KATHMANDU, Aug 26: Lyricist, composer, and singer late Gopal Yonjan was fondly remembered by the music fraternity in the capital on Saturday, marking his 76th birth aniversary. Singer Durga Kharel was awarded Gopal Yonjan Smriti Puraskar – 2075 on the same occasion.
"He was an institution of music in himself. I actually forget details when I try to remember him. I only remember his soothing personality," veteran lyricist and close friend of Yonjan, Nagendra Thapa, said during the program. "He was a ‘triveni’ in himself, an unmatched talent who was just terrific as a composer, a lyricist, and a singer. But if you still compare his three talents, his composing and writing ability sometimes overshadowed his vocals," he added.
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Gopal Yonjan, Narayan Gopal, and Nagendra Thapa were the well-known trio who contributed in taking Nepali music at its all-time high. The era is also cherished as the golden era of Nepali music. It was during their time that songs like 'Baneko chha chhaharale yo chhati mero', 'Galti hajar hunchhan', and 'Bhul ho tero', got immortalized.
"No matter how much I speak of my dearest friend Gopal Yonjan, it will never ever justify his sea like personality. Moreover, I forget a lot when I have to speak like this in a mass," Thapa became emotional. "He was a diamond. His every song – be it patriotic, romantic, folk or for children – would deeply touch the respective dimension of life, nothing he wrote was ever less meaningful," he added.
Meanwhile, Kharel termed Yonjan as a factory operator; from where many musically charged students were produced. "We would hear people say that Yonjan was running a factory, which was rather a sarcastic note," he said. "Later we realized, yes, he was indeed running a factory. We, Darjeeling boys, got so much charged by his musical power that we became like some kind of packages produced in his factory," he added.
Kharel added that Yonjan's dashing personality always overwhelmed him. Apart from Yonjan's wife Renchan, veterans of the Nepali literature and music world, Prakash Sayami, Sailesh Singh, Suraj Kumar Thapa and other dignitaries, invitees from Darjeeling had also graced the
meeting.
Yonjan was born on 26 August 1943 and breathed his last on 20 May 1997.
