A lot has happened in the past five years for Hemant Rana. The 26-year-old from Dang had never imagined that his liking for music would take him this far.
Hemant Rana reigns over the semi-classical genre of Nepali music entirely by himself. As testimony, he has a huge fan base and two noteworthy albums. A Wushu player before he switched to music, his parents never supported his choice of work, neither as an athlete nor as a singer. Things are different now. His parents take pride in what he does and Hemant could not be happier.
"It was very difficult working for the first album," Hemant recollects. "Music companies prioritised old singers and shooed away new talent," he adds. Paap Punya, his debut album was released in 2005. Devotees of the semi-classical genre and loyal fans aside, few remember the songs from the album.
For Hemant, playing in bars and lounges in Kathmandu was the launching pad. "I consider myself lucky because a figurehead of a popular music company happened to be attending one of the bars I had been singing in. He liked what I sang, a lot", he reveals. It was then that he signed a five-year contract and produced his first album. Hemant hasn't looked back since.
Laijare, his second album, was released about five months ago and the sales are still going great. Recently as well he sang to a packed show in Pokhara and Butwal.
Listeners can connect in many different ways to the new form of experimental tunes he presents. His unique voice and semi-classical Sufi tunes are nostalgic and take the listeners back to the era of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Badshah of Qawwali and Ghazal. His music touches audiences on an emotional level and they get lost in the realms of his melodies. Every song he sings is a story, each mean a lot to him, every tune reflects a path in his life.
Hemant plans to continue singing in the years to come and is currently working on his third album. Also, he is involved in a project with the Sixth Sense, a group of like-minded musicians, who share a common vision as that of Hemant's.