Watch also on Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
List of the finalists
01. Malaysia, RTM - Mohd Rizal Ahmad - Di Sudut Kamar Hatiku02. Pakistan, PBC - Marryum Hussain - The Soft Song of Peace
03. Iran, SMC - Moghtada Gharbavi - Bezar Asheget Bemoonam (بذار عاشقت بمونم) (Let Me Remain Your Lover)
04. Thailand, Radio Thailand - PRD Band - Kwam Smakki (Unity)
05. Brunei, RTB - Neff Aslee - Juliet
06. Singapore, MediaCorp - Nana Karia - Boneka Ku Hilang
07. India, AIR - Mangka Mayanglambam - Tamla Loibi Napom
08. Iran, IRIB - Peyman Talebi - Wave of the Infinity (موج بی نهایت)
09. Australia, CRA - Iluka - 12th of July
10. Sri Lanka, MBC - Shehara Liyanage (Shey) - Something Bout' You & I
11. South Korea, KBS - Seokwon Ryu - A Regular
12. Sri Lanka, MBC - Super Stars - Boot Song
Other entries
Brunei, RTB - Rapul Rezal - Inilah SebenarnyaIndia, AIR - Abhijith Kishan - Be The Change
Iran, IRIB - Mohammad Saveh - Fountain of the Sun (چشمه خورشید)
Iran, SMC - Heshmatollah Rajabzadeh - Larzan (لرزان) (Trembling)
Latest news
Around 400 people packed into Colombo’s state-of-the-art Stein TV Studios on Friday night for the ABU Radio Song Festival 2014. Twelve finalists from 10 countries were picked from dozens of entries to perform on the live TV and radio show. The countries represented were: India, Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, South Korea and Sri Lanka. The home country and Iran had two acts in the finals.
Compared to 1st edition of the Festival in 2012, no special awards were given during the show this year, but all performers received a token of appreciation from the organisers of the show, which was aimed to celebrate the diversity of the many Asia Pacific countries through the medium of song and radio.
The show was co-organised by Sri Lankan media group Capital Maharaja which owns Stein Studios. The Song Festival runs alongside the RadioAsia2014 conference which has been attended by hundreds of representatives from Asian broadcasters and continues on Saturday. The event was streamed live on MTV Sports Channel and is expected to air on several radio and TV networks across Asia over the next few days.
ABU's Senior Executive Radio Programming, Ms Vijay Sadhu, said the audience and viewers were given “an exquisite offering of songs of various genres coupled with a brilliant production. The fare provided was extraordinary and world-class. In a brilliant exposition of song and dance, the cultural richness and diversity among the countries of the region captivated the hearts and minds of the audience.”
Watch news report from the show here.
Watch the show live today on MTV Sports at 19.00 local time (15.30 CET). Delayed broadcast will be available on Sirasa TV on Sunday at 22.30.
Show will be presented by Shaq, Suhail and Thanuja Jayawardana. Special guests will include Umaria Sinhawansa and several dance acts.
You can find the running order below and stay connected with Singaporean RIA 89.7 FM host Aura Shai who will be instragraming through the show live.
The red carpet will be rolled out for performers at the second ABU Radio Song Festival in Sri Lanka later this month. The biennial night-of-nights for unsigned talent from across the Asia-Pacific will take place at the Stein Studios complex in Colombo on the evening of 23 May 2014.
Organisers say last-minute touches are being put to the gala program, which will begin with red carpet arrivals before the audience settles in for a an evening of music from Australia, Brunei, India, Iran, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the hosts Sri Lanka, who will also provide several performances by local artists around the international acts.
Current list on both official ABU and RadioAsia sites omits Malaysia from the list of participants leaving followers of the show puzzled once again. Considering that two days ago Rizz Ahmad was at broadcaster for the latest preparations for the show, we assume he will be taking part as earlier scheduled.
The organisers say the festival brings together fresh young unsigned musicians from nine countries who share the same passion for music and song.
“They will perform and interact in an environment of mutual respect and harmony where music transcends all language, national and cultural barriers,”
Gala Night will be held at Stein Studio on May 23, at 7 pm. There will be shuttle buses from the Radio Asia conference venue to the Stein Studio that will start at 6 pm from Mount Lavinia Hotel.
