Born in Darjeeling to mother Manmaya and father Lachhuman Singh Gazmer on October 3, 1942, Ranjit fell in love with music through the beats of the tabala. He grew up listening to his elder brother Arjun Gazmer and brother-in-law Hira Singh play the instrument, and later learned the craft from them.

During his days at Turnbull High School, Ranjit became close friends with Sharan Pradhan and Lalit Tamang. Ranjit used to play tabala and drums to Sharan's banjo and mandolin, and both had gained popularity through various musical programs. Ranjit then caught the eyes of maestro Amber Gurung and became a part of his group at Art Academy of Music. The other disciples there included the likes of Karma and Gopal Yonzon, Aruna Lama, Sharan Pradhan, Jitendra Bardewa, Prakash Gahatraj, Ajay Gurung, and contemporaries such as Rudra Mani Gurung, Kapil Raj Subba, Nayan Subba, Kishore Sotang, and Gagan Gurung. As it was to happen later, Gurung had to have Ranjit in all his rehearsals, recordings and programs — on tabala as well as madal.

Ranjit was also part of Gurung's epoch-making Nau lakha tara. However, here is one little known interesting fact. He had produced the madal's sound in the song, and later in A Kanchha as well, from tabala because of the lack of madal during their recordings.

“We gave great importance to Nepaliness, and our folk instruments in Darjeeling those days. So we used to give prominence to madal also,” says Ranjit.

Strangely enough, he recalls one big musical program organized in Darjeeling in 1963. Indra Thapaliya was looking for a madal player, but others used to feel shy about playing madal on stage. He then sought help from Amber Gurung, who then inducted Ranjit and Ajay Gurung for the not so popular job, but the show turned out to be a huge success.

“We were lucky to meet Amber dai. We got to learn both eastern and western music from him,” he says. “He was very strict about discipline, punctuality, and even dress. However, he never took classes in the conventional pattern. He would play songs to us, and we would learn everything from there itself. It was also through him that we came to know about western master composers. Probably that's why our songs sound sweet despite having western flairs.”

Talking about the musical environment of that period, Ranjit shares, “We used to do music from our heart and for our identity, not for money. During Dashain and Tihar, we raised money to record songs in the winter, organize programs and meet senior artistes, too. We  felt proud of being Nepalis. If the Bengalis took pride in their music, why shouldn't we?”

After Amber Gurung left the Academy for government service at West Bengal's Folk Entertainment Unit, things became difficult for them, says Ranjit. “After his departure, we tried to run the Academy but we didn't have the commanding ability like his. We also lacked musically as the number of programs and compositions started decreasing.”

Subsequently, the Yonzon siblings Karma and Gopal joined the Himalayan Kala Mandir. Meanwhile, Sharan and Ranjit formed their Sangam group along with Aruna Lama and Jitendra Bardewa. Starting with Yahan phool na khilechha in Aruna Lama's voice, Sharan-Ranjit gained popularity as a composer duo with their songs.

Around the same time, Peter J Karthak, who was also part of Sangam formed the first indigenous rock-n-roll band of Darjeeling, The Hillians. Along with Peter, it had his brother Mark, Ranjit, KK Gurung and his cousin Lalit Tamang. Peter and Ranjit also worked in Louis Bank's quartet during that time.

“Elvis was very popular and his songs were in big demand in Darjeeling then. After Louis left his band to work in Soaltee Hotel in Kathmandu, we decided to form a band ourselves, and Peter named it The Hillians,” Ranjit explains. Their song Mayalu was first sung by Peter at North Point College and was a huge hit. “It was a fusion of eastern and western styles.” That was the band's creative side in modern Nepali music.

Ranjit was close to Peter and his family since very early, and both were to work together till much later. He shares, “We were from different castes and religions, but we were very close. His mother used to love me a lot, and I almost always was with them.”

He recalls that though he did not attend classes, Peter and Mark would take him to their college and  its canteen. Father Burns was also fond of him and used to include him in the college programs.

In 1966, Peter, Ranjit and Phurba (another Hillians member) came to Birgunj to manage a school along with Anuradha Gurung (now Koirala, of Maiti Nepal). After about four months, they came to Kathmandu. They  worked in a school in Baneshwor during the day and at Radio Nepal as musicians in the evenings.

