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Sing your way to fame
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At the SS Music's Fanta Voice Hunt, 407 aspiring singers put their vocal chords to test
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—Pic. by R.Ragu
Getting vocal! At the voice hurt.
THE FAVOURITE of the day was the "Kaakha Kaakha" hit `Ennai konjum matru' but after the judges had heard it about 57 times over, even Shalini Singh, who sang it in the film, looked a little green. A total of 407 aspiring singers registered for SS Music's Fanta Voice Hunt held at Mayajaal over the weekend.
In the first round, participants had to sing without accompaniment and 51 were short listed for the second round, where they had to sing as well as dance — which was where the trouble started. Most apologised for their two left feet but courageously included attempts at moon-walking, callisthenics, enthusiastic waving and I-am-the-king-of-the-world-type gestures in their dance routines. One boy even announced that he was not responsible if he damaged the stage while attempting to dance.
Variety of songs
The routines were more about jerky movements than dancing but judges Bryan Peppin, head of programming SS Music, VJ Cary and Shalini Singh bore it bravely and even encouraged participants to try harder.
School and college students, copywriters, graphic designers and even a dentist tried out for the Voice Hunt — mellow, squeaky, scratchy, powerful, tuneless and rich voices tried songs ranging from `Kiss me' by Sixpence none the Richer to the soppy `Nothing's gonna change my love for you' to semi-rap tracks from "Kadhal Virus". But the ones that really stood out and were chosen as the six finalists from Chennai were Benny, Rohit, Nitin Raj, Ameeth Thomas, Shweta and Nisha. Ameeth, Benny and Swetha floored the judges with their voices and moves — even the wisecracking, I-can't-see-without-my-blue-sunglasses Cary. "Some people stood out on the first day itself and we knew they'd be the finalists, but there were some surprises on Day 2 as well. We got a great response, a mixed crowd of some really talented singers as well as aspiring ones," says Bryan.
Hunt is on
The hunt for the perfect voice continues in Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bangalore. Once auditions in all five cities are completed, the finalists will be brought to Chennai where they will undergo a ten-day workshop in voice training, choreography and other facets of being a star with the likes of the legendary singer S.P. Balasubramaniam and fashion designer Chaitanya Rao.
The participants will then perform on SS Music and four people will be chosen by audience votes and a panel of judges. "We're following the "American Idol" format (a find-the-next-singing-sensation show on the FOX network)," explains Bryan. Audience votes will come in through email and SMS, while the judges — Shalini and Cary again — will choose them on the basis of talent and personality. "We're looking for the ability to sing and dance, for confidence, stage presence and personality," says Bryan. The final four will sign a one-year contract with SS Music and cut an album, with music directed by Praveen Mani and marketed by Sony.
SHALINI UMACHANDRAN
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