Swayam Pravash Padhi, an Odia singer and stage performer from Bhubaneswar, is making waves in music circles with the release of his song ‘Tu Nua Shayari’ from the Odia movie Sundergarh ra Salman Khan.
Swayam Pravash Padhi, a recipient of several awards including first runner-up in the singing reality show Voice of Odisha season 3, was among the Top 20 contestants on Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. During the Voice of Odisha contest, he was groomed by Bollywood singer Krishna Beura, Ollywood maestros Trupti Das, Swarup Nayak and Raw Star Rituraj Mohanty.
A software engineer with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bhubaneswar, Swayam has undergone extensive training in classical music with Guru Krushna Maharana and in western music with Guru Sharmi Chakraborty. He loves to perform songs in all genres. He does riyaaz for at least an hour a day.
Son of Aarati and Santosh Kumar Padhi of Berhampur, Swayam Pravash Padhi says he may have inherited his musical talent from his grandfather. “My grandfather was a singer. My mother always wanted me to become a singer too. Although I was good at singing, I never found enough time to practice songs or learn from gurus. I won district level song competitions in my school days but had no time to focus more attention on music due to my studies. However, destiny had chiselled a different path for me. When I joined the Apex Institute of Technology and Management, I started taking part in college functions. My instinct for music revived after I began taking lessons from guru Chitta Pani.”
Swayam Prabhas Padhi uploaded cover versions of popular Hindi songs on YouTube. His voice and modulation made his songs popular among Odia audiences. He got a chance to perform on stage too.
At the same time, he also fulfilled his father’s wish to see him as a software engineer. He joined TCS in Bhubaneswar and, to his credit, he has been recognised as the best employee of TCS Bhubaneswar several times. Recently, Swayam Pravash Padhi married his college mate Eppsita Panigrahy, who is also a singer.
On the musical front, one of his Western cover songs ‘Enrique-Hero and Pahli Nazar mash-up’ on YouTube became a top hit and was noticed by popular composer and singer Abhijeet Majumdar, who called Swayam for an audition.
“Abhijeet Dada liked my performance at the audition and offered me a chance to sing ‘Tu Nua Shayari…’ for his movie Sundergarh ra Salman Khan. I am happy that the song is still popular in Odisha.”
Recently, one of his cover songs ‘Aaj Se Teri…’ from the Hindi movie Padman became a hit on YouTube and the video received over three million views. He also got offers from other YouTube channels to sing for them.
An ardent fan of legendary singer Akshay Mohanty, Hindi playback singer KK and composers Mithoon and Pritam, Swayam Pravash Padhi hopes the audience will appreciate his songs in the upcoming Odia movies Biswanath and Prema pain Mohabharata. “I do hope Odia people will love these songs.’’
Swayam Pravash Padhi narrates an interesting incident. “Recently, I had two public programmes at the same time. I was thinking about skipping one of the two, when the event manager of one of the programmes came to know about it. He said people want to listen to my songs and not anyone else’s. So, he postponed his programme to next day. I felt deeply honoured.”
SOYONG, OP