In search of the best

National Show

Spicmacay, in association with Doordarshan and All India Radio, recently announced a national reality show on Indian classical music. Titled Naad Bhed (The Mystery of Sound), the show will be hosted by Shabana Azmi and feature participants from all the Indian states, who will be eliminated at regional rounds at Doordarshan’s 20 regional kendras. The finals will be held in November in Mumbai and aired on DDNational.

While the parameters of judgment have not yet been revealed, the show will have the great maestros of both Hindustani and Carnatic schools of music as its judges — Parween Sultana, Hariprasad Chaurasia, TN Krishnan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Amjad Ali Khan, R Vedavalli and Vikku Vinayakram among others. The show is directed by Harsh Narayan.

“Nothing like this has ever been done before. Our idea is to create a platform for the youth to perform, which will help popularise classical music and take it into every house,” informs Mahesh Joshi, senior director, Doordarshan.

Sheshadri Ranganathan, the Spicmacay programme coordinator in Karnataka, adds, “Right now, it’s mainly Bollywood music that is getting popular on reality shows. We wanted to change that and encourage the youth to understand their roots. This is also why the contestants have to be below 26 and have at least four years of professional training under a guru or a school.”

He notes that over 1,000 participants have registered so far, while the expected turnout by the deadline, which is July 31, is around 5,000. The award categories in the Carnatic section are ‘Smt MS Subbulakshmi Yuva Puraskar’ (vocal), Vidwan Sheikh Chinna Moulana Yuva Puraskar’ (instrumental) and ‘Vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer Yuva Puraskar’ (accompanist).

The Hindustani categories have ‘Pt Bhimsen Joshi Yuva Puraskar’ (vocal), ‘Pt Ravi Shankar Yuva Puraskar’ (instrumental) and ‘Ustad Alla Rakha Yuva Puraskar’ (accompanist). In each category, the winners will receive Rs three lakh as award, while Rs 10 lakh will be awarded to the top performer in each category.

Auditions for Bangalore will be held on August 25. For details, log on to: www.spicmacay.com/naadbhed
DHNS