Hassan Chohan announced on Thursday that the singing competition, ‘Voice of Punjab’ (VoP) will be launched on March 2. The completion aims to bring out the most talented singers from across the province, the minister said.Chohan made these comments while chairing a meeting of renowned figures of arts including Ghulam Mohyuddin, Nisho Begum, Waris Baig, Shahida Mini, Pervaiz Kaleem and Humaira Arshid. Alhamra Arts Council Executive Director Athar Ali Khan and Pakistan Television Network Managing Director Arshid Khan were also in attendance.
The culture minister gave assurances that the competition will be held in a transparent manner: “The process of hunting the best voice from preliminary auditions to grand finale would be ensured in a transparent manner.”“Aspirants up to 35 years of age, irrespective of gender, should upload their best audition at Whatsaps to participate in VoP”, he added.
Talking to the media, the minister said that VoP would provide various singers from across the province an opportunity to showcase their talent since PTV as a media partner, would be telecasting the competition.“The Punjab government has also allocated Rs 13 million for this programme, under which auditions of aspiring singers would commence from March 2 and continue for three days simultaneously at Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Rawalpindi,” said Chohan, adding that 20 best singers would be selected from each division for four quarter finals which would be held in Alhamra Arts Council Lahore on March 8, 12, 16 and 20.
“Around 20 singers would participate in the semi-finals on March 23 and 26. The top 20 would be given one week training under the auspices of renowned singers”, the minister said.“Ten best singers would be selected for the final contest on March 30. The singers achieving first, second and third positions will be given cash awards of Rs. 500,000, Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 100,000 respectively,” he added.
