BHUBANESWAR: Psychedelic trance, psytrance or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterised by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. Psytrance lies at the hardcore, underground end of the diverse trance spectrum.
The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full on, darkpsy, forest, minimal (Zenonesque), Hitech, progressive, suomi, psy-chill, psycore, psybient (fusion of psychedelic trance and ambient), psybreaks, or “adapted” tracks from other music genres.
Here comes the inspiring story of Saumya Mohanty aka Kalinga Son from Jagatsinghpur who dared to dream big and pursue a career in music. Born in a rural household, Mohanty has reached the echelons of the music scene and brought immense pride to his state.
He had a great passion and love for electronic music since the age of 14. Conducting his own experiments and studies in various genres of music, he started to test his DJ skills on DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) from 2010.
In 2017, he started playing the psychedelic trance genre where he intended to represent Odisha and India in the world music scene. Since then, he has never looked back.
Over the years, Saumya has honed his DJ skills inspired by well-known artistes Astrix, Avolon, Technical Hitch, Vini Vici and many more. His music is an amalgamation of heavy baselines, emotional chants and mantras that takes you on a musical journey with BPM (beats per minute) ranging from 142 to 147 in general.
He is the host of India’s only Psytrance radio show around the globe titled ‘Samay Chakra’ on the world’s biggest radio network DIFM where he has invited international artistes like Ace Ventura, Spinal Fusion, Astrix and many more. Apart from this, he has also joined hands with one of Argentina’s biggest artist booking organisation and group Rebels Production.
Saumya has been regularly listed among the top nine trance artistes in India. He has played at top music festivals in India including Monsoon Blast @Hilltop, Goa.
In a conversation with Orissa POST he said, “I belong to a middle class family with no musical background. In 2008, I realised my love and passion for music. I am dedicated towards making my state proud across the globe. That’s why I’ve adopted the stage name of Kalinga Son.”
Saumya is optimistic about the growth of Psytance in Odisha. He said, “Introducing a new music genre at a place is equivalent to establishing a whole new culture. It’s a collective effort. I’m glad Odisha is accepting this style.”
For budding DJs, Saumya recommends sticking with originality and not get involved in politics in the industry. He said, “Music is about expressing emotions. So stick with your authenticity and express yourself with beats.”
Dipti Ranjan Das,OP
