Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)
Mangaluru, Jun 3: After months of gruelling rounds that saw some tough competition between aspiring talents, the first season of 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' came to a close with Nihal Tauro walking away with the coveted title on Friday, June 3.
Moodbidri-based Nihal, pipped Pallavi from Udupi and Shiny Pereira from Vamanjoor to win the contest to take home a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and gift vouchers. Nihal also bagged the chance to sing in an upcoming movie. Pallavi bagged the first runner-up position and was awarded a cash prize of Rs 30,000 and gift vouchers from Kobe Sizzlers, Saheli Sarees and Lakme. Shiny clinched the second runner-up spot to win Rs 20,000 cash prize. The fourth, fifth and sixth spots went to Vidyashree Acharya from Kalladka, Vijesh from Ullal and Neha Bekal respectively, who were gifted momentos and gift vouchers for their efforts.
Prof Narendra L Nayak, chairman and founder of Expert Educational and Charitable Foundation; Deepai Pai, vice-president of Hangyo Ice Cream, and music director Pramod Supra, did the honours of presenting the awards to the winner and the runners-up.
The songs for the grand finale were carefully chosen by the six finalists which gave tough competition to each other. Nihal Tauro rendered a Konkani song, while Vidyashree stunned the judges and audiences with a Yakshagana song. Shiny Pereira and Vijeth Ullal sang Hindi ghazals. Pallavi Kalladka sang a Kannada song and Neha Bekal presented a semi classical track.
The grand finale which took place at a special set brought up at Rohan Corporation at Balmatta, began with the introduction of judges Ustaad Rafeeq Khan, an internationally acclaimed sitar player, Basty Kavitha Shenoy, well-known classical singer and Yashwanth M G Acharya, singer and music director from Udupi. The three judges in brief spoke about the year long show and praised the efforts of Daijiworld for presenting a unique reality show. Calling the competition tough, the judges said that, the six finalists were running close on points.
The year long journey of 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' was shown followed by a chat with the contestants and the parents.
The judges gave special performance after the contestants' turn in the grand finale. Ustaad Rafeeq Khan enthralled the entire audience with his magical performance on the sitar.
Addressing the gathering, Prof Narendra L Nayak said, "Being a musician, I know what is music. The connectivity of seven ragas is music. There is no age bar for learning music. It is open for all. We are lucky to have Ustaad Rafeeq Khan in Mangaluru since many years. Under his training, lot of talents have come up in our city. 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' is a unique reality show. I appreciate the efforts of Daijiworld for bringing out this contest. I congratulate all participants and hats off to Daijiworld."
Deepa Pai said, "I love music and my passion for music brings me here. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the finalists. This is an excellent platform for new talents to learn more about music and singing. Only one among the six will come out as the winner. The runners-up should not give up as many opportunities will come to you in future. Brand Hangyo has always supported new talents and unique shows. My congratulations to all the contestants and Daijiworld TV."
Founder of Daijiworld Media Pvt Ltd, Walter Nandalike, appreciated the efforts of the team behind 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' and said, "We are engaged in this show from the past one year. The response has been enormous. The efforts of our directors behind the screen has led us to this grand finale. Contestants too have contributed a large for the success of this show. A large number of viewers too watch this on Daijiworld 24x7 channel. With their musical experience and comments, the judges are the backbone of this show. Their association with us is a great honour for us. I am thankful to them."
"Without the support of our sponsors, we cannot conduct these type of reality shows. They are the real promoters of talents. I am thankful to all our sponsors and also our viewers and well wishers. Thanks to all who supported and guided us. Thank you everyone," he added.
Sharmila compered the grand finale in her peppy, inimitable style.
Earlier, Melvyn Rodrigues, managing director, Daijiworld Audio Visual Pvt Ltd; Ashith Pinto, director of Daijiworld Audio Visual Pvt Ltd; and Daijiworld founder Walter Nandalike, felicitated the judges with momentos.
Directors of Daijiworld 24x7 Lawrence D'Souza, Rohan Monteiro, Kishore Gonsalves and director of operations Divyanand Gonsalves presented momentos to the sponsors. Film producer and NRI entrepreneur Frank Fernandes and Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Mangaluru, Chandrashekar felicitated the 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' crew with flowers.
'Daijiworld Studio Voice', aired on Daijiworld 24x7, is the city's first-of-its-kind and only singing reality contest, where aspiring singers were given a chance to sing in a studio. The tough singing competition, spread over an year, saw many singers participate. Many of them even grabbed opportunities to sing in films after the second round which rarely happens in the best of singing reality show.
The grand finale of 'Daijiworld Studio Voice' will be aired on Daijiworld 24x7 on Sunday, June 4 at 9 pm.