Kuwait: 'Voice of Mangalore'-Hunt for Konkani Singing Talent in Gulf
by WIlson Saldanha, Shirthady - Kuwait
Daijiworld Media Network - Kuwait
Kuwait, Mar 5: The concept of the famous TV reality show 'American Idol' captured the imagination of people across the world after creating waves in the United States. Sony TV's Indian Idol too attracted millions of Indians spread world-wide and slowly the concept is crossing boundaries of regions and languages.
Though the Mangalorean community does not have an international TV channel to get Mangalorean talents from worldwide, there are two brains from Kuwait working hard to realize the dream of finding the golden voice of Mangalore.
Lawrence Pinto and Louis Rodrigues
Lawrence Pinto, known to be the undisputed leader of Konkani community in Kuwait, an able organiser and leader along with Louis Rodrigues, who is well-known for his clever organising skills have come together to discover singing talents.
As this initiative is on experimental basis, the entry is restricted to talents of the Gulf states only.
'The main purpose of this show is to give importance to and boost our mother tongue Konkani. There are many singing talents sprinkled all over GCC who do not get a right break to showcase their talents. This competition will open the doors to bring out their talents.' said Lawrence Pinto while speaking to Daijiworld in Kuwait
'We are planning to have the competitions in Bahrain, Muscat, UAE, Doha and Kuwait. We will be choosing sponsors in the relevant countries. These sponsors will take care of the auditions and preliminary rounds and each country will select 12 semi-finalists. The auditions and preliminary rounds will be judged by the relevant country judges. The semi-final round of each country will be judged by three judges arriving from Mangalore. They are Wilfy Remimbus along with his wife Meena, Melwin Peris and Joel Periera. They will be accompanied by five musicians and one compere. These judges/musicians will conduct the semi-finals and choose two finalists for the grand finale in Kuwait,' Louis Rodrigues said.
'The judges and musicians will also entertain the audience with their music and singing during semi-finals in other countries and in Kuwait during the grand finale,' he added.
Entire travel expenses of semi-finalists will be borne by the respective country's organizers.
There will be three winners of this competition and they will be rewarded as follows:-
1st winner Rs 1,00,000.00
2nd winner Rs 50,000.00
3rd winner Rs 25,000.00
The tentative schedule is as follows:
October 2, 2008: Semifinal in Muscat
October 3, 2008: Semifinal in Dubai
October 9, 2008: Semifinal in Bahrain
October 10, 2008: Semifinal in Qatar
October 16, 2008: Semifinal in Kuwait
October 17, 2008: Grand finale in Kuwait.
Note: Efforts are being made to bring two talents from Saudi Arabia too. Interested organizers may communicate with Lawrence Pinto or Louis Rodrigues
Daijiworld will be associated with the event organizers and publish details from time to time.
Online registration along with rules and regulations of the event will be available on Daijiworld soon.
For further details, contact:
Lawrence Pinto: 00965-9803755
Louis Rodrigues: 00965-6561184