Sound of music

Nightingales of Indian Cinema, a search for the top female singers across film industries

Children of Love Care Centre performing at the event.

Seven guests on the dais representing the seven notes of music — a unique way of unveiling a novel initiative, “Nightingales of Indian Cinema” (NoIC). The meet, which took place at the Cine Musicians Union building in Vadapalani, announced an attempt to identify the three dulcet-voiced female singers in each of the five regional film industries, namely Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada.

Executed by Empire Events and Promotions, NoIC brings in its trail a series of contests and concerts spanning the months of November and December. Female playback singers in the reckoning will figure in these events, backed by male playback singers and instrumentalists. Each contestant will present her best solo and duet songs. A jury will select the top three melody queens in each of the chosen regional languages, except for Tamil. The public joins the jury in choosing the three best singers in the Tamil film industry. A bus will trundle through the major cities and towns of Tamil Nadu and collect votes from the public to decide on this three.

The lengthy event will culminate in a gala show in January 2013, where the 15 ‘nightingales’, covering the five languages, will perform at the Nehru Indoor Stadium. They will team up with seven melody queens of yesteryears, who will be honoured as lifetime achievers on the occasion. Dressed in saris reflecting the Indian tri-colour, this group of 22 female singers will present a song about national integration.

As of now the organisers have decided to keep the identity of the chief guest under wraps.

At the NoIC launch, another rare initiative was unveiled. Inspired by two legendary musicians and teachers of music, Diwakar and Dhanraj, who exemplified sacrificial commitment to their profession, Empire School of Music has “music for all” as its prime objective. The school will provide free lessons in western and Indian classical music to children of certain orphanages. “Members of the general public will be charged nominal fees for the same lessons,” said Sheela Edwin, founder of the music school.

Children of Love Care Centre, an orphanage from Kanchipuram, sang ‘I Could Sing of His Love Forever’ to celebrate the school’s launch. Excerpts from the film

August Rush , in which an orphan makes the cut as a young music conductor, were screened. Two short documentaries extolling music masters Diwakar and Dhanraj were also part of the fare. For details, call 9962662219 or write to empireschoolofmusic@gmail.com