A poster of Chhuti

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 25: Singer Namrata Mohanty has come up with two music albums that showcase her versatility.

The two solo albums — Ninad and Chhuti — were released on Sunday by Symphony Digital Audio at the OCA Club’s Convention Hall at the Barabati Stadium Complex in Cuttack.

The first audio album, Ninad, is a collection of eight traditional Hindi bhajans written by Bhakti saints such as Tulsidas, Surdas, Meera Bai, Kabir and Lalit Kishori. Veteran music director Maheswar Rao has composed the music. The devotional music compilation will definitely touch the hearts of the listeners, said Mohanty.

The album includes devotional songs such as Main toh giridhar ke ghar jaun by Meera Bai and Soi rasna jo hari gun gaave by Surdas.

“Ninad is my first attempt at Hindi bhajans. These days, the following of collecting audio albums has declined but this album in particular has a very serene traditional music and should comfort the listeners,” said Mohanty.

“It’s up to music lovers now, but at a personal level, I feel extremely content and happy to have sung these magical songs,” she said.

An All India Radio artiste since 1983, the Cuttack-based singer, who had been groomed by several exponents such as Dhananjay Satpathy and Shantanu Das, had released two music albums earlier.

Her fourth album and the second release of the evening was Chhutti.

This album focuses on the young generation and is a collection of 12 modern Odia songs written by popular lyricist Bijay Malla. Well-known composer Om Prakash Mohanty has created the music for the songs that are mostly peppy and are based on Western beats.

“There are some light romantic numbers in this collection such as ‘Bhbahe hele kahi pare na’,” said Om Prakash.

The singer hopes that Chhutti would get a good response from the youth. “These are numbers that portray the feelings of youth including love, friendship and the passion for freedom and hence will pull the strings of young music lovers,” said Mohanty.

She said that the team behind the album might come up with a video for one or two songs.