Kathmandu Satya Raj Acharya, the eldest son of Bhajan Shiromani Bhakta Raj Acharya, is a popular singer having made his mark alongside his brother Swaroop Raj Acharya as the Satya-Swaroop duo. They have seven albums under their name in the last 23 years of their musical journey. He has also made a name for himself as a solo artiste. Being a versatile singer, he can sing from pop to contemporary to ghazal. As such Madhushala — ghazal album — is his latest offering, his second album. His talent also extends to writing and composing songs as well as acting. And the talented musician who was born on January 12, 1978 has belted out more than 1,500 songs including 100 songs for films and composed songs for 10 films. And this is their and their father’s dream come true. “We used to watch films and were influenced by Hindi films. We wanted to do playback singing and lent our voice to the films,” shares the 38-year-old singer.  The duo used to watch films and would come back memorising songs — “if I remembered one paragraph, he would do another”. They had to do something in music, not just for themselves but for their father as well. Bhakta Raj was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 1993 (2050 BS). This cut short his happening career. “My father didn’t retire. He was at the top of his game then when his musical journey came to a halt. He had dreams of singing hit songs, doing playback singing and had dreamed of singing with Asha Bhosle and Lata Mageshkar. His dreams were shattered,” Satya Raj recalls. So, what his father couldn’t do, the two sons have lived some of the dreams for him. “We went to foreign countries to perform, did playback singing and directed music for films in which we made people sing for us.” However, he feels it is too large a shoe to fill in. “My father’s career spanned only 16 years (1973 to 1989). He only sang 450 songs but achieved that height,” says Satya Raj who began his musical journey professionally in 1993. “We had done nothing in 16 years. It has been 23 years of musical journey and it has only been seven years since we have gained popularity as artistes. And we are still struggling.” Satya Raj and Swaroop Raj received the gift of music from their father who got it from his father who was a bhajan singer. However, “we didn’t have the sense that our father was a veteran singer and we had to walk in his footsteps”. Bhakta Raj’s career took a seat back while the musical dream of Satya Raj and Swaroop Raj took flight. A programme — Bhakta Raj Sangh — was organised to fund his operation for tongue cancer in 1993. This is where the duo started out. Satya Raj informs, “It was for the first time that we got onstage. And we were appreciated. We understood that ‘we can sing’.” With the idea to embrace more people through music, Satya-Swaroop duo did their first album in 1998 — Lahure Dai. It was a pop album in which Moun Timro Adhar stood out. They were also critised for “singing pop being the sons of Bhakta Raj Acharya”. After their first album, they wanted to pursue music actively but “we were underestimated and didn’t get chances. We were rejected by the composers then”. In the meantime, they did chorus in their “struggling” phase. “We felt we had to earn money and so we went for chorus job. We got Rs 200 per song,” Satya Raj recalls. What changed their life was their second album — Mutu Jali Rahechha (2003). The album of Bhakta Raj’s popular songs dedicated to their father proved that “we could sing such songs”. The albums that followed — Swor (2005), Muzik (2007), Hastakchar (2010), Pusta (2012) and Pahilo Bhet (2013) established them as good singers and musicians. Meanwhile, Satya Raj also came out with his first solo album Subhab in 2013. With years, the Sajha Paryo singer is getting “better with the choice of music as I am delving deeper into music. I feel I have to do good music and work hard. I have got very selective with my work and I focus on giving quality music than quantity.” Inseparable duo Music is in the Satya-Swaroop duo genes. But to make them a team, their relationship and choices have had their impacts. “Firstly we have the same choice and taste in music in terms of genre and composers,” Sayad singer shares adding, “Secondly, we don’t have much of an age gap. We are more like friends. We had the same circle of friends and we exchanged our clothes to wear. We grew up together and did things together from going to school to struggling, to watching films to pursuing playback singing together.” Moreover, their partnership is an advantage which they have put to good use in music. He highlights, “The work got divided — be it creative work or physical work. There is a difference between two brains and one brain and the outcome was quick. We would use our father’s brain too sometimes.” The two brothers “complement each other. One is incomplete without the other. One and one didn’t become two but ‘11’”. People had predicted they would split but “we have not, in terms of music as well as family”. On his own Satya Raj has carved his niche as an artiste and he got here on his own. “Our father never groomed us in music. He didn’t teach us music like I would do my son, no matter his interest. The only thing that he did was teach us the basic of music because of our interest. The rest, we learnt music due to our interest and made our way to learn music,” Satya Raj mentions. He recalls his father being “very strict and we were scared of him” and “we still are afraid of him”. As per him, “If our father had taught us music, we would have become even better musicians.” Film side When Acharya film — the biopic on Bhakta Raj — was being made, Bhakta Raj suggested Satya Raj’s name to play him. And so Satya Raj became Acharya in 2011. This was followed by Karkash in 2013. “I love movies so much. I love to watch movies. I love to act,” he expresses. Love for films is not limited to playback singing only for him. He started acting while working in Nepal Academy where he worked for four years in his early 20s. And he is looking forward to act in more films in the future. “As I did two films, my love for films soared and my perspective towards how I see films changed. I started to see it technically,” he shares his love for films. “Like music, I give the same importance and priority to films.”