A child musical prodigy, Soumya Sanathanan started showing signs of a great talent from the tender age of four. Born to Mr. Sanathanan and Mrs. Thara Sanathanan, her parents supported and nurtured her inborn talent. Brought up in Muscat till ten years of age, she was initially groomed by Ms. Jaya who played a key role in laying the basic foundations for her. After moving to Kerala her budding talents flowered under the able guidance of music maestro Perumbavoor G Raveendranath. Simultaneously, she got trained in Veena under Gomati Chidambaram who supported her greatly. In the meanwhile she also used to partake in cultural programs and bagged many prizes in various competitions.
Soumya is not just a singer per se but also a percussionist who is adept at playing a number of instruments including the Tabla, Congo, Drums, Idakka, Darbuka, Djembe, Dhol etc. She kickstarted her career during school days itself as a Tabalist through the popular television show “Ma Ga Re Sa” in Asianet. This paved the way for more opportunities to come her way and soon young Soumya made her debut as a playback singer in the movie Saiwar Thirumeni where she sang along with KJ Yesudas. The music for this song was composed by the legendary musician Raveendran master. A duet with MG Sreekumar in the movie Chathurangam followed suit.
Equally brilliant in studies, Soumya was very clear about her future path and so opted to choose music as her career instead of taking up any other professional course. She went on to pursue graduation and post graduation in music which she passed with flying colours. A first rank holder in both degree and post graduation, she holds the record for maximum marks attained in the Undergraduate Exam for Music in Kerala University, which has not been broken till date. Soumya, voted the best outgoing student from NSS college in the year 2005, also holds a Post-Graduate degree in Clinical Psychology. She was awarded PhD from Kerala university in 2021.
As an Akashavani Grade A light music composer, she has displayed her skills as a proficient music composer, airing many national programs for both Akashavani and Doordarshan. When she is not preparing for stage shows, Soumya spends a lot of time in her recording studio where she experiments with composing different genres of songs. Her first A capella number Thombapookaatil that made waves in Kerala was a result of her dream to explore new avenues in music. Mother of a lovely six-year old daughter who seems to have inherited her mother’s musical genes, young Neelambari has also sung in the Acapella Version of “Vande Matharam”. As Soumya juggles with composing and singing along with varied other interests including her passion for driving cars and doing charity services, she makes it a point to pay attention to her daughter’s talents too.