For nearly two months, Bajao Pakistan has kept Pakistan’s thirst for music at an all time due to Nayi Awaaz, an online music competition that recognizes the fact that the youth of Pakistan needs a platform to be seen and recognized for their musical talent. Also, we see everything shifting to a more digital medium so it makes sense to keep up with the times too.
We waited with bated breath to see who would take home the coveted prize; thankfully, Bajao Music has announced the names of three brilliant underground musical talents of Pakistan.
The first prize has gone to Noman Al Sheikh from Karachi. Along with the visibility Noman will get from this victory, the music genius took away a cash prize of Rs. 500,000 and a chance to get his song produced by a leading music producer. The young 23-year-old is a full time music student while also working as a sales job at Saddar Cooperative Market. He started singing when he was only 14 years old and all those years of practice have finally paid off!
There is no dearth of musical talent in Pakistan, which is why two amazing musical talents ended up tying for the second position – Sameen Khwaja and Zaira Ali. Sameen is counsellor and a teacher and has been singing for as long as she can remember. For her, music is food for the soul and gives her all the motivation and energy she needs to get going in life. On the other hand, 18-year-old Zaira Ali from Lahore is a musicology student and she started singing when she was five years old! She is the only musician in her family but thankfully, her family has been very supportive and encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
22-year-old Danish Butt took away the third and final prize. He lives in Islamabad but is from Occupied Kashmir. He is currently obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from COMSATS and has been playing music since he was five years old, when his uncle bought him a piano. He is a self-taught guitarist pianist, singer, and music producer.
While accepting his prize he said, “I want to thank everyone at Bajao Music for their constant support and for providing us this amazing platform through which I learnt many things. It was an extremely valuable experience for me that I will forever cherish. I would also like to thank everyone who supported me throughout my Bajao Music journey.”
The team behind Bajao.pk, one of Pakistan’s leading music streaming platforms, worked tirelessly to provide a platform for the hidden talent of Pakistan and gave Pakistan a chance to discover new, upcoming names who are sure to rule the industry in the coming years. Nayi Awaaz, the biggest and one-of-a-kind online singing competition was launched full throttle on 26 January this year, through Bajao Music’s social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and the Bajao Music App. The celebrities onboarded included the most popular names from the music industry: Yashal Shahid, Abdullah Qureshi, Umair Jaswal and Bilal Khan.
After the competition was officially launched, Bajao Music received an overwhelming response with 1000+ entries from aspiring singers from all over Pakistan. And why wouldn’t there be such a high number of applicants? The scale of the competition was quite grand and the prizes are noteworthy themselves!
The competition was based on three rounds, providing opportunities to underground singers to showcase their talent and become the next voice of Pakistan. From the 1000+ entries, 125 contestants were shortlisted in Round 1. In this round, contestants were only required to sing cover songs and were judged on voice quality and performance.
From 125, the number trickled down to 25 contestants and then 10 lucky winners made it through Round 2. The third and final round took place and the final four winners were selected. For both Round 2 and 3, finalists were given three interesting hashtags to choose from. The chosen hashtag had to be included in their original songs.
Nayi Awaaz was not just another competition. It was a designed to be a complete musical journey for the singers – from developing voice quality to producing music that brings out their personalities.
For those who still haven’t heard the songs that these very young and talented musicians have made, check them out on the Baajo Music app or their social media channels. The songs are simply out of this world!
