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Music all the way
LIZA GEORGE
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The final round of ‘Gandharva Sangeetham Junior: Season Eight’ will be held in Dubai.
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Who will win the crown: Find out on January 26.
It will be a battle worth watching as the finalists of Kairali Channel’s ‘Gandharva Sangeetham Junior: Season Eight’ fly out to Dubai to fight for the top slot on January 26.“It is a mega event which will be telecast live from
Dubai’s Al Nazar Leisure Land,” says assistant director of programmes, Kairali Channel, Shibu Chakravarthi.
The show is in the quarter final stage as of now. The list of finalists will be announced on January 18. “Only six contestants will make it to the finals.”
Rigorous screening
The show, which started shoot on January 17, 2007, started off with 72 contestants. “This was after rigorous screening. There were thousands who had sent in entries. First the participants sent in a recording of their vocal prowess and then those who we felt had promise were asked to come to one of our four venues at Kasaragod, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam for another round of screening,” says Selvaraj, producer of the show.
The children aged between 10 and 16 then attended workshops to hone their voices.
“Ours is a show with a difference. When other similar music-based reality shows focus on the performing skill of the contestants, we concentrate on the musical capabilities. We do not give importance to the performer’s style factor or dance steps. It’s music all the way in our show,” says Selvaraj.
Moreover, while most other reality shows have the audience deciding who makes it to the next round, here it is the judges of the show who have a say. “Ninety per cent of the voting is done by the judges and only 10 per cent is based on sms-polls by the audience,” says Selvaraj, who goes on to add, “We have a good line-up of judges right from singer Anuradha Sreeram to music director Johnson. They provide excellent guidelines to the contestants.”
So, what do the judges have to say about the contestants? Says Srinivas, one of the judges of the show: “They are a talented lot. Some are phenomenal on stage.”
Asked if any one of the contestants stands a better chance of wining the title, a diplomatic Johnshon says: “All of them stand a chance of winning. Although some show better potential as of now, they could take a fall on the day of the finals. The choice of song they pick to perform will play an important role then as they have to select one that suits their vocal range.”
Let the best singer win.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
