It was exactly two years ago on Wednesday that Shiva Shankar Manandhar, a doyen of Nepali music, passed away leaving behind a legacy of his timeless melodies.

Born in New Road of Kathmandu in February, 1933, Shiva Shankar devoted his life to Nepali music as a singer and composer for six decades, and enriched it with around 1,200 songs including Ek Phool Jharera Ke Bho, Maanchheko Maya, Himalako Kaakhma, Maya Baiguni, Nau Saya Khola, Fursad Bhaye Aau Timi and Ma Mare Pani that ranged from love and tragedy to patriotism.

He worked at Radio Nepal from 1951 for more than 42 years, and was also the hero of the first Nepali movie - Aama. He passed away at the age of 72 on November 14, 2004.

Nepali modern music as it stands today owes a lot to a pantheon of musical pioneers right from Seturam to Ustad Sainla, Master Ratna Das Prakash, Melwa Devi, Koili Devi, Nati Kaji, Amber Gurung, Narayan Gopal, Gopal Yonzon, Tara Devi, Aruna Lama, and scores of other artistes from the bygone era and the recent past.

One such indispensable name in that list is Shiva Shankar, the actor, singer and composer. Besides, he was also an accomplished arranger __ a view supported by singers Prem Dhoj Pradhan and Fatteman and also corroborated by Peter J Karthak in his article Shiva Shankar: Our Years at Radio Nepal published in The Kathmandu Post on November 21, 2004. The article is included in a new book on Shiva Shankar entitled Nepali Sangeetka Abhiyanta: Shiva Shankar, which was released at a function organized by Shabda Shatabdi, Nepal at Nepal Academy on Wednesday marking the singer-composer's second death anniversary.

During the book launch ceremony, chief guest maestro Amber Gurung recalled that they used to listen to and were influenced by Shiva Shankar's songs while in Darjeeling. He said that Shiva Shankar had a great contribution in Nepali music's development process.

Veteran actress Bhuwan Chand, who was the leading lady opposite Shiva Shankar in the film Aama, described him as a man of few words and also reminisced how funny and proud she had felt during their first shooting for a duet at Chobhar Ganesh when she learnt that she was being paired opposite Shiva Shankar, her father's friend.

According to Dr Ram Man Trishit, Shiva Shankar had worked very hard to modernize Nepali music and paid great attention to counters and other details in music though there were many melody-based songs in Radio Nepal before his time. Citing an incident during the staging of a play based on a Dhuswan Sayami novel, Dr Trishit also expressed his view that Shiva Shankar had a desire to act even before the arrival of films in Nepal.

Singer Yogesh Vaidya described the book as a meaningful tribute to Shiva Shankar by his sons but said that it would act as a reminder of whether and to what degree the state has been able to honor him and other artistes.

Noted lyricist Ishwor Ballabh, meanwhile, said that the state and the politicians have always ignored artistes, though they have been asking for attention since the time of Bhanukbhakta and so they were fed up now. He described Shiva Shankar as a musical nucleus along with masters like Amber Gurung and Nati Kaji, responsible for making him a lyricist and also creating a vast cultural environment.

Musician Bulu Mukarung, who is also the editor of the book, shed light on the book and expressed his hope that it would help students of Nepali music in their research.