Barnali makes Odisha’s Port Town sway to her music

Bhubaneswar: Singing reality show Dil Hai Hindustani’s runners-up, Barnali Hota, is on a musical tour covering all major port cities of India. “I had always wanted to perform on the beaches or at seaports and coincidentally all the venues of my shows this month happened to be major port cities. The Bali Jatra season has been lucky for me,” Barnali said.

Her musical tour commenced yesterday with an enthralling performance at the Kalinga Bali Jatra Mahotsav in Paradip. She’ll be performing on November 10 and 11 in Bhubaneswar. Bhavnagar in Gujarat being her next stop, followed by musical gigs at Shantiniketan in West Bengal, Mangalore, and Bharuch in Gujarat.

When asked about her experience in Paradip, she said, “It was blissful. I am rarely very devilish during my performances on stage, but this time we rocked! I made my audience dance and scream. The best part was when we could make policemen sway to our music.”

She performed the recent hits from Bollywood along with some Odia folk, including ‘Chal gaan ku jiba’ sung originally by Karunakar. “This is one of my favorites and reminds me of my village and the simple hassle-free life there away from the maddening crowd. Besides, there’s a song which I perform in each concert; Bheegi Bheegi, because I and my band kill it on stage! It gives me a thrilling experience,” said an excited Barnali.

The 17-year-old from the temple city dreams to make Odisha proud and perform Odia songs on international platforms too. In an earlier interview with OST, she had expressed her desire to perform at American Idol.

She released her solo album Aarzoo earlier this year and an Odia song dedicated to all mothers.