Quite a number of cover songs, mashups and remixes were released this year. This is our handpicked list of 10 songs which have been finely remade. The list doesn’t include videos of live performances or the performances from reality TV shows; but only those which were released online as a cover song by Nepali artists.

Here are the songs, in no particular order.

Kafal/Kamla – Zanak Tamrakar & Almoda Rana Uprety

Almoda Rana Uprety collaborated with Zanak Tamrakar to bring us one of the most beautiful mashups of the year. Two folks songs — Kafal Khanya, a Doteli song from Far Western Nepal originally performed by Nand Krishna Joshi; and Kamla, a Kumaoni folk song from Uttarakhand, India — have been recreated in this mashup.

Ukaali Chadaula – Swoopna Suman & Trishala Gurung

Swoopna Suman and Trishala Gurung were brought together by Channel Arbitrary to cover ‘Ukaali Chadaula’, the soulful song originally performed by Udaya Sotang and Manila Sotang; and they did pull it off pretty well.

Desh Sakiyo – NK Samraat, Puskar Rai & Bimal Tamang

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ is one of the most popular songs of 2017; and quite obviously, it has been covered and remixed by hundreds of aspiring artists. While a number of Nepali singers tried and did their renditions of the Spanish song; the best one turned out to be this one by NK Samraat, Puskar Rai and Bimal Tamang, solely because of its lyrics. This song could have been much better with good recording, mixing and mastering; but still, it’s a good one and it definitely deserves a spot in this list.

Saili – Yodda

Hemant Rana’s ‘Saili’ undoubtedly is one of the most popular Nepali songs of 2017. Its music video featuring Gaurav Pahari and Menuka Pradhan was liked so much that it is now being turned into a film; which will be directed by ‘Kabaddi’ fame Ram Babu Gurung. Yodda did his version of the song and it’s extremely good. He kept the essence of the song intact; and made the already-very-emotional song even more emotional.

Shape of You – Jatayu Records

Give Jatayu Records any song and they will turn it into a beautiful and soothing number with some Nepali touch. And that’s what they did with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’. Sung by Palsang Lama, this version has Nhuchhe Munikar on tabla and madal, and Samyal Gandharba on sarangi.

Sindhuli Gadhi – Neetesh Jung Kunwar

2017 has been a pretty good year for Neetesh Jung Kunwar. He released a number of originals including ‘Bujheu Haina Kura?’, ‘Gedai Jasto Jindagi’ and ‘The Chhuttee Song’. And on the other hand, he did release some covers as well; and among them, ‘Sindhuli Gadhi’ was his best work. Here’s the rock cover of Late Krishna Bikram Thapa’s classic song.

Timi Bhane – Suzeena Shrestha

We had mixed feelings when Suzeena Shrestha became a part of Channel Arbitrary as she is one of the very few Nepali female rock-stars and to have her do cover songs seemed like a bad idea. It’s not like doing covers is a bad thing or anything but still, with the kind of talent this ‘The Act’ vocalist has, we expect her to make great original songs (like she has been doing). Anyway, it’s a good thing that Arbitrary is not only focusing on cover songs but originals as well. Talking about her covers, her version of Albatross’ ‘Timi Bhane’ is the best among them. And the Albatross guitarist Sunny Manandhar’s cameo is the cherry on the cake.

Katta – Neps Elektronika & Anxmu5

Sacar, now Lil’ Buddha, did a lot of stuff in 2017 — some good, like releasing a dope ass album, and some bad, you know what we are talking about. One among them was making the word ‘Katta’ popular. It became so popular that even people who have no idea what a Katta  actually is, too, have been using the word. Just in case you wondered, a katta is a locally-made gun (also known as tamancha) used in some parts of India.

Neps Elektronika and Anxmu5 turned Sacar’s ‘Katta Handey’ dialogue into an EDM song and it’s freaking awesome.

Hamro Nepal – Monkey Temple

Monkey Temple did a version of Xmarika’s ‘Hamro Nepal’ earlier this year and it’s fair to say that they did justice to the 1997 song. While the lyrics say, “Yo Hamro Nepal”, the music video doesn’t really have a lot of Nepal as it’s made out of various clips sent by fans from across the world. And also the frontman, Sareen Deoja, too is based abroad.

No matter what you think of the video, the song definitely is well made.

Ukali Orali Haruma – Adrian Pradhan

Adrian Pradhan did a cover of Tara Devi’s classic ‘Ukali Orali Haruma’ for Bajaj Nepal. A beautiful rendition of the song along with an equally beautiful video; this one totally needed to be in this list.

We did like a lot of other cover songs as well but as we had to stick with only 10 of them, only these made the cut. Let us know in the comment section below if you think we missed any cover, mashup or remix that you would have loved to see in this list.