REALITY TALENT SHOWS: The big break
Singers are coming out of the shower
By Pawan Neupane
“The mileage I've got from it; it would have taken me 20 years to achieve this had I struggled on my own,” says Dipak Limbu about the first Nepali Tara singing competition he won two years ago. “The biggest thing it gave me was recognition. I got many opportunities, and I am quite busy today.”
After his success in Nepali Tara, Dipak has sung in a number of Nepali films, collection albums and concerts, and is currently working on his first solo album. In contrast, Bishnu Chemjong of Dharan, who won the Nepal Star singing competition on Nepal 1 at around the same time as Dipak, is still relatively unheard of in Nepali music.
That's the Nepali version of today's reality TV talent show for you, which comes with an alluring prospect of gaining quick recognition and popularity with one's talent and making it big on the national stage along with a huge pile of prize money and lots of albums and concerts. However, while some have been able to cash in on that success, others have found it hard to take it further and have faded back into oblivion.
Says Dipak, “Platforms like Nepali Tara are a great opportunity for singing talents, but it rests solely on the individual to maintain and carry forward the success and popularity achieved.”
Musician Nhyoo Bajracharya echoes a similar view, “Winning the contest itself is not the height of success, there's struggle after that too.” He is one of the judges in The Band Vaskar, another reality TV talent show being aired on Nepal Television.
The show aims at creating a musical outfit comprising the best male and female vocalists, lead guitarist, bass guitarist, rhythm guitarist, drummer and keyboardist from among the thousands of young talents from across the country as well as Darjeeling and Sikkim in India. It has already completed six episodes of its first round in Kathmandu, and auditions will also be held in Lalitpur, Pokhara, Dharan, Butwal/Narayanghat, Darjeeling and Sikkim starting after Tihar.
The first round of each region will select the eight best groups, from which three will be chosen in the next round before the best group is declared from each region. The grand finale will then be held in Kathmandu among the best groups from all the regions. The winner of The Band Vaskar will get Rs 500,000 and a chance to record two albums and perform at concerts at different venues.
Meanwhile, Nepali Tara 2, the second edition of Nepali Tara, has also eliminated the contestants to its last seven finalists - Raj Sagar, Rojina Gurung, Santosh Lama, Suraj Thapa, Surya Kiran Lama, Tara Bahadur Laksam and Yuvraj Tiwari.
The winner of Nepali Tara 2 will get Rs 250,000, a Bajaj Discover motorcycle, a fully paid trip to Singapore and Malaysia for two and a chance to record an album among others.
Maniram Kuikel, managing director of SEGA & RGB Vision Pvt Ltd which is presenting The Band Vaskar in association with Media Hub, says that it was a difficult task in Nepal's context to formulate the concept of creating a musical group comprising the best talent from different fields. “While other shows were about finding singing talent, we decided to bring out the hidden guitarists, drummers and keyboardists too.”
He adds, “We launched the program at prime time on NTV, which made it possible for viewers without cable access to watch too. And we're satisfied with the sponsors also.”
Rajendra Shalabh, director of Nepali Tara 2, has a few reasons to be dissatisfied, though. He says, “Reality TV shows are the most popular form of television programs worldwide today, and the reason is public involvement. We started the show following this global trend, but we have not been as successful as other countries."
He sees three factors behind the lackluster performance. First, it is the lack of a big budget which makes it difficult to produce a flashy show. Shalabh adds, “The audience wants gloss and richness, and so switches to programs on foreign channels. The biggest irony is that NTV has mono sound.”
Secondly, he points to political reasons which make it difficult to plan and conduct auditions in different parts of the country. The third factor is the problem of finding TV channels to air the shows.
“NTV doesn't promote outside productions. The same show would get much more publicity in private TV channels, but sponsors say that these channels don't have a wide reach,” Shalabh explains. “There is nobody to encourage us, and that includes the print media too. There are lots of difficulties.”
As Shalabh points out, the main factor behind the popularity of reality TV shows is the maximum participation of the audience. No wonder, then, that they play a major role in deciding the fate of the contestants by their votes via telephone, SMS and the web.
Doesn't that create the possibility that the most deserving participant might not become the eventual winner?
“Pop music is like that, and even someone who knows little about music could compose a beautiful song,” says Nhyoo Bajracharya, “Moreover, judges are also human and could miss a number of factors while evaluating a performance. So I'm positive about the public voting system too.”
Veteran composer and singer Deepak Jangam, who has been a judge in both editions of Nepali Tara, says, “Yes, there's no guarantee that the best talent will emerge from public voting, and there have also been cases of the public being unhappy with the results of some shows in other countries. The fact is that we have a habit of adopting whatever the West does.”
However, both Nhyoo and Deepak are extremely positive about the impact of such reality TV shows.
Nhyoo says that such shows give new talent a platform to show their skills, and Deepak feels that it has helped the film and music industry a lot.
He adds, “Whatever the organizers have conceived may not materialize completely because there's still a lack of sadhana. Also, Nepali society still has to learn to appreciate good things. But these shows are bringing talents from all over the country to the national stage.
“We auditioned nearly 20,000 contestants in several places of the country during the past two years. And the difference I noticed between the first and second Nepali Tara was that musical activities had increased a lot with more people willing to learn music and show their talent.”
Well, winning such contests could bring fortunes to the winner. But if one fails, does that mean it is the end of the road for the individual?
By no means. One fine example is singer Dibya Subba who participated in the Nepal Star contest. He says that he left the show after making it to the top 15 round in Kathmandu because he was dissatisfied with the show's management, and denies having any regrets about his decision to quit the contest.
“I didn't believe I would be Nepal Star, and I don't think I would've been more successful even if I'd won it,” says Dibya who has recently released his second album Pariwartan after Pratha. “But these shows do give a platform for thousands of aspirants to realize their dreams.”
archieved from www.kantipuronline.com
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