“Bintang Minnal 2023” is an annual singing competition conducted by Minnal FM. Minnal FM is a Indian language radio station in Malaysia that is owned and run by Radio Televisyen Malaysia. The majority of the shows on this radio station are in Tamil. However, the channel also streams songs in Malayalam, Hindi, and Telugu. It was the world’s first 24-hour Indian language broadcast service. It provides Malaysian Indians with information and enjoyment.
Apart from being a radio station, Minnal FM has also organized few events and activities which were fruitful for the community in various ways. They always have concern on the requests, feedbacks and expectations of the community. In that case, Minnal FM has organised “Bintang Minnal 2023” as a platform for local young talents to showcase their singing talent.
The competition received tremendous response from our youths as they had received more than 250 videos of them singing for the audition in such a short period of time. Rohini Subramaniam, the Chairman of Minnal FM thanked for the support from the community in bringing this competition to the semi-finals. She also requested the same support towards the Finals of the competition.
There were 12 participants selected from the 250 participations. It was such a tough process to select the 12 participants for semi-final because there were many talented individuals as well. From the 12 participants who took part in the semi finals, judges had to select 6 people for Finals.
There were two different round in the semi finals. For the first round, the participants were assigned to sing Malay songs whereas for the second round they had to sing Tamil songs. 3 professional composers and singers appointed as judges for this competition. They were Lawrence Soosai who is a well known musician, “Ennai Kollathey” fame Ztish and Tharani Devi Thandapani who has 34 years of experience in Carnatic music industry. Additionally, musician from RTM Raja Muhammad Sham Raja Shari who is Malay artists as well joined the panel of judges during the Malay songs round to make the evaluation better.
The first finalist is Swetha Nair Krishnakumar from Selangor, who is just 21 years old got her interest in singing from the guidance of her grandmother since young age. She has learnt classical Indian music for almost 3 years. Moreover, she has also experience in performing in stage performances. Second finalist is Jeeva Jayagopi from Kajang, Selangor.
Jeeva who is 19 years old stated that she has been learning classical music, playing “veenai” and keyboard from the age of six years old. She has also participated in musical shows and school competitions. Jeeva is currently pursuing her studies in Digital communications.
Nimalaan Gangkathran from Malacca has become the third finalist of Bintang Minnal 2023. His musical journey began at the age of four through religious classes where his learnt “Thirumurai” recital. Nimalaan used to sing in temples and classical music events. Even though, he doesn’t have proper music knowledge, he learnt about music and playing keyboard with his brother. Being a part time insurance agent, Nimalaan is studying music course.
Followed by that, Shuruthi Kesava Rajan who has learnt Thirumurai when she was 5 years old and started learning classical music at the age of 11, is the fourth finalist. Shuruthi has participated in National Thirumurai recital competition and International Carnatic music competition. The fifth finalist is Rajasree Gobi from Ampang, is learning classical music since five years old. She has experience in singing in stage shows and participating in virtual singing competitions as well.
Finally, the final contestant to enter the Grand Finale of Bintang Minnal 2023 is 24 years old, Barath Nair Sritharan from Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. He has been learning Miruthangam for the past 4 years. Currently, he is studying Bachelors in Computer Science.
Notably, Barath stated that singer Pradeep Kumar and Sean Roldan are his inspiration. The song which he sang in his second round was Pradeep Kumar’s remarkable “Aagayam Thee Pudicha” from Madras.
The judges said it was really a difficult task for them to choose the finalists as all of them gave a splendid performance in their unique way.
“Personally, I liked two to three contestants’ performances as they were astonishing. I wonder if they are Malaysians talents or from India because their singing was really good.” , said Ztish.
Tarani Devi also added that, “All the contestants are talented and they have a bright future. We selected six contestants just for the sake of final competition. Otherwise, all of them are winners and they will definitely go far.
Heartiest congratulations for the winners and all the best for the their finals! The Finals of Bintang Minnal 2023 will be happening on 23rd September 2023. Not forgetting, the effort of Minnal FM in creating this great platform for our young Malaysian Indian talents to pursue their passion in musical industry.
Source: Minnal FM
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