Double Attack With Jyoti Magar

Jyoti Magar signed up with a Kathmandu-based
record company and recorded her first album in
2006. A music video was also produced, but the
company later decided not to release the
album, possibly due to risks involved in
producing an album of a new singer en masse.

Magar’s second and third albums Maya Sanga
(with love) and Ui Mulako Sinki Ui Mulako
Chana became instant hits all over Nepal and
among Nepali diaspora abroad. As of 2015, she
has produced more than half a dozen albums,
giving voice to nearly 30 Nepali folk songs.
Jyoti Magar normally writes and composes her
music herself. She also appears as a model in
her music videos. Some of her famous songs
include Piratima Dam Chha and Jimmal Bauki
Chhori.

Apart from folk (lok dohori and teej songs)
singing, Jyoti has also appeared in a Gurung-
language film and has done radio dramas and
street dramas in the past. In an interview
with the NepaliHeadlines, when asked if she
had any suggestions to newcomers, Jyoti said
that music is an worship to lord Saraswoti and
it needs a lot of patience, practice and
sincerity, and if you are entering the musical
world just for name, fame and money, just
don’t do that. When asked whether her glamour
was appropriate in Nepali folk music, she
responded saying that like curry needs salt;
music needs glamour, and glamour not only in
songs, but also in words, meaning and music.

In the same interview, she demanded that the
government of Nepal should provide a different
passport or at least an identity card to
artists and celebrities to facilitate
international and domestic travels. Jyoti
Magar has travelled in many countries of Asia,
the Middle East and Europe to perform in
musical stage programs mainly organized by
non-resident Nepali organizations abroad.