Genres of Nepali language music industry consists local genres and some international inspirations.
Traditional genres / Folk
Lok geet / Folk songs: Lok geet is the music originated from the rural areas of Nepal. In early recording years both lyrics & tune of Lok geet used to be directly collected from rural areas. Modern lok geet are written and arranged by professional lyricist and musicians who try to give strong rural flavor in their work. Many movie play-back and individually recorded lok geets break into the mainstream music arena every year.
Lok Dohori / Folk duet: its a type of Nepali Folk song usually sung by two teams of men and women. It is in the form of question and answer where a team sings a question and the opponent replies through an equally lyrical impromptu couplet and vice versa. It also originated in the rural areas of Nepal and now popular in both rural and urban settlements. Typical dohori songs are usually longer than regular songs. Dohori song can be 10 minutes to 1 hour long.
Deuda song: its a type of folk song popular in far western and karnali provinces of Nepal. Deuda culture has a unique singing and dancing style which stand out among other folk songs. Deuda genre has 4 four mains sub sections: hadi Bhakha, Rateri, Hudkeuli and Dhamari.
Teej Songs : Its a type of a folk song related to the Hindu festival of teej. It not a devotional song. Its popular among women and widely played during the Teej festival which usually falls in the month of august. Many singers launch their teej songs targeting the festival every year. Lyrics of teej song generally covers the issues of marriage, love, husband-wife, relatives etc.
Bhajan / devotional songs / hymn : Nepali bhajans are mostly about Hindu god, goddess, spirituality etc. Bhajan music are mostly soft and traditional instruments like harmonium, bamboo flute etc are used. They are played in certain festival or rituals or in devotional programs. They are not played as a mainstream music.
Modern genres / Regular Nepali
Sugam Sangeet / Aadhunik Geet / Modern songs: Its one of the major genre in Nepali music. Tunes used in Sugam sangeet are soft and lyrics are generally about love, romance, relationship, life, break-ups, pain etc. This genre can be considered mainstream as it is popular among all ages. Singers like Narayan Gopal, Ramkrisha Dhakal, Shiva Pariyar, Pramod Kharel, Anju Pant, Jagdish Samal, Swaroop Raj Acharya, Raj Sigdel etc are the key figures in this genre.
Ghazal songs: ghazal is a type of poetry which can be recited like poem or sung like songs. Ghazal songs usually have soft music like Sugam Sangeet. It is popular among specific set of adult people. Very few ghazal songs have gained wide popularity in Nepal. Narendra Pyasi, Nisha Desar, Thaneshwor Gautam, Manita Rai, Anju pant are some of the ghazal singers in Nepal. A ghazal released in 2009 "Na birse timilai na paye timilai", sung by Anju Pant, got widespread popularity in Nepal setting a new milestone for Nepali ghazal songs.
Westernized genres
Nepali Pop Song: are popular among teenage and young adults. Lyrics are mostly about love and relationship and Western instruments like guitar, drums, keyboards are used. Pop songs got wide popularity in Nepal since 90s. legendary singers like Om Bikram Bista, Nabin K bhattarai, Sugam Pokhrel, Anil Singh, Sabin Rai, Adrian Pradhan, Raju Lama, Nima Rumba, Dhiraj Rai, Cool Pokhrel, Deepak Bajracharya to present day singers like Neetesh Jung Kunwar, Sajjan Raj Vaidya, Swoopna Suman have sung many Nepali pop songs.
> Nepali Pop-Folk: these are lok (folk) lyrics and tune with pop/western instruments. Singer Bipul Chhettri has sung this kind of songs.
> Nepali Pop - Folk- Rock: mix the local lyrics and musical instruments with western instruments and rock music. Great bands of Nepal like Nepathya and 1974 AD follow this tradition. This kind Songs covers wide range of topic from love, relationship, work, problems, nation to culture.
Nepali Rock / Metal: like other pop genres it is also relatively new in Nepali music. Its popular among younger people. Popular Bands in this genre are Robin and looza, Mukti and revival, Cobweb etc.
Nepali Hip Hop / Nephop / Rap : its popular among some of the young people. Musically it follows western hip hop. Lyrics typically consists problems of Nepali youth like love-sex, study, future, drugs, immigration to foreign countries etc. Some rappers talk about political issues as well.
Filmy songs: songs included in the Nepali feature films covers a big chunk of Nepali recorded music. Usually a typical Nepali movie include 3 to 5 songs. These songs consists various genres to support the story line of the movie. The most used genres are Lok geet (folk), Sugam Sangeet (modern) and item numbers. Top viewed songs in youtube like Kutu ma kutu, Purba Paschim Rail, Ye daju nasamau etc are all "Filmy songs" of Lok (folk) genre.
