Sona Mohapatra

Biography:  Sona Mohapatra is an Indian pop singer and musician. She sang the smash hit song Diljale. About She debuted with her self titled-album 'Sona', which contained hit singles like bolo na, aja ve and abhi nahi ana. She is known for her sufi classics like Tere Ishq Nachaya and a collaboration with the Aussie band INXS on their famous song Afterglow; Sona Mohapatra chose to release her new single digitally. Her album was known as Diljale. Diljale is India’s first only digital release in the Nokia Music Store Worldwide. This release saw her team up with Ram Sampath (music composer), Munna Dhiman (lyrics), Deepti Gupta (video director) and Manoj Lobo (cinematographer). The video of Diljale was shot in the streets of New York and represented the night soundscape of her forthcoming album Raat/ Din. The songs of night and day were loosely woven around the timings of Hindustani ragas. Self assured, epitomizing free spirit and memories ....in her own words: “The visuals of the video embody the transition of night into day and are also symbolic of the beauty and loneliness of the cities we live in.” Sona launched her brand new single and her other songs with her band on the occasion of the Nokia Digital Music Store launch and International Music Forum , ‘NOKIA Music connects’ on the 26th of August 09 at the Taj Lands End Bandra. The single was first available at the Nokia Music store worldwide from the 15 of September 09. A global gypsy, her music has taken her to international gigs like that at the prestigious Lincoln Centre New York, where the audience gave her band 2 encores & to stadium gigs like the finale of the 4 Nation Gold Cup in Chandigarh with 40,000 in the stands, on their feet and singing along. Sona also swept all the music awards in the non-film category in the year 2007. Sona Mohapatra has trained in classical music but has made a career fusing pop, folk, Bollywood, funk and rock styles into her music & fronts her own electronic band. Her band of 5 consists of ethnic strings, electric guitars, drums/percussions, bass guitar & keyboards. Sona auditioned for Channel [V] Popstars VIVA (All girl band). However, she was rejected because according to the judges her voice was quite similar to her sister Pratichee Mohapatra who later on became the winner of that show. This setback did not stop her from pursuing her singing career. She sang lots of jingles and remix songs of yesteryears. She also sang a jingle 'Kal Ka Bharat Hai Tasveer Aaj Ki' which aired on numerous Indian channels including DD. Sona’s first video single – Bolo Na became the most requested video on MTV on its release followed by Aja Ve which was acknowledged as amongst the most innovative desi videos of all times . The video Tere Ishq Nachaya went on to play in all the international world music channels, followed by Abhi Nahin Ana. Sona collaborated & featured with the Australian band INXS on the Indian version of their song & video, “Afterglow”, which released in the UK, Europe & India. She has also collaborated with pop rock legend David Bowie on his cult hit “Lets Dance”. This was released in an international dance compilation internationally. Her song, ‘Sapne’ has also been voted amongst the top 5 in the World Song Contest. It’s up there with songs by big international acts like The Verve & Rufus Wainwright. In Bollywood, her first song was 'Lori' from "Family - Ties Of Blood". She had her first duet ‘Chayee Madhoshiyaan’ with Sonu Nigam featured in the film “Jumbo”. A single, ‘Paas Aao Na’, had been licensed by Close Up across several countries and featured in their advertising campaign. A first for an independent artiste in India. She sang 'Bahara' along with Shreya Ghoshal for Imran Khan & Sonam Kapoor starer "I Hate Luv Storys". Biography As a child of a navy officer, Sona had to keep moving every couple of years, spending five years in Africa. Her mother made a point to ensure that her daughter trained in Hindustani music. Of course, Sona was also influenced by Hindi film music and many genres. Sona is one of the few singers on the music scene who made it on the basis of their own talent. Sona was always focused on becoming a singer, and not on the frills that fame provided. Sona is an engineering graduate. She has an engineering degree from the College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar, took her MBA degree from Symbiosis, Pune, and worked as the brand manager in Marico. She is also the elder sister of Pratichee Mohapatra of the band Viva. Sona was happy about the response to her debut album, that had been eliciting. She prides herself in being a live performer, who is not saddled by images or labels. She wants to make her own music with her own band, rather than following trends. Her album was made possible by a meeting with composer Ram Sampath some years ago. The duo planned to do an album with quality music that is satisfying to the artist's soul, rather than worrying about how to make the album sell. However, they began actual work on the album only two years later. The rest of the team for the album were Munna Dhiman for the lyrics and Anand Surapur as the music video's director. They were chosen, based on the caliber of their work.