New music awards for Indian music fraternity

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Star Global Indian Music Awards (GIMA), a joint initiative of Wizcraft International Entertainment and Star Television Network, aims at honouring talent across film and non-film music and its varied genres on a global platform.

The inaugural edition of the Star GIMA will be presented at an exclusive ceremony in October 2010, said a press statement.

'We are happy to announce a new milestone in the Indian music history by introducing the Star Global Indian Music Awards. It is our belief that the music industry's dedicated audiences has waited a long time to see their musical icons getting applauded,' said Sabbas Joseph, director, Wizcraft International.

Music labels and music and film producer have been invited to send in their entries. Songs released between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010 will be considered for the awards.

The nominees in the various categories will be determined by a panel from the music industry. The jury will include Universal Music India president Vijay Lazarus, Bhushan Kumar of T-Series and musicians L. Subramaniam, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, Prasoon Joshi and Pritam.

Filmmakers Karan Johar, Mukesh Bhatt, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, along with musicians Shekhar Ravjiani, Leslie Lewis, Talat Aziz, Usha Uthup, Resul Pookutty, Sulaiman Merchant and others will comprise the jury. The jury is sub-divided into film, technical and non-film categories.

The winners will then be chosen by a specially created music academy and online voting.

Ernst and Young, the audit firm will tabulate all academy votes and the winners will be declared at the awards ceremony, to be telecast on Star TV.

'We at Star Television are excited about the Global Indian Music Awards (GIMA), considering our longstanding partnership with Wizcraft International Entertainment. Music is an essential aspect of entertainment and has a deep connect with Indian audiences. At Star, we are constantly innovating and reinventing ourselves to fulfill the entertainment needs of the family and creating a platform for recognizing talent in music is yet another step in that direction,' said Sanjay Gupta, chief operating Officer, Star India.

Supporting the Star GIMA are industry music partners Indian Music Industry (IMI), T-Series, Yash Raj Films Music, SaReGaMa, South India Music Companies Association (SIMCA), Eros International, Tips, EMI, Sony Music, Venus, Universal Music Group, and Aditya Music, among others.