There are more indeed. Today 2nd entry of Sri Lanka, and entry of Pakistan, the only country that has been omitted from the final yesterday, were added to the list of finalists. Will we still get the entries of Vietnam and Indonesia as promised earlier?
Official ABU Radio Song Festival today has announced the list of finalists of the show. Contradicting with previous report, only 10 entries have been listed as those qualified to the final of competition - from Australia, Brunei, India, Iran (IRIB and SMC), Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Earlier report, published by the ABU main site included Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam in the list of the countries qualified to the final of the show.
According to the rules of the competition, number of finalists should be 15.
It is currently unknown, whether there will be 5 more candidates added on a later date, but change of the wording from "Stay tuned for more entries" to "Enjoy the music" suggests the list could be the final. If that is so, it seems the interest to the ABU Radio Song Festival has significantly dropped from the 1st year, when in total, 26 entries from 18 radio broadcasters have been received.
Current list shows just 15 entries, submitted by 11 broadcasters of which 10 entries by 10 broadcasters are marked as "Selected". Pakistani broadcaster PBS is the only one omitted in the list of finalists.
Radio Thailand is the only new broadcaster in the list compared to 2012, while there are no entries from ABC Australia, CR101 Bhutan, FBC Fiji, RRI Indonesia, NTS Kyrgyzstan, AAAN Malaysia, SNPR Sudan, VOV Vietnam.
Performers from 12 Asia-Pacific countries will light up the Gala Night finals of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s 2nd Radio Song Festival in Colombo on 23 May this year. Singers and musicians from Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam will perform live at Stein Studio in Colombo in front of a grand audience.
The event culminates this year’s ABU Song Festival, which attracted national level performances of the best songs and singers selected by ABU members in 12 countries. The Song Festival is being held in conjunction with the ABU RadioAsia2014 Conference from 22-24 May in Colombo. Through participation in the Radio Song Festival, ABU radio broadcasters discover up-and-coming talented performers, helping to promote unsigned talent in the Asia-Pacific and recognising cultural diversity through the medium of radio song. MTV/MBC Radio of Sri Lanka is hosting the two-hour Gala Night performances.
Ms Vijay Sadhu, the ABU’s Senior Executive Radio Programming, says she is very happy with the way the second year of the ABU Song Festival has developed.
“The festival provides international exposure to the singers, composers and other artistes. The festival is all about those making music in their own communities and audiences under their own effort. The ABU Radio Song Festival is unique and the only one of its kind in the Asia-Pacific.”
The original music and song tracks of the participating artists are being showcased on the Song Festival website so that ABU members and people around the world can access and play the songs. One of the objectives is to offer a variety of original music to the public, opening a gateway to the music and culture of the participating member countries.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union has started publication of the submitted entries to the ABU Radio Song Festival 2014. They can be heard here. It is important to note, that though each member organisation may submit up to 2 entries, only 15 of them will be chosen to compete in the live show.
Qualifying round in South Korea has been completed. The final show has been aired live on March 3, from 14.00 to 16.00 local time on KBS Radio Cool FM (89.1 MHz). Entries have been accepted from January 27 to February 21 from the solo previously unpublished singers with their acoustic songs. Nine finalists were selected.
Winner of the preselection, Seokwon Ryu (류석원), has been awarded Gold prize of 1 mln won and compensation of his costs for the travel to the festival in Sri Lanka, runners up got 500.000 won and 3rd place finished - 300.000 won.
The second ABU Radio Song Festival gala awards night will provide one of the highlights of the RadioAsia2014 conference in Sri Lanka in May. Organisers say the final list of performers will be selected from the many entries around the Asia-Pacific and an international judging panel will reveal the top three acts at the gala evening on Friday 23 May in Colombo.
"With an incredible array of talent, style and musical abilities on show, selection for the finalists will be difficult,”
said Mrs Vijay Sadhu, ABU Senior Executive for Radio and Festival Coordinator.
