brought up at Gangtok and studied in Paljor Namgyal Girls Sr.
Secondary School. She is the daughter of Mr. Passang Tshering Lepcha
and presently married to Mr. Balaram Gurung.
However, as the time passed and the memory of her
melodious song started fading away. The singer herself abruptly
disappeared from the scene altogether. It is only the other day that
her football star brother Soloman Lepcha told us that his sister is
certainty not vanished from the musical scene and infact is
presently a noted artist singer with Royal Nepal Academy since 1984.
During her 10 years stint with Royal Nepal Academy
the Sikkim Girl reached pinnacle in the Nepali music world. The
teenager who mesmerized the Community Hall audience nearly 20 years
back with her solo song has finally blossomed into a mature
professional singer whose reputation as redoubtable singer has now
spread far and wide. She has already won the 1st prize on the
occasion of the 34th anniversary of Radio Nepal, Shikar Award as
best singer in Nepali future film' Jhuma ' , 1st prize in the Voice
Competition organized by Ratna Recording Corporation, 1st prize in
All Nepal Pop Song Competition, Awarded Popular Singer by
Chhinnalata Song's Reward Committee. Declared Best Singer by
Rashtriya Yuwah Sewa Coas and won Narayan Gopal Yuwah Puraskar. She
was also honoured with Nepal Order of Dakhim Bahu -IV class by His
Majesty the King of Nepal. She had also travelled a number of
foreign countries including USSR, Republic ofChina and Malaysia with
culture troupe.
Today she is the foremost singer in the Nepali
music world, next only to the legendary Tara Devi. |
