Parijita Bastola has done something that no other 17-year-old Nepalese-American have done before, or any other Nepali for that matter. She performed at the blind audition of the American singing reality show, The Voice and got her first button in 24 seconds by John Legend, followed by two of the coaches, Camila Cabello and Gwen Stefani almost at the same time by 35 seconds. Blake Shelton was the last one to turn around.
She sang soulfully the song Jealous by Labrinth. They were all stupefied by her rendition and impressed by her Nepali heritage, which they expressed would be influencing her musical career.
In the audition that was aired on September 26 on NBC, she knew for sure she was making history. Like another Nepali Arthur Gunn breaking through to the finals and creating a buzz for Nepal, Parijita backed by her parents and aunt backstage, showed a flair and confidence unbelievable for a 17-year old. None of the coaches could believe she was so young.
When she progresses in the show, we will surely find out her full story. For now, the coaches were all bidding for her, and certainly three of them had to be disappointed. The coach who turned around the last Blake at 1:30 minutes said he had no one else like her in his team.
When the song finished, the coaches had goosebumps and admiration as they were so bowled over and even admitted being over the head. She sang from her heart as the coach praised her for her natural and unique way.
Parijita’s family has nurtured her talent appropriately since they were already a big fan of the show. She revealed that the family ran a restaurant and on Mondays they closed just to be able to watch the show. That certainly laid the ground work for her to start dreaming about auditioning for it. All that admiration and nurturing has paid off as she now is in the national scene, or shall we say international music scene.
Before Parijita picked her coach, she brought Nepal closer to the coaches when she gave each of them highly valued Rudraksha beads necklaces that is popular all over the world for health reason. That was a smart move to show her appreciation and also to promote Nepal. Maybe rudraksha market will open up even more now?
Although the video does not show who she picked for her coach, it is safe to guess from her family’s input that she chose John, and I would say rightly too, since he was the one who give the first buzzer and turned around and also fits in with her own preference for R&B and soul genre. We will just have to stay tuned to find out.
Looks like another Nepali, even better that a female has cracked an opportunity by her talent. The only limit she has now is the sky. She has taken the flight.
Check out her Nepali Cover of Kehi Mitho Bata Gare
Parijita’s First Cover of a Nepali song
The writer is a graduate of Arizona State University in Political Science. He is working as a social activist and motivational speaker for students across Nepal since 2007.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nepalisite.
