Kannada International Music Awards (KIMA) ceremony witnesses an explosion of talent

Bengaluru: The grand and magnificent Kannada International Music Awards (KIMA) ceremony on Sunday Aug 2, at Ambedkar Bhavan in the city, was unanimously described by those who attended it, as a wonderful evening of talent. The programme was a beautiful blend of music and splendid dance performances.
The main purpose of the awards ceremony was to appreciate and award the talents in the field of Kannada music who, with their hard work and dedication, have mesmerized audiences all over.

The show began with an outstanding and invigorating performance by the BEAT-Gurus, who with their Indo-African music and flawless display of playing instruments like the Djembe and Flute, got the audiences roaring with appreciation. This was followed by a foot-tapping dance performance by the ACDC Dance group.

After such an enthusiastic opening and welcome, it was time for the show to officially begin. This was marked by the introduction of the Jury to the audience. In a surprise for both the Jury Members and the audience, the Jury had introduced themselves to each other on-stage as they themselves were not aware of who their fellow jury members were! It was a measure of the objectivity with which the awardees selection was done. It was as clear an indication as any, that the organizers, did not leave room for bias and the winners were chosen based purely on their work.

The Jury mainly consisted of renowned music composer of the Kannada Film Industry Mr. V Manohar, and Dr. Jayashree who is well known for her work in the light music Genre. On the panel, also, was Mr Naveen Kumar, chairman of Karnataka Sound Design.

The Awards covered almost every area of music. From small screen to the big screen, from short films to music videos. Even the DJs’ with the most innovative remixes were awarded on this platform.

The young Hip-Hop band, Urban Lads, stole the show in the evening with their breathtaking performances of Hip-Hop in Kannada inventively merging classical Kannada songs with the trendy ones. They had the audiences enthralled even after they left the stage after their performance.

The Life-Time achievement award was presented to Dr. Shyamala Bhave for her magnificent contribution in the field of Music. She was gifted with a painted portrait of herself which was painted on the spot, in the time it took to listen to a music track played in the background. It was Vilas Nayak, from Puttur, who was the artist, with the privelge of honoring the musical maestro with his own display of unique talent. He too received resounding applause for his mastery of the canvas from the appreciative audience.

The Outstanding Contribution awards were presented to Pt. S Ballesh and the Musical Duo couple Sri. T A S Mani and Smt. Rama Mani. The duo also showcased their skills in singing with a small bit in dedication to the KIMA Awards for organizing a tremendous event for the Field of Music.

Ricky Kej the only Indian to win a Grammy was awarded the Best International Musician.

A number of special guests from the music industry who attended the awards function. These included Mr. Abdulla Rifau (Member of Parliament – Govt. of Maldives), Mr. V Manohar, Dr. Jayashree, Mr. Naveen Kumar, S Prasad, Arun Kumar, T S Nagabharana, Dr. Kikkeri Krishnamurthy, Mr. Mahesh, and Mr. Gautham Shenoy were a few of the attendees. Special appearances were made by Mr. Vijay Raghavendra and Dr. Nagatihalli Chandrashekhar.

The list of the award categories and the winners are as follows:

Best Devotional Music Composer – Swamy

Best Devotional Singer – Rajesh Krishnan

Small Screen:

Best Music Composer – Praveen D Rao

Best TV Singer – Varijashri Venugopal

Short Film:

Best Background Music – R S Ganesh Narayan

Theatre:

Best Music Composer – Praveen-Pradeep

Best Singer – Varsha B Suresh

Best Lyricist – Dr. Vaidehi