Sonia: A promising voice in the music scene

Sonia's bond with music was formed at an early age. At five, she started taking music lessons from MA Latif Khan. She focused on classical music and trained under Ali Ahmed for six years. Sonia trained in Nazrul Sangeet under Ustad Golam Rasul.

An enlisted artiste of Khulna Radio, Sonia moved to Dhaka in 2003. However, the talented artiste was "reluctant to take music as a profession". She says, "I continued my music lessons. However, my commitment to the art form had nothing to do with the prospect of a budding career or public exposure."

How did she get over that reluctance and dive in the national hype that was Closeup 1? "I used to follow Indian Idol. Obviously when I heard of a TV show based on the concept, about to be launched in our country, I was interested. It was my husband though, who registered me for the competition. Once I got the ball rolling and moved ahead to the final rounds, I became more confident."

How did she manage to deliver quality performances in all the genres, when some of the competitors could not pull off certain songs? Sonia credits her years of training in classical and Nazrul songs: "One may be intelligent but to utilise that God-given attribute, education is needed. Similarly, a naturally melodious voice may sound easy to the ear today but to maintain the appeal and have total command on vocals, one needs a strong base in classical music. And I personally love Nazrul Sangeet because the genre itself covers every genre one can think of in subcontinental music. Nazrul Sangeet hones an artiste's vocals for all kinds of songs."

Though Sonia was going strong in Closeup 1, she got booted in the semi-final. How disappointing was that? "I was disheartened but I think the competition was fair. I did get 47 out of 50 from the judges, so that was my consolation. About the public votes, I feel it had a lot to do with the media coverage and public impression of my fellow contestants. Through innumerable TV and newspapers features, certain impressions were created which helped some of the contestants attain public sympathy. And that helped with the votes."

She may not have won the title but Sonia has no reason to feel dejected. Music directors have taken notice of her devotion to her medium. She is doing playback for four upcoming movies -- Orey Shampanwala, Chokh Jey Moner Kotha Boley, Aguner Fulki and Banglar Bou (first two are ntv productions).

"For me it has to be a balancing act. Playbacks, live performances, albums -- I intend to work hard at it all," says an upbeat Sonia.