Mumbai: Playback singer Sona Mohapatra’s love for exploring folk music has given music lovers some of the most memorable tracks including hits like ‘Ambarsariya’ and ‘Rangabati’. Her recently released track titled ‘Noor’ is an extension of her constant pursuit to bring something new to the table.
The track boasts elements of Punjabi folk, shayari and dancehall. It has been composed by Mohapatra’s husband and creative partner Ram Sampath. It presents a vivid story which appeals to the heart of the listeners.
In a recent conversation with this agency, Sona Mohapatra spoke about her latest song, veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar, how folk is mixing with mainstream music and changing the dynamics of the music consumption patterns, and how the pandemic has been hard on the folk artiste community.
Although Sona is the face of the song, the singer doesn’t hold back from showering praises on her team that has helped her put the song together. “I have an incredible team in place because of whose collaboration we have reached here. The beat used in ‘Noor’ is a dancehall beat and with Punjabi folk at its heart. Ram is a kind of music producer who marries cultures from around the world and creates something very unique. ‘Noor’ is actually my sister song to ‘Ambarsariya’ (another folk track with pop vibes),” Sona said
Sona feels lucky to have partnered with the music label ‘Warner Music’ for the song. “I feel so happy that I found a partner in ‘Warner Music’. I feel lucky because the aesthetics of Warner music and the artistes who are present all around the world bring a lot of quality to the table,” Sona pointed out.
Looking at the state of Indian mainstream music currently, one would assume that despite such rich music and culturally diverse landscape of the country folk is unable to cut through the layers of mainstream music but Sona likes to differ. “It is not that folk music has not mixed into the mainstream culture, it is very well into the mainstream culture,” Sona said.
The playback singer also recollected her earlier stint at Coke Studio India. “When Coke Studio started in India, Ram and I did an episode called ‘Devi’ where we presented Bhanwari Devi, who is a superstar from Rajasthan. If you see her right now she has been earning way more than a lot of reality singing show participants,” Sona stated.
Sona also talked about her ambitions with regards to music restoration and preservation. “I have Omgrown Studio where we archive a lot of folk music. We had a really important conversation recently about how to preserve someone’s music especially when they pass away. Lata ji was a Saraswati as she had sung around 36,000 songs but these songs should be preserved in their original sound. It will help the coming generations get inspired by these songs,” Sona observed.