The ultimate college and high school music competition was back with a bang. The second edition of The Hindu NXg Rockstar in association with IIT-Madras' Saarang 2012 saw eight teams rock the stage on Saturday with ‘Black Letters' being adjudged the Rockstars of 2012. The ‘Terrorists' was judged first runner up while ‘83 MPH' came third.
The three-day event kicked off with the ‘Acoustyx' and ‘Acapella' competitions on January 19. The second day saw teams rock it out in the preliminary round of Power Chords to make it to the finals the next day. The student activity centre witnessed some high octane music as teams continued to enthral the audience and judges alike. The teams that made it to the finals were 83 MPH, Black Letters (Kochi), Ghost Note, Totem, The Terrorists, Monkey Skulls (Manipal), Eclipse Alchemy (Thiruvananthapuram) and Iterate.
With suffuse of talent, the judges Noble Luke, vocalist, Blind Image; Madhav Ravindranath, bassist, Grey Shack and Wayne, Manager, Media and Content Advancement at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, were trusted with the unenviable job of choosing the best. In keeping with the tag line of Rockstar “If you think you are already one, here is the platform to showcase the musician in you” the teams did just that!
Prizes
The winners of the Acapella round were the 10-member Western Music Club from Women's Christian College.
The winners in the Best Band category for Acoustyx were The Twelfth from Madras Christian College. The winners in the Best Band category for The Best Acapella Vocal Group were The Western Music Club. The prize for Best Own Composition was given to the band Under The Influence comprising members from SRM University and St. Michael's Academy.
Prizes for best male and female vocals in the Acoustics category was given to Siddharth Kotwal of Paperkraft, BITS Pilani, Goa campus and Shreya Sarah of Synchronize, Womens' Christian College, Chennai.
Anuj Shah of October Rush from the Vellore Institute of Technology was adjudged as the Best Guitarist, while prizes for the Best Keyboardist and the Best Percussionist and Best Bass Percussionist went to John Kirubai and David Joseph and John Jonathan from the band The Terrorists.
In Power Chords, the Metal and Rock category, the Best Vocalist went to Black Letters, Best lead guitarist went to The Terrorists. 83 MPH won the awards for the Best Drummer and Best Bass Guitarist. The Best Keyboard award went to Totem.
The event was followed by performances by 10-year-old drummer Aditya Sunder and Hong Kong-based band T-Bone.
The title sponsor for the event was Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers. The associate partner was Hero Motors, style partner was Green Trends-Hair and Salon, television partner SS Music, radio partner 92.7 BIG FM, multiplex partner AGS Cinemas, event partner iads and events. The prize sponsors were Landmark, Universal Kingdom, Globus, Donut House, Witco and Fitness One.
