With a song and a dance for the young
JOHN L PAUL
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This entertaining programme of music and song is aimed at school children.
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SING A SONG: Superstars in the making
Keeping alive the viewer interest in Superstar, the song-based programme that was beamed through Amritha TV till November, the channel has begun airing Junior Superstar, aimed at school children.
The test-by-fire of the 11 finalists began from Christmas day, when their renditions began to be aired. They will occupy centre stage during the coming two months, with the mega final scheduled for February 25. "The final event has been scheduled before the onset of the annual and public examination in schools," says Manoj Kamath, programme director.
The 11 finalists are children in the age group of 10 to 13 years. They were selected from around 10,000 applicants. The preliminary selections were telecast from December 11 onwards, with audiences getting to see kids sing their hearts out, and emotional scenes of winners who were unable to come to terms with the fact that they had been selected to the next round.
The auditions were held in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. Cheering up the tense participants in Kochi was 19-year-old Sangeeth, who had emerged winner of the Superstar programme. Two hundred and ten singers came out successful in the second round of screening and the number was bought down to 47 in the third round.
Eminent jury
The jury for the final round comprises music directors Deepak Dev (chief judge) and Alphons Joseph (who is also voice trainer). George Peter, singer and music arranger for A R Rahman is the third jury member. He is also in charge of grooming the performers. Stephen Devassy, the popular keyboardist of the Superstar programme, occupies centrestage in Superstar Junior as well. Manju Haridas is the anchor.
We studied many TV programmes, including US ones like `American Idol'. Apart from the emotional appeal, technology has been put to good use in the programme. The design of the sets stand out, so does keyboardist Stephen, says film director Shyamaprasad, who is the President (Programmes) of the channel. Sangeeth emerged topper from a cheery group of 15 youths in their teens and early twenties.
The fate of the 15 finalists was decided by the votes given by the audience through SMS. Shyama Sasidharan, programme anchor and the one who groomed the participants of Superstar at Srishti, Kochi says that a comparison between the initial episodes and the later ones is enough to show the role that grooming played in moulding the singers as good performers on the stage.
The result is a striking level of emotional attachment the audience has for the singers. In many homes and establishments, people are glued to the programme, giving a go-by to prime-time serials.
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