While touring in Bangalore and Mumbai last October, Aussie pop-rock group INXS decided it wanted to collaborate with an Indian artist.
And rising star Sona Mohapatra (her debut album Sona was recently released on Sony BMG) fit the bill perfectly.
“They chose to go with me as they felt my voice would complement their lead singer J D Fortune,” Mohapatra told Toe Knee Unplugged. The result, this soulful rendering of the hit track Afterglow, has been received very favorably:
Mohapatra, who has an engineering degree and MBA, left behind a corporate job after years of trying to juggle singing, with her career as a brand manager in Mumbai. “I wanted to spend much more time pursuing my singing – I wanted to learn, go places, travel,” she says. “The idea of the album was shaping up and I wanted to fully work on this. That’s when I decided to quit.”
“I think I can be part of that set of people who can define contemporary Indian sound outside of just film music.”
More:
Mohapatra’s interpretation of Aaja Ve is also totally worth a listen (watch the video here).
Visit SonaTheArtist.Com for details on, um, Sona the artist.
Nirali’s own Arun Kale, founder of Split magazine, weighs in on India’s thriving rock scene.
Great artist & find for the indian music scene …actually this woman will surely go places …so the world music scene !!
what interpretation of Aja Ve ? Its her original & is a very hit n happening single out here in India !! Shes interpreted the traditional lyrics of bulleh shah on ishq nachaya & is just out with a new video with this..here too the composition is an original !! check it out on youtube by searching ’sona mohapatra’
it’s an original then? even better (i thought it was a remake of an old filmi song). the post has been corrected. thanks, jay!
sorry hilal , no offence meant but you ought to check your facts & not write stuff basis what you ‘thought’ . Sonas debut album has been possibly the most original music that the countrys heard in years. Its available on the soundbuzz site & on their international page if ur out of the country..def worth a listen.