MUMBAI: The Indian Music Academy has unveiled 18 finalists from the national level talent hunt that it conducted over a period of three months. The talents revealed at the IMA press conference on Wednesday in Mumbai are an interesting mix that pans from a 11-year-old Sufi singer to a 32-year-old Thumri exponent.

The 18 finalists will now compete on 11 and 12 December 2009 in Mumbai.

"The shortlisting  of these 18 finalists has been rigorous and was not based on just one single performance - we had asked them to perform various ragas and tried to gauge their understanding in music before reaching to a conclusion," said Art and Artistes director Durga Jasraj 

The national level competition will be judged by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt Jasraj and noted singer Hariharan over a period of two days. Out of the 18, six will be declared  winners. Unlike other reality talent hunts, the winners will strictly be selected on merit and talent and not SMS voting 

As far as prizes go, the winners stand to win a scholarship of one year which will be extended to three years depending on their performance. "The idea behind offering them scholarship and not some fancy contract is to hone them from amateurs' to professional musicians," reasoned Jasraj

Pt Jasraj, founder patron of Indian Music Academy said, "There are many who ask - who will take the bastion of classical music after you - I think they should come and attend this talent hunt to find out who it will be."

The competition will be held at Rangsharda, Bandra (10 am onwards).

India's 18 musical gems of Gen Next include

1. Gurpreet Kaur (23yrs, Santoor)

2. Mukul Gill (11yrs, Sufi music)

3. Naval Mehta (21yrs, Ghazal)

4. Arindam Chakravarty (25 yrs, Tabla)

5. Saptarishi Charkraborty (28yrs, Hindustani classical vocal)

6. Kakali Bhattacharya (32yrs, Thumri)

7. K. H. Vineeth (21yrs, Mridungam)

8. S. Jananiy (18yrs, Carnatic vocal)

9. S. Akash (12yrs, Flute)

10. Ramendra Singh Solanki (22yrs, Tabla)

11. Aabid Hussain (20yrs, Sarangi)

12. Ahmed Raja (26yrs, Ghazal)

13. Ranjit Panwar (17yrs, Ghazal)

14. Partho Sarkar (27yrs, Flute)

15. Prabhakar-Divakar Kashyap (27yrs, 25yrs Hindustani classical vocal)

16. K. Rohan Naidu (17yrs, Violin)

17. Anirudh Joshi (24yrs, Hindustani classical vocal)

18. Dhanushri Deshpandey (24yrs, light vocal)