Item numbers: are dance songs, usually with fast music which sometimes include double meaning lyrics. These songs usually have catchy pick up line. Item numbers may not be related to the story line of the movie. Usually one item number is included in the movie. Productions houses push item numbers to get more public attention for the movie. But sometimes items numbers gets popular but movies do not perform well.
Traditional genres / Folk
Lok geet / Folk songs: Lok geet is the music originated from the rural areas of Nepal. In early recording years both lyrics & tune of Lok geet used to be directly collected from rural areas. Modern lok geet are written and arranged by professional lyricist and musicians who try to give strong rural flavor in their work. Many movie play-back and individually recorded lok geets break into the mainstream music arena every year.
Lok Dohori / Folk duet: its a type of Nepali Folk song usually sung by two teams of men and women. It is in the form of question and answer where a team sings a question and the opponent replies through an equally lyrical impromptu couplet and vice versa. It also originated in the rural areas of Nepal and now popular in both rural and urban settlements. Typical dohori songs are usually longer than regular songs. Dohori song can be 10 minutes to 1 hour long.
Deuda song: its a type of folk song popular in far western and karnali provinces of Nepal. Deuda culture has a unique singing and dancing style which stand out among other folk songs. Deuda genre has 4 four mains sub sections: hadi Bhakha, Rateri, Hudkeuli and Dhamari.
Teej Songs : Its a type of a folk song related to the Hindu festival of teej. It not a devotional song. Its popular among women and widely played during the Teej festival which usually falls in the month of august. Many singers launch their teej songs targeting the festival every year. Lyrics of teej song generally covers the issues of marriage, love, husband-wife, relatives etc.
Bhajan / devotional songs / hymn : Nepali bhajans are mostly about Hindu god, goddess, spirituality etc. Bhajan music are mostly soft and traditional instruments like harmonium, bamboo flute etc are used. They are played in certain festival or rituals or in devotional programs. They are not played as a mainstream music.
Modern genres / Regular Nepali
Sugam Sangeet / Aadhunik Geet / Modern songs: Its one of the major genre in Nepali music. Tunes used in Sugam sangeet are soft and lyrics are generally about love, romance, relationship, life, break-ups, pain etc. This genre can be considered mainstream as it is popular among all ages. Singers like Narayan Gopal, Ramkrisha Dhakal, Shiva Pariyar, Pramod Kharel, Anju Pant, Jagdish Samal, Swaroop Raj Acharya, Raj Sigdel etc are the key figures in this genre.
Ghazal songs: ghazal is a type of poetry which can be recited like poem or sung like songs. Ghazal songs usually have soft music like Sugam Sangeet. It is popular among specific set of adult people. Very few ghazal songs have gained wide popularity in Nepal. Narendra Pyasi, Nisha Desar, Thaneshwor Gautam, Manita Rai, Anju pant are some of the ghazal singers in Nepal. A ghazal released in 2009 "Na birse timilai na paye timilai", sung by Anju Pant, got widespread popularity in Nepal setting a new milestone for Nepali ghazal songs.
Westernized genres
Nepali Pop Song: are popular among teenage and young adults. Lyrics are mostly about love and relationship and Western instruments like guitar, drums, keyboards are used. Pop songs got wide popularity in Nepal since 90s. legendary singers like Om Bikram Bista, Nabin K bhattarai, Sugam Pokhrel, Anil Singh, Sabin Rai, Adrian Pradhan, Raju Lama, Nima Rumba, Dhiraj Rai, Cool Pokhrel, Deepak Bajracharya to present day singers like Neetesh Jung Kunwar, Sajjan Raj Vaidya, Swoopna Suman have sung many Nepali pop songs.
> Nepali Pop-Folk: these are lok (folk) lyrics and tune with pop/western instruments. Singer Bipul Chhettri has sung this kind of songs.
Nepali Rock / Metal: like other pop genres it is also relatively new in Nepali music. Its popular among younger people. Popular Bands in this genre are Robin and looza, Mukti and revival, Cobweb etc.
Nepali Hip Hop / Nephop / Rap : its popular among some of the young people. Musically it follows western hip hop. Lyrics typically consists problems of Nepali youth like love-sex, study, future, drugs, immigration to foreign countries etc. Some rappers talk about political issues as well.
Filmy songs: songs included in the Nepali feature films covers a big chunk of Nepali recorded music. Usually a typical Nepali movie include 3 to 5 songs. These songs consists various genres to support the story line of the movie. The most used genres are Lok geet (folk), Sugam Sangeet (modern) and item numbers. Top viewed songs in youtube like Kutu ma kutu, Purba Paschim Rail, Ye daju nasamau etc are all "Filmy songs" of Lok (folk) genre.
Item numbers: are dance songs, usually with fast music which sometimes include double meaning lyrics. These songs usually have catchy pick up line. Item numbers may not be related to the story line of the movie. Usually one item number is included in the movie. Productions houses push item numbers to get more public attention for the movie. But sometimes items numbers gets popular but movies do not perform well.