K-pop is short for ‘Korean Popular Music’. The term is used to define music originating from South Korea. The most popular music group of K-pop is none other than BTS (Bangtan Boys). K-pop has made a huge impact on the world over the years, including India. While K-pop has a huge fanbase in India, it is for the first time that an Indian has become a K-pop artist!
Sriya Lenka, an 18-year old girl from Odisha has become the first ever Indian K-pop artist. Sriya Lenka, along with Brazil’s Gabriela Dalcin will join the K-pop group ‘Blackswan’ as members. As of now, Blackswan consists of 6 members:- Youngheun, Fatou, Judy, Leia, Sriya Lenka and Gabriela Dalcin.
Sriya Lenka was born in Rourkela in 2003. She is well trained in Hindustani classical, Odissi and other contemporary dance forms.
“Since I have a deep voice, I faced difficulty in finding the right vocal trainer. My grandmother helped me find one. She took me to a Hindustani classical music teacher, who taught me twice a week. But, for the western songs, I had to rely on online videos and self-learning,” the young artist was quoted as saying by Odisha Bytes.
Hyeme, a former member of the group, quit in November 2020. DR Music announced global auditions in May, 2021 to replace Hyeme. Sriya Lenka and Gabriela Dalcin were chosen out of 4,000 participants. Earlier, Blackswan was to add only one member, but has now decided to include both Gabriela as well as Sriya in the group.
Lenka and Gabriela will be in Seoul for the next few months for practice. Last five months have been dedicated to intense training of the two. Their training included standard vocal, rap, dance lessons, personal training, language and musical instruments. We congratulate Sriya Lenka for making it to the Blackswan!
