Shraddha Oraon

Shraddha Oraon was all 3 years old when she first got interested in music. For as long as Sraddha can remember, she would often go and join her mother during the latter’s music classes. This led to the realisation that Sraddha did indeed have a god-gifted voice, and hence started her training in music. Sraddha is today a trained classical singer, who has also completed up to year five of Rabindra sangeet. However, when asked to sing, she is most likely to break into traditional and folk music. Her melodious voice is also particularly well suited to folk music. What is astounding though is the sheer range of music that this talented girl of 14 has mastered. When asked about the different forms of music that she sings, she says she enjoys everything, from Bhawaiya and Rajbanshi to Bengali folk and Nazrulgeeti, from Rabindra sangeet to film songs (both Hindi and Bengali). For one so young, Sraddha shows maturity quite unlike her years. Armed with her calm poise, she informs us that she has already made up her mind to pursue music in the long term. And while she hails from a village in Bengal, with her music she has won over judges and audiences in national as well as international competitions. In fact, she has also been felicitated by the UN women’s organisation on the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child. Sraddha’s favourite singer is Lata Mangeshkar and like the Nightingale of India, she also strives to blend the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, through her music. In addition to her native language, Sraddha can also sing in a number of other languages - Rajbanshi, Malayalam, French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Hindi and English. She credits her parents and her guruji for being constant sources of support and motivation in her life.