It is a Sunday and the teeming pubs and coffee houses, the roll of dust and diesel with heavy traffic sets the tone of the city in the evening.

At Heart Cup Coffee in Jubilee Hills is a singer and songwriter, strapped with an acoustic guitar, and cutting through songs in sets of two. The occasion marks the launch of her debut EP and the appreciative Hyderabadi crowd sings along to each of her original songs.

Rinky Sharma started off with cover tunes and posted them on YouTube. Before long, Heart Cup Coffee reached out to her, establishing her as a sought after artiste for live acts. “Growing up, we heard a lot of music. My dad’s family was heavily into music,” she explains. A cousin introduced her to rock music, and the young singer was hooked.

Rinky holds an MBA degree and was working for Facebook and other firms, before she hung up her corporate shoes and started making music full time.

‘Zindagi’, was her first single, which has now become the mainstay of her live performances and a crowd favourite. Over the years the singer has performed and opened with prominent music acts like Parvaaz, American musician Monica Dogra and When Chai met Toast, among others.

Rinky’s musical influences are a conglomeration of all the music she grew up listening to. However, she explains, “My music sounds totally different from what I used to listen to. The music I make is closer to acts like Passenger and Lianna La Havas.” The singer sees her song-writing as a form of storytelling. She likes the balance of being honest without sounding like a wannabe, and keeps her music minimalistic and radio friendly. It is very hard to be at a Rinky Sharma gig and not find the crowd singing along. Moreover, her stark yet intricate acoustic guitar playing fits in perfectly with her mellow voice timbre.

Urban dwellers

Rinky is as comfortable singing her Hindi tunes as her English numbers. “I think all of us urban dwellers are like that, comfortable both in English as well as in our mother tongue. It’s a very homely place for me to be writing in Hindi.”

In January 2018, Rinky spoke and played for TEDxHyderabad women. “It was a women-centric event. It not only gave me an opportunity to play my songs, but also talk about gender issues that I feel strongly about,” she reveals. The reception the singer got was enthralling, which she would cherish forever.

Another landmark for Rinky was recording live for Music Mojo of Kappa TV, which features bands and artistes from the southern regions. She recorded a live set of 12 songs, nine of which were her originals.

In August, she unveiled her debut EP called Tangled. The Twin EP launch gigs at Bengaluru and Hyderabad have been positive and well received.

She has more EP gigs coming up in Hyderabad, following which she is scheduled to play in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru.