Sunanda Patnaik Biography 
Sunanda Patnaik is a Hindustani vocalist belonging to Gwalior Gharana, who is widely regarded as one of the great dames of Hindustani music. She is the daughter of well-known Oriya poet Baikunthanath Patnaik. She is best known for her tarana that she sings at a high pace, and is a great interpreter of Odissi music in the contemporary period. A documentary, Nilamadhaba was made on the life of this iconic singer by directed by Sri Dilip Patnaik, which won National film awards. She has been honored with honorary doctorate by Utkal University in 1999 and the degree of doctor of music by Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal in 1975.
Sunanda Patnaik was born on 7 November 1934 in Odisha. She is of Puri origin. She was born as the daughter of Oriya poet Baikunthanath Patnaik. Yet she chose music as her passion and career. She was initiated to the formal training in music at a young age, where she was introduced to Gwalior Gharana. She started singing for AIR Cuttack at a tender age of 14 in 1948. The then Odisha Governor Asaf Ali was a great fan of her voice, who happened to hear her voice once in radio and later she regularly performed at Raj Bhavan for guests, an initiative started by governor.
President of India, Rajendra Prasad was yet another prominent personality who got impressed by her voice. He granted her a scholarship and arranged her musical classes under the guru, Pandit Vinayak Rao Pattavardhan at Pune. Apart from singing in different musical events of India, she has also performed worldwide, and released many discs too. She was given the very prestigious Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1970 and 1971.
Published: July 23, 2018
Updated: July 23, 2018
