16 artistes to be conferred Big Bangla Music Awards

Kolkata: As part of a move to celebrate the resurgence of Bengali music, 16 artistes will be conferred the Big Bangla Music Awards in recognition of their talents.

First nominated by a jury of distinguished performers from Bengal and then picked up from the audience domain through multimedia voting, artistes in 14 categories will make the cut, while the rest will be conferred the honour by the jury. Eminent singer Banasree Sengupta, one of the jury members, said at a press meet "good work, good composition, good melodies and tunes will make the future generation distinguish among the good, the indifferent, the mediocre and downwright crap." “We therefore need more such festivals to make the new generation more respectful and attuned to our rich musical tradition,” Sengupta said. Another singing legend Nirmala Mishra, also a member of the jury, said "such awards will give a platform to deserving and upcoming singers and given them the much needed break to showcase their talents." The jury also includes acclaimed music director Kalyan Sen Barat, actor Arpita Chatterjee among others. Aimed at curbing music piracy, a special theme song is being composed by prominent rocker and Cactus frontman Sidhu to be sung for the first time live on the stage of BIG Bangla Music Awards when the awards will be and conferred. “We aim to make this an anthem in an effort to win the hearts and imagination of the youth,” Sidhu said. It will highlight the cause of anti piracy and is being supported by Music Industry bodies, Producers and leading Artistes with a special Anthem, a Reliance Big FM spokesman said. While there will be a lifetime achievement award to be decided by the jury, popular music composer Jeet Ganguly has been made the “face of the award”. The FM is India’s largest FM Network with 45 stations, reaching over 3.6 crore Indians each week. PTI