Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 2, 2020)

Coming a close second to the barrage of exercise videos that have flooded social media news feeds amid the lockdown are live concerts from folk of the music fraternity. Joining the growing league of musicians enthralling fans from home is Sona Mohapatra, who recently conducted a contest for her fans, urging them to identify three looks from her music videos, and guess the songs they featured in. The first 20 to answer correctly were told to make a song request, and name a person they'd want to dedicate it to.

At a live concert to be held today at 4 pm, the singer along with composer-husband Ram Sampath, will belt out the numbers.

Mohapatra says, "Apart from performing these songs acoustically, we also plan to share a few behind-the-scenes anecdotes of working on our albums and films like Delhi Belly, Talaash, and Fukrey, and shows like Satyamev Jayate and Coke Studio. Fans will be able to ask us questions. We can engage with each other and share feedback." She urges individuals to take to such forms of communication while practising social distancing. "Human contact in these tough times is welcome."

Singer Sona Mohapatra on what prompted composer husband Ram Sampath and her to build archive of folk music
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 24, 2020)

With Bollywood songs dominating the taste of music aficionados, most other forms of music have unfortunately been relegated to the fringes. Keen to nurture the rich heritage of India, mid-day has learnt that singer-composer duo Sona Mohapatra and husband Ram Sampath have joined forces with NGO Virasat to build an archive for different forms of folk music in the country. Turns out, the couple has thrown open the doors of their studio to enable local artistes to record their folk songs, which will then be preserved by the non-profit organisation for perusal of music students.

"Both Ram and I are proud of our rich folk heritage. While Ram introduced me to world genres like Fado, Flamenco and Latin music, I introduced him to the folk music of India. Since then, it has been a fabulous journey of discovery," smiles Mohapatra.

For a country that is a treasure trove of literature and art, the artiste rues it is unfortunate to see how folk forms are all but forgotten. "As a culture, we are terrible at preserving our past — be it our architecture or even films. Since folk music is an oral tradition, nothing much is archived. Conserving folk music in our studios is a start in the right direction, but is far from being a long-term solution. We will continue to shine the spotlight on folk artists through our music. Bhavari Devi has become a sensation after debuting with us in Coke Studio."

Subhash K Jha (DNA; March 3, 2014)

Just as Kapil Sharma is getting ready to embark on his movie career, the actor-comedian is also all set to sing a number with Shruti Haasan, who has been trained in music and has sung many songs for films and on stage. Sukhwinder Singh would be composing the track.

The number will be produced by Coke Studios. Kapil loves music and says he would be pursuing his singing career as seriously as acting.

“We are planning something. I met Shruti on a flight. We started chatting and discovered our mutual love for music and singing. We decided we’d do a song together,” he says.

From an airborne idea the song is now heading towards a ground-reality. Kapil adds, “I’ve always said I’d have been a professional singer if I was not entertaining audiences from the stage. Being on stage gives me a chance to do both acting and singing. I am now looking at seriously pursuing acting and singing.The two go hand-in-hand in our films.”