Hari Devi Koirala
Hari Devi Koirala, born Hari Devi Bhattarai on 30 March 1959 in Pokhara, Nepal, is a renowned Nepalese folk singer. She has sung more than 800 songs and made over 80 albums across five decades, earning more than 250 awards from literary, musical, and social groups.
She rose to fame after recording her first album, Paina Khabara, in Kathmandu. The title song tells the story of a migrant worker’s wife who hasn’t heard from her husband for months. She was inspired to write it after seeing many newlyweds’ husbands go abroad to work.
Early in life, Hari Devi was the eighth of fourteen children in a Hindu Bahun family. She loved writing poems and songs as a child and often sang to her grandmother every morning. She admired many singers, including Narayan Gopal, Tara Devi, Aruna Lama, and others.
She completed secondary school at Barahi Secondary School in Pokhara. Around 1977–1978, she married Ram Bahadur Koirala. Because singing for money was traditionally restricted for her caste, her husband and his family supported her to pursue music. In 1983–1984, with her husband’s help, she traveled to Kathmandu to record Paina Khabara, paying about 6,000 Nepalese rupees. The album was released after a month and received a positive reception.
Hari Devi has also written eight books and appeared in more than 100 music videos, in addition to keeping a large catalog of songs that often address gender equality, Teej, and self-reliance. Some of her most popular songs are Aina Herera, Paina Khabar, Phoolko Basana, Jhil Jhil Sitara, and Aama Timro Dudhko Varale.
Her contributions to folk music and culture have earned many honors, including the Bishesh Samman in 2018 from Chahana Media and the Kshetra Pratap Memorial Literary Award in 2021.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:23 (CET).