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News |  02 Dec 2008 17:43 |  By RnMTeam

Stage set for India's annual 'Rock' awards

MUMBAI: The build-up to the fourth Jack Daniel's Annual Rock Awards for 2008 continues with the second Jack Daniel's - Rolling Stone TRIBUTE with VH1 concert, to be held on 5 December, 2008 at Elevate in New Delhi, to honour the legendary Jim Morrison.

The concert, featuring some of the capital's finest musicians, will celebrate the iconic singer's birthday which falls on 8 December. Singer, DJ and actor Luke Kenny, a die hard Morrison fan, will host the event and also perform a few tracks. The menu for the evening: JD, music and cake.

On 6 November, 2008, the first of the four Jack Daniel's - Rolling Stone TRIBUTE with VH1 series honoured The Beatles on the 40th anniversary of The White Album at Mumbai's Hard Rock Caf?©. The third concert will be held at Kolkata's Someplace Else on 10 January 2009 to honour the 30th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's classic album 'The Wall'.

The final concert of the series will be held at Mumbai's Hard Rock Cafe on 12 February  2009. 'The Tribute to Guitar God's' concert will be a tribute to some of the greatest guitarists of our times, and will also be the occasion for the presentation of the 4th JD Rock Awards. It will be the first time that the JD Rock Awards Final would be moving from Delhi to Mumbai.

The response to Jack Daniel's invitation to performing bands in India continues to be overwhelming. For this year's edition, entries from 121 popular bands have already been received for consideration so far. The JD Rock Awards is based on popular votes and the recommendations of a specially formed jury. To get more music lovers to participate in the process, online voting for all nominated categories was made possible last year through the website www.jdrockawards.com. The final winners will be declared and will receive their Awards at the Grand Finale on 12 February. A total of 14 awards will be given in eleven categories including Band of the Year, Song of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and Emerging Band of the Year.

The Indian rock scene got a big boost in early 2006 when Jack Daniel's organised the JD Set featuring five of the best bands in the country. It created waves when the Delhi band Them Clones, which won the event, was flown to London to participate in the JD Set, UK. The next year, Jack Daniel's took rock music in India to the next level by honoring the Indian rock fraternity at the first ever organized awards for Rock Music in India at The Jack Daniel's Backstage Tennessee Annual Rock Awards. Earlier this year, Menwhopause won the Best Band of the Year Award at the 3rd JD Legendary Mash and went to Lynchburg, Tennessee to compete with other winners from across the globe at the Legendary Mash event. The stage is now set for the 4th year of the Jack Daniel's Annual Rock Awards '08-'09.

Speaking on the occasion, Brown-Forman Worldwide Area Director and VP, Amrit Kiran Singh stated, "It was Jack Daniel's efforts four years ago, that began the process of bringing rock music, mainstream. Till this point rock music in India was confined to the university campus. The Jack Daniel's Rock Awards which has seen the winning bands (Them Cones and Menwhopause) being sponsored to perform in England and the US has moved to another level this year. With credible partners such as Rolling Stones and VH1 joining hands with us to create synergy, the Jack Daniel's Rock Awards is all set to becoming a major event in the Indian music scene."

The Winner of the Best Band of Year title will get a chance to go to the Legendary Mash festival at Lynchburg, Tennessee, in April 2009 where a round of studio auditions will take place before the final selection. This year Jack Daniel's Legendary Mash International Grand Finale at Tennessee has thrown open the stage to young, upcoming bands from around the world.

According to Rolling Stone India Editor & Publisher Radhakrishnan Nair, "Jack Daniel's - Rolling Stone TRIBUTE nights are part of our mission to promote rock music in India, and the JD Rock Awards has done a commendable job over the years to encourage Indian bands to create music that is not only original but also of a very high quality."

Paying tribute to Jim Morrison along with Luke Kenny on the 5 December at Elevate will be a band comprising of Gaurav Chintamani (Guitar), Reuben Narain (Drums), Anindo Bose (Keyboards), Gaurav Balani  and Clarence (Bass), Suchet Malhotra (Percussions), along with Vocalists Michelle Lobo, Ashhar Farooqui, Aditi Singh Sharma, Prithwish and Dhaval Mudgal.

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