CHICAGO: With 211 contestants from Chicagoland participating in the first ever Chicago Indian Icon Karaoke competition, the finale at Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows on Saturday, Sept 21 was destined for grand success and all those present at the event with one voice gave it a big Thumbs Up. The event was monitored and managed exceedingly well by a five-person team of Indian Events Management (IEM).
This historic, prestigious title and trophy went to Gautam Khanna.
Captivating everyone’s attention at the grand finale was Shekhar Suman, a multi-talented personality, known as the ‘Badshah of TV’ who lost no time in connecting with both the audience and the performers alike and took the entire event to the next level that many will cherish for years to come.
The program commenced with traditional Diya Lighting ceremony by IEM team and the esteemed Judges Pt Ronu Majumdar, Kalyan Pathak and Hitesh Master. Welcoming all those present IEM president Brij Sharma announced his plans for the Indian American edition in 2014 and urged the participants as well as members of the audience “to keep the spirit of Indian music alive, and continue to instill our culture in the younger generation”.
Having Pandit Ronu Majumdar of Grammy Awards fame as a celebrity judge was another feather in the Chicago Indian Icon crown. The participants felt proud to perform in front of him and looked forward to his divine Bansuri performance.
Pratibha Jairath, Vice President of IEM, explained how the passion for music motivated the four partners to plan the project. “But we only came up with a sketch. Brij Sharma’s vision to promote our culture and will to support the project was a big push and motivation”, she said.
All the contestants had planned a scene that consisted of either classical or contemporary dance to add ‘Wow factor’ to their song performances. Natasha Trikha, winner in her category sang ‘Kabhi Sham Dhale” and had an awesome team of friends who presented a dance in which she also participated. Nipa Shah presented ‘Mere Dholna’ along with beautiful Bharatnatyam dancer creating the scene from the movie. A few contestants had brought beautiful young Kathak performers to enhance the song performance. Suraj Patnaik was the winner in his category and did a beautiful job with ‘Laga Chunri Mein Daag’, once again accompanied by a young Bharatnataym dancer.
The auditorium witnessed the outstandingperformance of Pandit Ronu Majumdar, Hitesh Master and Kalyan Pathak, while the flute notes mingled with the drum beats and keyboard echoed against the walls. End of every stanza was a beginning of another one, giving goosebumps to the speechless audience while they raised their eyebrows in appreciation.
The constructive feedback from the esteemed judges was appreciated by participants and audience. The participants were elated to hear positive comments. One such unforgettable moment was felt when Praveen Jaligama sang “Bheegi Bheegi Raaten’ and Ronu Ji commented “It was better than original”.
Senria Nath (Winner in the category), Nitya Nair and Priyanka Khanna (Under 12 category contestants) stole the heart of audience with their performance. There were a few special awards namely, Shining Star award to Shreya Addanki, Community Service award to Shaila Khedkar and Artistic Creativity award to Nehali Dhutia. DJ Excellence award to Sahaj Shah was accepted by his father Sunil Shah.
Raju Bankapur (known as the Kishore Kumar of Chicago) and his team were at their best in program execution. “Contestants feel proud and happy to be judged by this caliber of judges”, he said. Anoop Walia was happy to see that contestants were actually performing, not just singing. “That adds another dimension to the song”, he said.
Sharan Walia explained voting instructions to all the audience urging “Remember to be fair, the contestants have worked hard and need your honest votes”.
The professionally set up stage with the backdrop of images of the legendary Hindi music icons, high tech cameras to capture and broadcast the event, excellent sound system and sound engineers were a few elements that contributed to high level of the show.
It was a historic karaoke night where one listened to some of the finest voices of all age groups and contestants from various parts of United States who flew in to Chicago to be part of this event. But, the truth of the matter is, every participant was a musical winner!
Asian Media USA
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