I want to go beyond singing: Sona Mahapatra

Life has taken interesting turns in Sona Mahapatra’s life. The prolific singer, who recently performed at the MTV Coke Studio, pursued an engineering degree, got an MBA and worked in the corporate sector, before taking up her long cherished dream, singing, full time. “Music has always been the central part of my life. I trained in Hindustani classical from the age of 12. The shift to full time music was a jump of a cliff that I had to take at some point,” she says.

About her playback singing, she says, “Although my first album did well, I realised there isn’t enough infrastructure for my music to reach a wide audience. That’s why I got into playback,” she says.

About the growing trend of musicians being multi faceted, with singers doubling as composers, Sona says, “Artistically, it’s an exciting time for musicians. I myself don’t just sing. I want to go beyond singing. I want to academically pursue music and understand it better.”