Radio One unveils 'One Chennai One Music'
* Announces new weekly show with 6-band concert event
* New series to feature one popular live band unplugged every Sunday 2-3 pm
MUMBAI: In a bid to push the envelope to add musical variety to the current Bollywood-only landscape of Radio Music, 94.3 Radio One's Chennai station on Wednesday announced the launch of a big music initiative, One Chennai, One Music, which is aimed at providing listeners with the opportunity to experience music across all genres and beyond the film music genre under one platform.
One Chennai One Music is a new weekly series that will air on Sundays from 2 to 3 pm, will feature a live, in-studio performance of a popular band from Chennai, and will be hosted by RJ Rajiv Rajaram. The inaugural episode, airing on Sunday the 26th of December will have Dr T R Subramaniam speaking to Radio One listeners, along with a Chennai band performing and interacting with the RJ and listeners.
Radio One launched One Chennai One Music through a six-band, 80-minute concert featuring popular Chennai acts like Nailed, Groove 3, Cynosure, Hip Hop Tamizha, Suprita and Melvin Black at Ampa Skywalk in Chennai at 5.30 pm on Wednesday evening. Gayatri Venkatragavan and Poly Varghese too performed, and classical pianist Anil Srinivasan, music director Dharan and Lyricist Karky were present at the launch.
Through One Chennai One Music, the music station promises to offer an interactive platform for music artistes, both established and new, across a variety of genres and outside the space of film music. One Chennai One Music on Radio One will go beyond Kollywood music and build momentum for music and artists in the genres of Classical, Carnatic, Tamil Fusion, Tamil Hip Hop, Folk, English and Indie Rock, Fusion, Indipop, Dance n Funk.
Vineet Singh Hukmani, Managing Director, 94.3 Radio One, said We want to be the natural catalyst, a natural bridge, a natural friend between the musician artist and the listener and ensure the multi-genre music revolution sweeping this country is given its due respect in Chennai as well. We are proud to be a part of this era and are therefore driving our vision of being India's only music station in a multi-genre space....
According to Martin King, Station Head, Radio One, Chennai, Today all radio stations in Chennai play only Tamil film music But you ask a person who is interested in music but is not so much into film music, he will come with a number of other genres of music that he'd like to hear on radio. So being true to the promise we stand for as a music station, we have created a platform for all genres of music -- be it English pop, rock, classical, Carnatic, Tamil hip hop or any other. This is why this show is called �One Chennai One Music'....
The following weeks will see upcoming bands across genres speaking and playing unplugged for Radio One listeners They will discuss their history, up-coming live shows, and interact with fans and listeners As King says, This will reach out to the listener who looks for something beyond Kollywood music. New artists will get a chance to interact with established musicians of their genre which will help their growth and the overall cause of music....
Ultimately, listener response will determine the lifespan of the show. While Radio One has a list of established and popular Chennai bands for the initial episodes, the station will welcome other bands that approach it, and will provide them a platform to perform if their music is up to the mark.
