MUMBAI: The nominations for the fifth Global Indian Music Academy (GiMA) Awards have been announced, and this year, it has an interesting array of music artists nominated in the Non-Film Music category.

Former 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs' finalist Armaan Malik has been nominated for Best Music Debut and Best Pop Album for his debut album, 'Armaan', released by Universal Music India. Also nominated for Best Pop Album is YouTube pop star Shraddha Sharma for her debut album, 'Raastey'. Other acts in the category include Mikey McCleary for his advertisement jingle compilation 'TV Dinners', Bangalore based folk fusion band Lagori for its self-titled debut album, Yo Yo Honey Singh for 'Desi Kalakaar' and Angarag Mahanta, aka Papon, for the MTV Coke Studio – Season 3 compilation album featuring various artistes.

In the Best Music Debut category, Malik goes up against Lagori, Brodha V, Vijay Prakash Sharma and Kanishk Seth, who is also nominated for Best Fusion Album. Seth's 'Trance With Khusrow' that he produced with his mother Kavita Seth will face competition from Indian Ocean's 'Tandanu' featuring various artistes, Trilok Gurtu's 'Spellbound' featuring Hasan Gzetlik, and two MTV Coke Studio – Season 3 compilation albums, one by A.R. Rahman and the other Ram Sampath.

Pakistani sufi rock band Mekaal Hasan Band has been nominated for Best Rock Album for 'Andholan'. Also, sharing the category is Coshish for 'Firdous', The Supersonics for 'Heads Up', The F16's for 'Kaleidoscope', North Indian band Faridkhot for 'Phir Se' and Mihir Joshi Band for 'Mumbai Blues'.

Raghu Dixit, GiMA Awards 2014 winner for Best Live Performer, has been nominated once again this year for his band's sophomore album, 'Jag Changa' in the Best Folk Album category. The only other two nominees in the category are Zublee Baruah's 'Maati – The Folk Factor' and Balwinder Singh Mast and Dolly Singh Guleria's 'Rangley Punjabis of the Peninsular Studios' featuring various vocalists.

Former GiMA Award winner Shreya Ghoshal is nominated for her first Ghazal album 'Humnasheen' in the Best Ghazal Album category, along with Hariharan and Ustad Zakir Hussain's 'Hazir 2', the follow-up to 1992's 'Hazir'. Joining them in the category is Harsh Bhrahmbhatt for 'Kuchh Dil Ne Kaha' featuring various vocalists, Shishir Parkhie for 'Siyahat – A Journey through Emotions' and Ghansham and Minakshi Vaswani for 'Talaash'.

Famed percussionist Bickram Ghosh has been nominated for 'Back to Classics' in the Best Hindustani Classical Album – Instrumental. He will face competition from Niladri Kumar for 'Sur Yajna', and Rakesh Chaurasia and Purbayan Chatterjee for 'Marwa'.

In the Best Devotional Album category, Shankar Mahadevan's 'My Devotional Favourites' has been nominated alongside iconic Indian singers- Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh and Usha Mangeshkar for 'Shree Krishnay Namah'. Also included in the category are Milind Chittal for 'Enchanting Ram Bhajans', Pandit Jasraj for 'Spiritual Legacy' featuring various artistes, Devaki Pandit and Ravindra Sathe for 'Kanha', and B. Sivaramakrishna Rao for 'Sacred Mantras – The Wisdom Of Ancient India' featuring various vocalists.

Midival Punditz and Kutle Khan's 'Twilight' and Arjun Vagale's 'Clot' are nominated for Best Electronic Track. Also nominated in the category are Gaurav Raina and Monica Dogra's 'Time to Restart' along with SHFT's 'Phailin Kohra', and Paras Nath and Guru Dhanoa's 'Orman Tantra'.

Best Indie Song nominees include Pentagram's 'Don't Have To Lie', Akriti Kakkar's 'Kolkatta Diaries', Natania Lalwani's 'The Letter', Rituraj Mohanty's 'Aam ke Aam' and 'Sakhi Saiyyan' by Agnee featuring Rekha Bhardwaj.