Ankit Babu Adhikari, a name that refers to the singer of the song which carries different genre and unique lyrics: Ram Nam. A former Crime reporter, former online journalist and current researcher shared his life experiences about defining life with passion.
Starting his musical journey
He started his musical journey started with very basic participation in the school programs and then college programs. After a good response from teachers and peers, he started learning classical music. He remembered, “I was compositing Kumar Nagarkoti, a school teacher of mine because he had strange lyrics and that was included in his drama happening at Shilpi Theater. I made my first appearance as a character who walked on the stage, singing.” He then took part in Nepali Tara season 3. He got selected on the audition and reached top 8 but got eliminated on voting round. “With the exposure given by Nepali Tara, I was pumped up for my first music production and release. Ram Nam was always my favourite and I decided to start my official music career with it,” he shared.
Following his passion over time constrains
He shared, “Reporting is not an easy job. Being updated, rushing to the press release and editing every day had been a part of my hectic schedule being a crime reporter. The busy schedule was keeping me away from composing but I did not compromise on learning classical music and never missed my music classes.” Being 19 year old, he had not yet thought about being a singer/ musician. After the job of online editor of Himalayan Times, he started working an as a researcher. He said, “Now at this point, I got time to focus on music and researches side by side. The biggest challenge was time management. I couldn’t complete Ram Nam song even after the production and recording had started. I had to redo it after Nepali Tara.”
A passion of singing the original song in the finals of Nepali Tara which was one month away pushed him continuously to launch his first song but after 7 months from the finals. Patience has composed him to release one original song per year. He believes in investing on one original song per year rather than hitting the Youtube hits and grabbing the wider audience with cover songs. He mentioned, “I know the path that I m following is different and difficult as I m not doing it according to the demand of the market. I have a passion for the music with unique lyrics and compose music like the mixture of Bhajan and Sufism. I don’t do covers and gigs. This is depriving me of the wider audience but a different taste takes time to establish and certainly after a right period of time I believe I will be able to get the large audience. I m ready let the audience be ready to appreciate my passion.”
There is no time limit for original songs as some part takes one sitting and some take months. He added, “But for my passion, I do not mind being called as a singer with a trend of two songs in two years. My career has shaped me a lot and now within 5 years, my plan is being a full-time musician.”
Achievements
His very first song got viral overnight because of its unique genre and collected amazing comments. The second song Nau Futey Bhoot based on blockade also got hyped up and was picked up by various media. This led an international magazine “Diplomat” to feature him as ‘Nepal singing storyteller’.
As being a researcher, he has travelled to 47 districts out of 77 districts. “I take this as my achievement as it provides me exposures, learning environment and experience,” he said.
Another achievement that I have earned recently after a lot of homework is the start-up response of Artmandu. Officially Artmandu has started a YouTube channel launching the music series on the show named Artmandu Color Show. Music company started Artmandu – launched in music series 4 songs released one song per week – Artmandu colour show in Youtube.
Ankit emphasized, “Republica featured my profile as a story: my own genre was entitled as “master of his own class” and I proudly consider this as my achievement.”
Message to youths
Passion and patience is the key to living the life fully. Growing and learning process does not have a shortcut or has instant results. These only results in frustration. Be passionate and patient while working in any field. Act out, work out when you are motivated.
By: Sampada Dahal
#skills2grow4life
