MUMBAI: Guitarist Sanjay Divecha, percussionist Vivek Rajagopalan and duo Randolf Correa and Monica Dogra of Shaa'ir + Func picked up an award each at the very first Avima Awards 2009 announced on 29 March 2009.

Thirty per cent of the songs were selected via online voting and 70 per cent of the other scores were decided by global judges from Europe, Australia and the US.

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* Guitarist Sanjay Divecha - Naino Sey, Best Pop Song Award

* Percussionist Vivek Rajagopalan - Snake in the City, Most Mind Blowing Music Video

* Shaa'ir + Func's - Together Again, Best Genre Bending Song

"Avima awards are not the Grammys, and we are not even close to the glamour of the MTV Asia Awards, but Avima (Asia Voice Independent Music Awards) 2009 is perhaps one of the biggest supported music awards in the world," said Siva Chandran, founder of Avima and managing editor of Voize.my.

In the past three months, nominations came flooding in from China, India, Thailand, Singapore, the UAE, Brunei, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia and Kazakhstan. With over 16 countries participating, the Avima awards have become the biggest indie awards of the world, claim the organisers.

Though there were offers to host the event at Beijing or Manila, the organisers lacked the resources to take it outside Malaysia. In order to make it a unique global event the Avima awards were viewed around the world online. The organisers of the event felt that the awards symbolised the spirit of indie and that big money and major sponsors were not required to host a major awards show.

Other bands from India that made it to the nomination list included Another Vertigo Rush, Motherjane and Workshop. Voting for the nominees were started on 1 March 2009 and the awards were webcast from Malaysia on 29 March.