MUMBAI: The BBC`s global hunt for `The Next Big Thing` kicked off with a road show in Mumbai over the weekend.The hunt aims at finding `new and original bands or solo performers who can make music that is "bold and brilliant" and "not Bollywood." Aspiring contestants from Mumbai submitted recording of tracks, that will be judged by a jury of experts.

"We are going to places that are traditionally been associated with really strong music and India is one among them," Simon Pitts, Producer and Manager of the show told PTI over phone from London.The competition, held jointly by the BBC World Service and BBC Radio is open to solo or group musicians in any genre of music, who have not yet been signed by any mainstream label and will have to perform original material before a jury of independent experts."We chose India because we have found that new things are happening here with its growing cosmopolitan presence bringing in a lot of different new influences," add Pitts."We are finding that exciting music are being churned out by DJs who are mixing Bollywood music with music from places like Dubai, Japan, the US and beyond," he says.The winner will be crowned `The Next Big Thing 2007` and perform to a live audience of 3,000 people at London`s O2 stadium, alongside some of the biggest names in music, like Katieneoua, to celebrate BBC World Service`s 75th anniversary in December.