Around the same time, Peter and Phurba joined the casino training at Soaltee Hotel where Louis Banks was playing. Ranjit, too, joined, but didn't like it. He then formed a local band with Mark, Madan Pariyar and Shyam Raj, and they  played at the Park Restaurant in the evenings. Later, he joined the then Royal Nepal Academy on Ram Sharan Darnal's invitation.

By the time Ranjit came to Kathmandu, he was already married and had two daughters. He says that he had a hard time during those early days. He used to get about Rs 120 from the Academy, Rs 125 from the school and Rs 200 from the band every month, and he had a whole family to support on that. The family responsibility also forced him to think more about surviving that composing, says Ranjit. However, he fondly remembers his friend Norbu Yonzon and his parents who gave them his home to live in during those difficult times.

When Amber Gurung came to Kathmandu on King Mahendra's invitation, Ranjit got to work with him once again as his assistant at the Academy. Later, Prakash Thapa requested Gurung to compose music for his film called Mero Desh. So, Gurung along with Ranjit, Phatteman and Nirmala Shrestha went to Bombay for the recording and returned after two weeks. Veteran musician Manohari Singh had arranged everything for them then. However, the film and its songs were never released.

After about four months, Manohari Singh came to Kathmandu with his family, and Ranjit expressed his desire to go to Bombay with him. He assured to help, provided Ranjit managed his food and board by himself.

By coincidence, actor and director Dev Anand was looking for a Nepali flavored song in his film Hare Rama Hare Krishna when Manohari Singh took Ranjit to meet RD Burman. “When I played Kanchha re kanchha re, Dev Anand was overjoyed and instantly put me in his team,” he reminisces fondly.

Ranjit says that no one had seen anyone play the madal in Bombay till then, and everyone used to watch him startled when he played it. Well, the song was a big hit, Ranjit got the name Kanchha from RD Burman, and madal entered big time in Hindi film music.

Thereafter, Ranjit worked with RD Burman in numerous films right till his last project, 1942 A Love Story. Besides, he also worked with him in the Durga Puja special albums, which were very popular.

He describes Burman as the “Rhythm King”. “He was very fond of pahadi tunes and folk songs, and he would often ask me to play them. He was very frank and used to visit our home often. And he was very fond of momos,” says Ranjit, who was recently felicitated with the Chhinnalata Geet Puraskar in Kathmandu. “Many musicians still call me because of his name. I'm going to a tribute program on RD Burman in Singapore on August 1.”

Even after Burman, musicians like Ismail Durbar and Jatin-Lalit call him for the original sound of madal. He has also worked with directors like Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy and Romesh Sharma in various films and television serials.

The initial phase in Bombay was difficult for Ranjit, but everyone regarded him due to his association with Manohari Singh. Also, he found the company of many Nepalis like Shambhu Pradhan, Tulsi Ghimire, Udit Narayan, Deepa Narayan, Bhuwan KC, Tripti, Danny Denzongpa, Louis Banks, and Banni Pradhan in later days.

He has also given us many melodious numbers in nearly two dozen Nepali films that include Bansuri, Kusume Rumal, Lahure, Saino, Darpan Chhayan, Samjhana, Trishna, Mayalu and Dui Thopa Aansu.

At present, Ranjit works as a freelance musician in Mumbai. His son Satyajit is into film direction and editing and had done assistant direction in recent Hindi films including Chocolate and Goal, whereas his two daughters live in Kalimpong.

Ranjit visits Darjeeling once every two years. He says he had wanted to open a studio in Siliguri but it could not materialize as his son is in a different profession, and he alone would not be able to run it. The sexagenarian maestro, though, has one more desire: to make a quality film that will be remembered for a long time to come.

It has been an eventful journey of life for Ranjit so far. Many of his creative companions in music have long been gone while others, too, are scattered in different places and different fields. How does he take this?

“It's like they are playing carom up there,” is his answer, as he points to the heavens above. True, with Karma Yonzon, Ranjit is the only creative and practicing Nepali musician left of his generation.