NEW DELHI: Even as the entry date for the first ever online competition that commenced early last month has been extended to 16 December 2006, winners of the competition will get an opportunity to sing in the series ‘Geet To Ban Gaya Meet’ on Sony TV early next year.

A total of 15 singers will be selected in the finale of three phases to also sing in the new programme ‘Live Studio’ on ‘Chardhi Kala’ television channel beginning in January 2017. This series is being produced by Yesudas BC, Managing Partner of Spectral Media and producer-director of forthcoming Hindi feature film ‘30 Minutes’.

Sakha Cultural Society founder Chairman Amarjit Singh Kohli – which has organized the competition - told radioandmusic.com that he is Chief Adviser of RK Telefilms which is producing the TV Serial for Sony TV and has been asked to select singers on their behalf.

The recordings and names will be forwarded to various TV Channels, Audio Music Companies, Internet Channels and top Event Management Companies and may get chance as playback singers if the songs catch the imagination of producers and music directors.

The competition is being organized by Sakha Cultural Society in association with Rachnashala in three age Categories: up to 14 years, 14 to 60 years, and above 60 years. The competition will be in two phases.

Sakha Chairman Amarjit Singh Kohli said all details including rules etc about the competition are available on the website www.sakhaculturalsociety.org .

He said in the normal TV singing competitions, a singer has to personally appear for preliminary competitions which are held only in big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow etc and singers from smaller cities have to come to big cities for participation. Villagers can hardly participate in it. He said thanks to the Digital India programme providing high speed internet in villages, persons in rural areas can also participate in the Online Singing Competition.

In the first phase, singers cannot use any instrument so that they are at par with villagers who may not have the facility of instruments. He also told radioandmusic.com that in TV competitions, singers have to manage voting from audience to qualify for higher grades. But in this Online Competition, the singers’ voices will be evaluated on quality and merit alone. The system itself is fool-proof and it is neither possible for singers to use pressure or influence on judges, nor it is possible for judges to favour singers because the singers and judges will never know each other.

Rachnashala President Narinder Singh said in the first phase, singers have to sing any one song of the forthcoming Hindi feature film ‘30 Minutes’.

A singer has to simply listen to the original songs and upload it in his or her own voice. After uploading, the singer will click the column “Get 00OTP” on the Registration Form and will immediately receive his/her OTP which he/she will fill on the Form and press the submit button.

Within a few seconds, the singer will get his/her permanent registration number on SMS and email. The site will then allot a new secret random number corresponding to the singer’s registration number and send the song and the new secret number to various judges who will be eminent persons from the field of music.

The judges will select only 100 singers for participation in phase two. In this phase, singers can select any song, film or non-film in any language and also use any instrument. This will lead to short listing of the final fifteen.

Padma Bhushan dhrupad singer Shanno Khurana who is a pioneer in classical music said: "I was so glad when Amarjit called me. He used to help me with new voices always."

Kohli, who is also the executive producer of film ‘30 Minutes’, has been promoting singing and acting talents for the last 50 years since 1966.

Rachnashala is in the field of producing documentaries, films, cultural and social events etc Online Only, have joined hands with Sakha Cultural Society to organize an online music competition of the seven songs of film ‘30 Minutes’. This film was slated for release last month but was put off in view of demonetisation and is being released on 9 December.

Also read: Online singing competition to select thirty singers