Praveen Gurung ( ne, प्रवीण गुरुङ, 30 April 1962 –6 August 2000) was a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

music arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

from

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

who arranged over five hundred recordings during his career in both Nepali and

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung: ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurung people predominantly live around the Annapurna region in Manang, Mustang, Dolpo, Kaski, Lamjung, Gorkha, ...

. His work is well known throughout Nepal. His song ''yo daju ko mirmire bhakha...'' is still a widely popular

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

. Praveen was raised in the musical environment of the

people of which he belonged. In 1980 at the age of eighteen he joined the regionally famous folk group ''Danfe Kala Mandir'' in

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

as a dancer and singer. By 1983 Praveen had moved to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

and recorded his first song at

Radio Nepal Radio Nepal ( ne, रेडियो नेपाल) is the state-owned Radio broadcasting organisation of Nepal. It was established 2 April 1951. Radio Nepal airs programs on short wave, medium wave (AM broadcasting, AM) and FM broadcasting, FM ...

. He was awarded Ratna Recording Corporation's folk song prize that year for his recording ''Tesaita nabune ko dali''. He recorded at least five major albums solely in his local dialect. Praveen often performed in the traditional Rodhi Ghar. A Rodhi Ghar is a communal gathering place among Gurung people where singing and dancing takes place after work. Gurung was killed in a road accident when a Jeep allegedly driven by Prince Paras Shah struck and killed him as he crossed a road in Kathmandu. An "innocent person" was said to have taken responsibility for the accident, preventing his prosecution despite widespread opposition from

human rights activists A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

He is survived by his wife Shanti Gurung and his two children

References

2000 deaths Nepali-language singers 1962 births People from Kaski District Gurung people {{Nepal-singer-stub