Dubai: Gear Up Budding Singers - Gulf Voice of Mangalore to be back with Season II
Daijiworld Media Network – Dubai (SB)
Dubai, Oct 12: One of the most sensational talent hunt show for Konkani singers, 'Gulf Voice of Mangalore' initiated by Louis Rodrigues and Lawrence Pinto, two of the Konkani stalwarts in Kuwait went on to create opportunities and also a fitting platform for hundreds of budding Konkani singers spread across the Gulf countries.
File picture: Louis Rodrigues, Leslie Rego and Lawrence Pinto
It was Oct 17, 2008 a new singing hero, Vinay Lewis from Kuwait emerged winning the coveted title, Gulf Voice of Mangalore beating 200 contestants from five Gulf countries after a yearlong grind in the show. Donald Correa from Dubai and Roshan D’Souza from Doha won the second and third prize, respectively. That was history!
It’s Time for History to Repeat itself
Gulf Voice of Mangalore - 2008 : Vinay Lewis
And now, the founders of Gulf Voice of Mangalore have passed on the responsibility to continue the show to Mangalore Konkans, the undisputed leading Konkani community organisation in UAE. The association currently headed by Santosh Nazareth has formed top level committee to handle Gulf Voice of Mangalore-II affairs under Valerian Peris, who was instrumental in bringing Mangalore Konkans as UAE's representative of Gulf Voice of Mangalore last year with former president James Mendonca, well known actor and compere Manohar Pais and writer Linus Moras as its key members.
The first meeting chaired by the Gulf Voice of Mangalore committee has decided to organize the finals of Gulf Voice of Mangalore-II at Dubai in October next year. But the process of selection for finals will begin by the end of 2009 or early 2010.
Saudi Arabia - New Name Added to List of Participating Countries
Gulf Voice of Mangalore, which has been planned as a biannual event last season had participants from five gulf countries namely Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. This year an effort has been made to include Saudi Arabia as the sixth country. Since the possibilities of conducting public show in Saudi is slim, any of the top organizations have been provided with an opportunity to select two top singers from the country and send them to Dubai for finals. The interested organizations in Saudi Arabia can contact Mangalore Konkans at gvmdubai@gmail.com for further details.
Separate Crown for Male and Female Contestants
All the three winners in the last season of Gulf Voice of Mangalore were male members as there was no scope for separate competition. But in 2010, Mangalore Konkans has received suggestions to form a separate group for male and female contestants and a decision has been arrived a that a male and female top singer from each participating country will be selected and sent to Dubai for grand finals. Hence in all 12 top singers, six each in two categories will be fighting for Gulf Voice of Mangalore-II title, who will not only have opportunity to achieve enormous fame, but also receive Rs 1 lac each as cash prize. The runner-up will receive Rs 50,000 each with no scope for second runner-up title.
Panel with Four Neutral Judges
Like last season, preliminary rounds will be organized by the organizers of the respective countries and comprise local judges. Each country will select six male and six female singers for the semi-finals. Semi-finals will be held between May and Sep 2010 in their respective countries, but judged by a panel of four neutral jurors. The same judges will decide on the two top winners (one male and female each) from every participating country.
Last season of Gulf Voice of Mangalore had the privilege of Konkani singing legend WIlfy Rebimbus as its judge along with Melwyn Peris and Joel Pereira. Leslie Rego who compered all semi-finals and the finals show is expected to be the main co-coordinator from Mangalore and compere for all semi-finals and final show in Dubai for 2010 too. The organizers have already short listed few names for judges, and the four will be finalized soon.
Daijiworld - Exclusive Media Partner
Like the previous season, daijiworld.com, which served as a backbone as far as publicity is concerned will remain exclusive media partner for the event. As soon as the date for the preliminary rounds is announced an online registration form will be available on daijiworld. Previous organisers, like MCCP in Muscat, Mangalore Konkans, UAE (host), Karaval Konkans Bahrain, MCA Doha, Youth Recreation Centre Kuwait (founders and Guld Voice of Mangalore-I host) will hosting the events in their respective countries.
Valerian Peris, head of the organising committee speaking to daijiworld, after the event was confirmed said that there will be more singers lined-up this year after the huge success of the previous event. This will truly be a professional stage for the budding singers who aspire to be a big name in Konkani. We are grateful to Lawrence Pinto and Louis Rodrigues for floating the idea of Gulf Voice of Mangalore, which has created waves not only across Gulf, but around the world", he said.
"The terms and conditions for the participants will be made available online on daijiworld as soon as it is finalized. But most of the rules and regulations that were in place during the previous event will remain”, he said.
"The event will have a huge audience worldwide through media, so corporate companies who want to promote their product across the Gulf can take advantage of the event by advertising”, he added.
Further information on the show will be published on daijiworld from time to time. For all queries one can contact, gvmdubai@gmail.com or call 00971-50-6880775