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‌There are two kinds of people in this world; one who earn name, and the other who earns fame, but in the end only those people live in the memories who earn a name for themselves in their life. Here, we are going to talk about the untouched aspects of a similar person’s life, who not only earned a name for himself, but his work also gave recognition to Uttarakhand; Gopal Babu Goswami.

Early Life

‌Gopal Babu was born into a very poor family, to Mohan Giri and Chanuli Devi on 2nd February 1941, in the village of Chandkhet, Almora district. At a very young age he discovered his passion for singing, which was not much likable to his family. Due to his father death before he could pass his 8th standard; he had to leave his studies mid way as all the family responsibilities were on his shoulders. He worked as a truck driver, performed magic shows in fairs, and also entertained the people there with his singing.

Career

‌From singing songs into fairs to singing songs in radio, the journey of Gopal Babu was quite thrilling. Once while singing in Nandadevi fair in Almora, a famous Kumaoni musician Late Brajendra Lal Shah caught the sight of Gopal Babu Goswami, and then he was sent to famous folk singer Girish Tiwari Girida, who sharpened his voice. In 1971, Gopal Babu was hired by Brajendra Lal Shah, who was then working in the Nainital branch. It was kind of a government job. Gopal Babu Goswami began his career with Kumaoni songs, after which his songs became very popular amongst people. His first song, “Kele Baje Murali O Baina”, was recorded in Lucknow. The popularity of this song started growing in Najibabad and Almora, after which he got B Highgrade.

First Kumaoni Cassette

‌After his popularity began to increase, the supporters of Gopal Babu suggested him to release his own cassette; which led to release of his first cassette in 1976 by HMV. After this, his journey began with the famous cassette company Plydor. People of that era went head over heels when Gopal Babu Goswami released "Himalaya ka Ucho Dana Pyaro Mero Gaon", "Chhod De Mero Haath Main Brahmchari Chhu", "Bhur Bhuri Ujyav Hago", "Yo Peta Khatir", "Ghughati Na Bassa", "Aankhi Tera Kai-Kai", and “Ja Cheli Ja Swaras "etc Kumaoni songs in his cassette. Apart from this, he sang a lot of suet songs as well. Gopal Babu worked with the playwright singer Shrimati Chandra Bisht in about 15 cassettes.

Books

‌Apart from singing, Gopal Babu was also fond of writing. He wrote books in both Hindi and Kumaoni languages. Geet Mala (Kumaoni), Darpan, Rashtrajyoti (Hindi), Uttarakhand, etc are some of his major books. Apart from this, Ujyav, his other book, has not been published yet. Most of his Kumaoni songs were written by him. He himself made cassettes for Malushahi and Haruhit.

Death

‌Despite of going through so many struggles in his life, Gopal Babu never lost his hope, and remained associated with his songs and music. During his job, he got brain tumor and remained sick for a long time, and thus he bid good bye to the world on 26th November 1996. Though we have lost Gopal Babu long back ago, but his songs will remain not in just our hearts but also the coming generation will remember him as a true inspiration.