Correspondent
KOHIMA, DECEMBER 10
Underground Authority from Kolkata (West Bengal) was adjudged the ultimate winner of the 2013 Hornbill International Rock Contest at a spectacular grand finale held here at the Naga Solidarity Park, Kohima Tuesday evening. Pitted against the best of the best among 150 bands that auditioned for the competition, the Kolkata based fusion rock band battled with eight bands from Darjeeling, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Jharkhand and Nagaland this evening and emerged the supreme winner. We The Giants from Nagaland and The F16s from Chennai (Tamil Nadu) were placed first and second runners up respectively.
With the prize money totalling up to a whooping Rs. 17.2 lakhs on its platter for the winners, the Hornbill International Rock Contest boasts of carrying the highest prize money for a music competition of this genre (Rock) in India.
The competition, an integral part of the annual Hornbill festival, had evolved from a local beat contest about ten years back to a national level contest from 2008, and appended the international label this year under the banner Hornbill International Music Festival.
As the winner of the competition, Underground Authority walks away with a grand prize of Rs.10 lakhs, We The Giants won Rs.3.5 lakhs and third place winners the F16s will also be going home Rs.2.5 lakhs richer. In the individual category, S. Serivasagar (Underground Authority) won the Best Vocalist, Best Bass Guitarist– Aren Longkumer (Infuse, Nagaland) Best Bassist -Soumyadeep Batthacharya (Underground Authority), Best Drummer- Sourish Kumar (Underground Authority) and
Best Keyboardist- Harshan Radhakhrishnan (F16s)
All the individual winners were awarded Rs.30,000 each. Besides the prize money, sponsored gifts were also given to the winners. True School of Music, Mumbai also sponsored various special category prizes worth Rs.30 lakhs.
Renowned Naga band and winners of MTV Rock On, Divine Connection made a special appearance at the show on Tuesday.
The finale of the rock contest also brings down the curtains of the much hyped ten-day Hornbill Festival.
