Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Dec 1: The grand finale of 'Voice of Udupi Season-5' will be held on Saturday, December 2nd at Town Hall, Ajjarkad.
The competition has been organised by Karavali Sangeetha Kalavidhara Okkoota (R) Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and Namma Mobile Udupi. Daijiworld is the official media partner of the event.
Twelve contestants selected for the finals are prepping to give a tough competition and win the title.
On October 21, over 238 contestants took part in the preliminary audition at Lions Bhavan, Brahmagiri. The shortlisted contestants were given opportunity to sing again in the first round.
Vignesh, Nisha Fernandes, Rajath Mayya
Savitha, Supreetha, Vijayalakshimi
Likhith, Sharvani, Supreetha
Swastik, Thanush Raj, Trenal Pinto
Around 40 contestants from two age categories, that is, 20 from above 15 age category and 20 from below 15 were selected.
These 40 contestants had to take part in studio round held at Ninad Audio Recording Studio, Udupi on November 2. Around 20 contestants that i.e. 10 each from the two age categories were selected.
The next was classical round held on November 16. Sixteen from the 20 contestants were shortlisted and then 12 for the grand finale.
The finalists in the 15 year above age group category are Rajath Mayya from Ujire, Savitha Puttur, Nisha Fernandes, Vijaya Lakshmi from Mettina Hole, Vignesh K S and Supreetha U B.
The finalists in the below 15 years age group category are Supreetha from Manipal, Likhit Raj, Preenal Pinto, Swastik, Thanushraj and Sharvani.
Popular singers Yashwanth Acharya, Ajay Warrier and Shashikiran Chennagiri would be judging the grand finale.
The KSK Okkoota has become a platform for youngsters and helped them to realize their dream of becoming singers.
The winner of the season 5 finale will not only get the title and cash prize but will also be given an opportunity to render playback voice for the upcoming Tulu movie 'Ekkur'.
One of the participants of Season-2 Abhishek Kodancha is shining in the film industry and Eira Acharya of Season - 3 is acting in Kannada serials.
As the grand finale is a live round, a team of professional musicians from Bengaluru are invited to provide background music.
About judges
Known for his versatile singing, Kannada music director from Udupi, Yashwanth Acharya, has guided the contestants and will judge the finale. Yashwanth is recognized at the national level and has received many awards for his solo singing.
Known as Yashwanth Udupi, he has sung numerous songs as a playback singer. He has composed music for movies as well. Trained in classical music, Yashwanth has taken part in many singing reality shows as a contestant. He was the winner of Yede Thumbi Haaduvenu season 2. He is presently serving as a Sanskrit teacher at Jain College in Moodbidri. He also teaches classical music to hundreds of students.
Another amazing playback singer, Shashikiran Chennagiri is a popularly known as "gundu". A well known singer in Karnataka, he has done many shows. He has given his voice to many albums and audio CDs. He frequently appears in popular show "madhura manjala gana".
Multi lingual playback singer Ajay Warrier will be the centre of attraction at the finale. A very popular professional singer, he has strong musical roots in Carnatic Classical music having trained under Vidwan Sri T V Gopalakrishnan (TVG) and Vidwan Sri S. Shankar. Ajay Warrier has had the opportunity of singing in a variety of languages (Kannada Malayalam, Tamil, Tulu, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Lambani, Konkani, Sanskrit, Bengali, Arabic, etc.) across media, giving him the exposure and the experience and shaping him to be a professional artiste.
Ajay has been bestowed with several awards across the globe. He considers it the at most honour to have accompanied and recorded with stalwarts like S P Balasubramaniam, P B Srinivas, Hariharan, Vani Jayaram, S. Janaki, P Susheela and K. S. Chitra to name a few.
KSK Okkoota
Karavali Sangeetha Kalavidhara Okkoota (R) Dakshina Kannada and Udupi is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Made up of a group of 400 professional music and singing
artistes, the Okkoota provides financial assistance for poor students every year through 'Vidya Nidhi' scheme. It also extends medical help to okkoota members during
emergencies and is engaged in pro-social activities.
It is collective effort of KSK Okkoota President Jagadish Shetty, Vice President Bhaskar Basrur, Deputy Secretary K Naveen Chandra Koppa, Janardan Padmashali, Manipal
convener, Shubhashit Udupi, Sharat Uchila, former vice presidents and office bearers.