The Loden Foundation

21 May 2010 - He has had no formal training, but he is one of the best music directors in the country. He has won eight awards, includ­ing the best music composer and best background score, in the recent film awards.

But the journey for music director Tandin Dorji was not all smooth sailing.

His father died after he fin­ished class XII. So he could not continue his studies. But he got an opportunity to study arts in India and Bangladesh, which was not what he was interested in.

In 2000, he composed four songs and went to try his luck at Norling recording studio in Thimphu. He was rejected.

Rejection made no differ­ence to him. In fact, he started visiting Norling more often. It was during one of these vis­its that he met some Indian musicians hired by Norling. “I learned a few things from them and then thought that if they could why couldn’t I?” he said.

After that, with the help of a friend, he bought some mu­sical equipment and started composing music and songs.

Finally, after four years, in 2004, Tandin got his first break. Director Kesang P Jigme approached him to work in his film Khachhem. Since then, Tandin has be­come the most sought after music director.

Till date, he has worked in 107 films and composed 2,974 songs.

“Composing songs depend on the situation and under­standing of a story,” said the music director. “Sometimes, I take about an hour and a half, while there are times when I take weeks to compose a song.”

He seeks inspiration from the works of Indian music director AR Rahman and Nepali music director Raven Darshan Dara. He also get in­spired by the works of Pema Rinzin and Tsheten Dorji, two other Bhutanese musicians.

He started his career charg­ing Nu 700 for a song; now he charges Nu 120,000 for a film.

From Punakha and the el­dest of the three siblings, the 28-year-old music director recollects his late father sing­ing and teaching him songs on the dramnyen, which never interested him. He was more into singing and playing piano.

“It is not necessary to have formal training. All you have to do is be dedicated and cre­ative,” he said.

He wants to touch peo­ple’s hearts with music. “My greatest achievement is the song Karsel Dawa, which I composed for a late friend of mine.” The song has been used in the film 4 Friends.

Tandin Dorji has sung in some 30 music albums but says he does not want to sing. He wants to concentrate on music composition.

Tandin Dorji has a huge fan following. He receives calls from fans who appreci­ate his work when his films are released.

He said some fans called him up and asked him to sing. “I am a composer, not a singer, but I still couldn’t con­vince them so Ihad to sing a couple of times,” he said.

He, however, recollects getting threats when he was one of the jury members of Druk Star show. “At times, I got proposals from women and at times, threats,” he said.

He said he will never again judge any singing shows.

Apart from composing songs, he likes painting, foot­ball and archery.

He is presently working on a new film.

Source: http://www.bhutanobserver.bt