Radio’s unique qualities in providing musical and spoken word entertainment will be further underlined at RadioAsia2014 through a co-hosting opportunity with the prestigious ABU Radio Song Festival. Sadhu says RadioAsia2014 will showcase the importance and creativity of radio programming and content in satisfying listening audience expectations and accessing audiences in the Knowledge Society on all relevant technological platforms. “In a meeting of minds, radio programmers and executives from across the commercial and public service broadcasting spectrum will share the exciting new ideas which are enabling radio to continue to re-invent itself to meet the challenges and requirements of the changing audience environment,” she said. The conference, workshops and eight formal sessions will run over three days from 22-24 May 2014.
ABU has released the official rules and information about ABU Radio Song Festival 2014 that will take place on May 23, 2014, in Colombo, Sri Lanka within framework of RadioAsia2014 conference that will be held from May 22 to 24. The conference comprises a two and a half-day conference and four workshops which are open to members and industry partners. The theme for the event will be It’s All About Content: Positioning New Radio In The ‘Knowledge Society’.
Each ABU member has been invited to participate in the show with deadline to enter being 10th of November 2013. Each member organisation may submit up to 2 entries with deadline of February 2014. Submitted entries must unequivocally be unsigned, amateur original compositions and musicians (amateurs are defined as those that are currently not or have not at any point had a professional recording contract for the sale of their musical works).
Submitted entries will be ratified by the ABU Working Group and in March 2014 published on the official website of the Festival. An international panel of independent judges will choose the best 15 songs to be performed at the ABU Radio Song Festival Gala event. This selection process will occur 3 months prior to the event.
Member organisations are accountable in full for the cost of their entrants that might be performing at the ABU Radio Song Festival Gala event in Colombo. This includes, all transport, accommodation and per diem amounts associated with the entrants performance.
The ABU Radio Song Festival Gala event in Sri Lanka will be a maximum of 2 hours and will be co-hosted in English and Sinhala languages. A single winner will be chosen based on outstanding performance with a second and third prize also awarded by the judging panel. MBC will record the show for Radio and make it available to all ABU members. Live video streaming will be arranged as well.
Information about the contest
Every second year, ABU is organizing ABU Radio Song Festival, aiming to "showcase some of the best of the best unsigned local talent to an International audience". Thus, it is focusing on "Discovering, encouraging, introducing and promoting new song compositions by unknown artists among ABU member countries". Each member broadcaster is able to submit up to 2 entries to the contest, being "unsigned, amateur original compositions and musicians". It has contest format with professional jury awarding top places and has recorded broadcast on radiostations of ABU members.ABU Radio Song Festival concept has been presented in November 2011. Original idea was to limit age of participants from 18 to 40, but this has been dropped. There are no language, length or publication date restrictions as well. Contrary to TV festival, all expenses including travel and accomodation for the performers have to be covered by participating broadcasters themselves. ABU Radio Song Festival coordinator Ms Vijay Sadhu says:
"The Festival will foster understanding, awareness and appreciation of the cultural diversity that exists accross the region"
"It is not about the established stars, it is about those making music in their garages and in their communities, not about the people who are already on stage and on air. A lot of music exists behind the popular music, and we want to it become viral in the cyber world as well as to be played on stations across the region",
explaines Mike McCluskey, CEO of Radio Australia, as Radio Australia is chairing secretariat for the radio portion. First ARSF took part on 11th of October 2012 in Seoul and it's winner has been Korean band "Bily Acoustie" with "For A Rest". ABU Radio Song Festival 2014 will take place on May 23, 2014, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Every year, ABU is also organizing ABU TV Song Festival - aimed to bring together the best of Asia-Pacific’s top solo or group talents hailing from an array of national music scenes. Organizers specifically note, that it is "not a competition among amateur musical talents", but "a celebration of popular music featuring high-profile musical talents". ABU TV Song Festivals are being organized within framework of annual ABU Assembly meetings - thus 1st ATSF took place on 14 October 2012 in Seoul, South Korea, 2nd ATSF is scheduled for 26th of October 2013 in Hanoi, Vietnam, and 3rd is expected to be held in 2014 in Macao.