Sakha Cultural Society, in association with Rachnashala,  has organized the first ever Online Singing Competition in the history of India from Nov 2 to Nov 18, 2016. The competition is being organized in three 3 age Categories, Cat 1 upto 14 years, Cat 2 above 14 to 60 years & Cat 3 above 60 years. The competition is in two phases & only for non-professionals.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Amarjit Singh Kohli, Chairman of Sakha Cultural Society who is also the executive producer of forthcoming feature film “30 Minutes”said all details, rules etc about Competition are available on its 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 & singers from smaller cities have to come to big cities for participation. Villagers can hardly participate in it. Mr Amarjit Singh Kohli said thanks to the Govt of India’s initiative of Digital India vide which high speed internet is being provided in villages, now even persons in rural areas can also participate in Online Singing Competition.  He explained that in Phase 1 singers cannot use any instrument. This makes village-singers at par with big-city singers as many villagers do not have the facility of instruments. Secondly, in TV Competitions, singers have to manage voting from audience to qualify for higher grades. But in this Online Competition a singer’s voice is evaluated on the basis of its quality and merit alone. The system itself is fool-proof and it is neither possible for singers to use pressure or influence the judges, nor it is possible for judges to give favours to singers, because the singer will never know who the judge is, and the judge will not know who the singer was.

Mr Narinder Singh, President Rachnashala said that in phase 1, singers have to sing only one song of the forthcoming Hindi feature film “30 Minutes” which is being released all over India on Friday, the 11th Nov, 2016. The actual songs and their lyrics are available on website www.sakhaculturalsociety.org . A singer has to first simply listen to original songs & then practise it and then upload it. We will then send the song to various judges who will be eminent persons from the field of music. The judges will select only 100 singers who will qualify for phase 2. In phase 2, singers can select any song, film or non-film, folk etc in any language and also use any instrument. These will be again sent to judges & finally only 30 singers will be selected. They will be invited to sing, one by one, in our show on a TV Channel called “Live Studio” which is beginning in January, 2017. Singer’s recordings and names will be forwarded to various TV Channels, Audio Music Companies, Internet Channels and top Event Management Companies & they may get chance as playback singers if their song catches the imagination of any producer or music director.

Padmabhushan classical singer Dr Shanno Khurana felt that the concept of the Online Music Competition is so simple, fair and fool-proof that it is bound to meet unprecedented success. Ms Shikha Vohra Biswas, daughter of well-known music director Anil Biswas who is founder of cultural organisation Sangeet Smriti, wondered why this concept did not strike the minds of established film producers. Anuja Sinha, who has got a break as playback singer in this film, said that she struggled for 28 years before she got a chance in playback singing. She said Online Music Competition removes many layers between aspiring singers and music directors & it will be easier for singers to get chance in playback singing.