Biography of Jyoti Magar

Jyoti Magar Biography

She started her professional musical career in 2006 and since then, she has given a number of hit albums and has travelled extensively within and outside Nepal to perform in stage programs. Jyoti has been criticized by some media outlets and Nepali social media users for her provocative and glamorous way of dressing and dancing.

Jyoti Magar was born in a village in the Rolpa district of Nepal. However, her family migrated to Dang when she was still a toddler. In interviews, she has often said that as a young child she was more interested in dancing than in singing. She has also said that she comes from a family that deeply loved music, though not professionally involved in it. Jyoti completed her School Leaving Certificate(SLC) from a school in Dang. Though she joined a college to study an Intermediate Degree in Arts (IA), she dropped out and decided, instead, to focus in music.

Jyoti Magar Music Career 

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.