Music transcends differences and creates connections by breaking down cultural barriers. Bringing the two nations closer together through music, a 17-year-old Indian singer who holds a Guinness World Record for singing in 120 languages released her Bhutanese debut song. The song was launched at the Indian Embassy in Thimphu today.
Titled “Toh Dha Tsoem”, the Indo-Bhutan cultural cooperation duet is a romantic song. Suchetha Satish, a multilingual singer from India sang the female part while Hemlal Darjee from Bhutan sang the male part.
Lhab Dorji, the person who composed the song recalls how he ended up collaborating on the project.
“I was surprised and thrilled when the 17-year-old Indian girl had chosen my original composition for the Bhutanese language song. She had sung it beautifully with the perfect diction. And the song went viral here. The music lovers here wanted to hear more Bhutanese songs from her. And that’s why Suchetha’s father and I coordinated and went ahead with the project,” he added.
“I am fortunate to get the opportunity to sing a duet with Sucheta, who holds the Guinness world record. I was nervous when I was first approached to sing a duet with her. However, I practised a lot. Her part was recorded in Dubai while mine was recorded in our country,” said Hemlal Darjee.
Suchetha Satish has two world records. One is the Guinness World Record for singing in 120 languages including Dzongkha. And the other is for the longest live singing concert by a child. Currently studying in grade 12 student, Suchetha lives in Dubai.
“My journey of singing songs in different languages started with my first foreign language which was Japanese which I learned when I heard a Japanese friend singing. When I got the feedback from her that my Japanese diction was correct. I was encouraged to learn songs in more languages. Then I learned Arabic songs and the number kept increasing up to a point where we thought of attempting for a world record. And that’s how I got my first world record at the age of 12,” said Suchetha Satish.
She hopes to do more such collaborations in the future. From 120, she can now sing in 132 languages.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Sonam Pem
