Most popular Nepali popstar Nima Rumba

One who never thought he would become a popstar someday, Nima Rumba often dreamt about being a famous artist. A good painter and artists during his school days, Nima Rumba, today, is one of the most famous Nepali pop singers. Although he was passionate about music and dance since he was just a kid, he never realized that he would choose music as his career until he finished his SLC exams.



He officially got involved into music during the break after his SLC when he met some of his elder brother Namgel’s friends named Rabi, Saroj and Bire who were totally into music. When they gathered to jam together, he would join them and this is how he learned the basic skills of singing and playing guitar. Soon enough, he became their vocalist and started a band named The Bass. They played at the local stages, college, campus and spent about three to four years with the band. Even after their constant hard work, they could not do anything better which made them frustrated and the lack of money as well as the lack of media added up to their frustrations. Gradually they disbanded and later Nima met Jyoti Ratna Bajracharya who asked him to collaborate with him and his friends to form a band. Hence, the band The Peace was formed with Nima on the vocals, Jyoti on drum, Puru on bass                                                                                                          and Dipesh on lead guitar with Sailendra on rhythm guitar who recorded their first song Aai deu priye in Sanga Recording Studio.

nima rumba

After that, they got a chance to participate in Rara Nepali Pop Music Competition in 1992 winning the second place. They met Anil Sthapit and Him from Harati Cassette Center who wanted to include their song Aai deu priya in their pop collection Talent-1 in 1992. When the album released, the song became a hit, brining fan mails and concert invitations to the band. Because of different taste in music, they disbanded after which Nima began his solo journey in music.

His first solo work was Jadaichu tadha tadha, with his own voice, lyrics and music, and was included in the album Touch-1 collection from same music company. He, then, for next two to three years, did 4-5 singles like Pagal Premi, Ujaad, mero jeevanma and Block heel shoes, for different collection albums which also became super hits. He was also considered as the best live stage performer in Nepal by the people as well as the critics. Due to lack of money, he started singing in different restaurants and bars, even casino and while he was singing in the Doblee Restaurant and Bar in New Road, he met a man who called him one day in his table and asked if he had done any albums. When he said he had not and the financial problem did not let him, the man left saying he will come next day. And he did, but when he came, he handed Nima ten thousand rupees and asked him to record an album. To this man, whose name he forgot, Nima was, is and will always be grateful to. After that, he borrowed some money with his friend and also added some himself and went to met music arranger Anup Das to record his first solo album Suna Suna which was released from Harati Cassette Center in 1994 with the help of Anil Sthapit.

After that, various stage shows followed and also Nima Rumba Nite 1994 in Academy hall was organized by second year student of Shankar Dev Campus. His shows and fans increased not only in Kathmandu but also in Pokhara, Darjeeling and Sikkim. His second album Nima-Memories was released in 1996 by Santana Records in which the music was arranged by Sunil Bardewa and Anup Das. The song Ms Catwalk is considered as one of the most successful hits by Nima Rumba in Nepali pop music scenario. After the song, however, he went in to live a normal life away from music in Hong Kong with his wife Sheli, but as passionate singer as Nima Rumba was, he could not stay away from music for so long. He continued creating music and tried many different styles while he was still there and finally in 2000, after three years, he came up with his third album Huri Bataas. The song of the same title topped the pop charts for many weeks and the album was the best selling album of the year of 2000 and 2001 leading him to win The Best Album of the Year Award in the Hits FM Music Award 2058. It was followed by his fourth album Lolita, which too, became successful. He has released more than seven albums to date (2012) and has won many awards and recognitions decorating his living room and its walls which he received for his contribution in Nepali pop music.