Leaving a mark among the musical aces

Budding artiste

Not all of us possess the passion to carry forward our talent and showcase it to the world. One needs immense dedication, loyalty and hard work to accomplish those goals at a young age. Infused with such kind of a passion is 21-year-old Alankar Mahtolia, who has been selected amongst the top 12 finalists of radio station Big FM’s Bendaryl BIG Golden Voice Season 3, from Delhi.

He started singing at the tender age of two, and has been aspiring to become a singer ever since. He tells Metrolife, “Both my parents have been PhDs in music. Therefore, I feel proud to claim that I inherited this passion for music and learning to sing from them.”
Currently pursuing his Masters in Music from Hindu College, Delhi University, Mahtolia is also a graduate in music and has grown from only singing classical music to singing evergreen sufi music, Bollywood songs, ghazals, and folk music.

“I think that classical music is most rightly considered as the base for all genres of music. This is probably the reason why I don’t find much difficulty in singing Bollywood tracks or even ghazals,” says Mahtolia.

While the country is flooded with television reality shows like Indian Idol, India’s Got Talent, Sa Re Ga Ma and many more, Golden Voice is an attempt to launch one
on radio.

Representing Delhi at the radio show is the young achiever’s ‘big break’. “I think that being a part of these big-talent hunt shows, an artiste needs more of a story or an emotional background to create all the drama. Also, to a certain extent, I feel that one needs to have those good looks too, to be a part of the small screen,” he adds.

However, Mahtolia feels lucky and elated to be a part, something which he had been trying to pursue for the past three years. He tells about his experiences in the contest
till now.

“Firstly, the best part of Golden Voice is that the talent search is entirely based on my sur or vocals, my overall singing, and nothing else. When I first went for the round of auditions for the contest, I was surprised and shocked to see the talented people around me,” says Mahtolia.

“I think this is the first competition,” he continues, “where each and every contestant possesses excellence in his/her respective music genres. From exceptional sufi singers to mind blowing folk singers, the entire competition was challenging for each and every participant.”

He is now competing against 12 finalists from all over the country -- who will be judged by Shankar Mahadevan -- for his ticket to playback singing in the Bollywood industry.

But his aims, and final goals in his life, seem much more than merely winning the Golden Voice competition.

“I look forward to doing shows all across the world in both classical and Bollywood singing. I want to set an example for all singers, and prove to the world that both these genres can be sung and excelled at the same time. After all, a good singer is one, jisse jiss stage pe bithaya jaye, vo vaise hi ban jaye (A performance should be fitting to the stage),” he ends.