A. R. Rahman launches reality show for budding musicians

New Delhi, Oct.15 : Noted music composer A. R. Rahman and Phat Phish, an integrated entertainment and communication company, have joined hands to launch India's biggest reality show of its kind --'The Big Band'.

The official announcement was made in the national capital on Tuesday.

The reality show, which is slate to provide ethnic and contemporary musicians a credible platform, will be telecast on Doordarshan, the national television channel, after mid-November.

"Like the success of 'Rabi' and other albums there is a huge audience waiting for this kind of music. And we are doing it in bits and pieces. We decided to launch this massive hunt to get the whole of country and South Asia to get to know the potential of this music. It is unique and never done in history" said K. R. Harish, Managing Director of Phat Phish. The Big Band aims at lending a new identity to Indian television and web cast history by all measures of budget, viewership, regional breadth and diversity. It also aims to enliven the hopes, dreams and aspirations of budding musicians.

"This show will be based on an indigenous format. It will provide a platform for nurturing and building musical talent across languages and the broad genres. We have seen so many shows in every channel and what makes this different is that we come up with the idea of discovering brands in the country. There are other countries involved as well that make it all the more exciting," said A. R. Rahman.

"What makes this different are the bands from all over India and outside India and there is also a possibility of cross cultural exchange. India is the young nation. So this is the right time to see," added A. R. Rahman, music director.

Rehman informed that presently he was completing an album that was content for a mobile company having various tracks in it.

This show will be presented as a travelogue through A R Rahman's eyes as his journey across 15 cities of India in course of the hunting the talent for The Big Band.

This show would be telecast in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia and is open to participation from these countries.

To participate in 'The Big Band', bands must have between 2 to 10 band members with at least one lead singer. They must submit three tunes.

Short listed bands will be invited to the first stage audition where they will be asked to perform any of the three pieces that the judges ask them to play.

The winning band in the talent hunt show will get a three-year recording contract with Phat Phish Records which includes end-to-end artist management , upto 3 albums and 6 music videos, tours and concerts on the national and international stage.

The top bands will walk away with prizes (including cash) worth rupees 10 million awarded proportionately through a 'pyramid' structure.

For information on rules and requirements for participation in the contest , the band groups can log on to www.bigbandindia.com.

The hunt for the talented band members has already commenced and the last date for screening of entrants' list is Nov.15. By Shubhra Saini

ANI