Driven by her own beat

As a recording artiste, DJ, music producer and songwriter, Sumangala Narendrakumar always had the beat in her — an instinctive ability that has driven many a creative individual into the music industry. The stage name ‘Lady Pista’ came later; a result of her self-discovery and an indifference to mainstream labels. Yes, her musical sound comes from underground music, dancehall and electro fusion. But, growing up as a Sri Lankan Tamil in Canada, who was deeply influenced by her motherland as well as by Indian music, it was hard to label what she was. ‘Pista’ came as a completely random, but quite appropriate description — and she just grew from there.

After years in the industry, Sumangala has worked with many artistes like Shaggy, Sean Paul (who she credits as the best one yet) and 50 Cent among others, and released her album Introvert last year. “I was raised in Canada by very simple traditional parents and was the type of kid that never fit in but always knew too much. But, I was tremendously influenced by a good beat — whether it was Tamil music, dancehall, urban, house and others. Before long, I realised that music wasn’t just a phase and decided to make a drastic change and get a degree in audio engineering. I was the only Sri Lankan female to graduate from the school,” she simply states.

She’s also quite well-known for Tamil mashups — her unique blend of cult songs from Kollywood and dancehall. So far, she has covered songs like Haira Haira from Jeans, Aathi from Kathi and AR Rahman’s Mudhalvanae. “My dad used to prance around the house singing MGR and Sivaji hits and my mom used to play a lot of bhajans — that was my environment. I love Tamil music and my favorite composer whom I would like to work with is ARR. It’s a cliché, but I really do respect the fact that he sees talent in various musical forms — whether it’s classical or rap, music is music to him and I rate that highly,” she says.

Proving that life isn’t just music for her, she started a women empowerment initiative — ‘Imma Pista’. Explaining the idea, she says, “Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or a divorced woman, you’re a ‘Pista’. This concept is about finding the inner strength to fight for the things we deserve as women, until we get them.” And what better way to convey this than music?

On her future plans, Sumangala reveals, “While I’m working on hit singles for now and nothing in terms of another album, there will definitely be lots of collaborations and changes in my musical direction coming.” Having visited Chennai earlier this year, she says on a concluding note — “This city is beautiful and I adore it,” adding that it could possibly be a part of her tour.