What started as a hobby has now turned into a passion. From a software professional to an Indian vocal artist, Konark Sarangi has indeed come a long way.
Coming from a sleepy little place called Baharagora, on the southeast corner of Jharkhand, Konark has always been musically inclined. Living in San Francisco bay area, he started his musical journey under the guidance of Mahesh Kale in the year 2009 and that’s when he got introduced to the core of Indian classical music. After learning for a few years he started performing with Kale during his stage shows as a background artist and later as a supporting artist. A devoted student of Indian classical music, he is also the disciple of the legendary Dhrupad vocalist Padam Shri recipient Pandit Ramakant Gundecha.
Born and brought up in eastern India, Konark grew up seeing the devastation caused by natural calamities. Through his music he chose to communicate the social issues caused by these disasters blending his learning into something lighter and more meaningful. Sarangi’s first music video had a hard hitting social message. Highlighting the issue of drought in a place called Kantabanji in the western part of Odisha, the video titled ‘Ghar Jaana Hai: The Stories Untold’ depicts an emotional story of migrating drought victims.
Received very well at film festivals all over the world, the video got selected in around 23 such festivals in India, USA, Israel and Australia. It also won six awards in various categories including the “Honorable Mention: Music Video” award at the Los Angeles Film Awards. “Film festivals are a good opportunity where you can project something like this. The overall response I got for the work is more that what I could expect from the first project and that has encouraged me to start working on my second project,” said Sarangi.
Having spent a major part of his childhood in Odisha, Sarangi’s second music video is based on a true story. “Since the planning of my first music video, ‘Ghar Jaana Hai: The Stories Untold’, the idea was to come up with subjects or stories on social issues that have not been told before. In continuation of the same theme, I planned to come up with my second music video ‘Hausla Na Ruthe: The Stories Untold’ based on the issue of Odisha super cyclone.”
The 1999 super cyclone which has been the worst natural calamity in Odisha devastated lives and livestock to a great extent especially in its coastal region. One such village wrecked by the cyclone was Gundalba where the village women took it upon themselves to restore the forest cover for their paddy fields. Based on the story of the fearless Charu Maa who single handedly motivated people to not migrate from the village but instead come forward and rebuild their forest cover. Charu Maa with a group of 30 other women from the village worked hard to rebuild the forest and also formed a village protection committee responsible for protecting the trees from the mafia.
To play the character of Charu Maa, Konark roped in popular theatre actor and folk singer Ila Arun along with Pushpa Panda, Anu Choudhury and Linkan Pathnaik who will be seen as supporting actors. It has been directed by the documentary film maker Snehasis Das. Bollywood music directors Sanjoy Dazz and Ambar Das are the music composers where as Pinky Poonawala is the lyricist. The video is in its final stages of production and will be released very soon.
Coming from a family of doctors and politicians, Sarangi feels he is more towards the creative side and got these qualities from his mother who used to sing in her collage days but never took it professionally. “Music is my soul. It is something that I live for. Because I do not come from a musical background, it took me a little longer to find a way and develop my potential to the maximum so that I could present something which is worth presenting to the world”, he said.
“My biggest supporter is my family and at the same time they are my strongest critics. When I chose an uncommon subject for my first music video, my wife, parents and brother all supported me whole heartedly which gave me more confidence to believe in my decision”, said Sarangi.
His wife Smaranika, a PHD in Microbiology feels that Konark is very passionate about his music. “I am very critical about his singing and always give him a neutral opinion. At the same time I am also very proud of his approach toward his music and his work. I give him as much free time as possible to concentrate on enhancing his skills and do good quality work in his field.”
His mother Bini Sarangi said that he was always fond of singing and would often perform at his school and college functions. “His biggest quality is that in spite of his busy schedule, he finds a quiet corner and does his rehersal everyday. Even though he started learning at a later stage he is very dedicated and whenever I listen to his songs, I feel very proud of my son. He is fulfilling my dreams.” His father Dr. Dinesh Sarangi is an active politician and was appointed as the first Health Minister of Jharkhand.
His younger brother Kunal Sarangi, currently a member of the legislative assembly of Jharkhand is of the opinion that Konark is too sincere about whatever he does and gives his 150 per cent to everything. “Konark doesn’t believe in networking and lobbying which is very common in his field. He just believes in his own hard work and efforts. His principles in today’s world are very different, very unique because people don’t operate that way nowadays,” Kunal said.
Sarangi did his schooling from Khandamouda High School, Baharagora and later his masters in computer application from Odisha University of Agriculture Tech Bhubaneswar. He is currently working for Apple and is settled with his wife in the San Francisco bay area USA.