News

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going…

17th December 2009

Well, the competition has gotten even tougher and fiercer for the contestants of Sprite Band Challenge: 2. It was top six last time and within a matter of just seven days, it’s been cut down to top three!!!! Yes, three bands were eliminated on Wednesday night’s show.

All six of them performed their original songs before the elimination round began, all of them receiving good remarks from the regular judges Robin Tamang, Abhaya Subba and Dev Rana as well as from the guest judge Yogeshwore Amatya. However, they had let go of three contenders: Dead Bone, Kalash and The Time despite their good performance whereas the groups landing on the safe side were Baptizma, Inflected and Sound Cuddles. The decisions were made on the basis of 50% voting from the audience & 50% from the judges.

Congratulations to the top three survivors who will be performing a live concert on 19th Dec!! Yes, you can catch these rockers: Baptizma, Inflected and Sound Cuddles rocking the stage this Saturday at Bhrikutimandap. Not only will you get the chance to witness these budding performers but also some great bands such as Mukti And Revival, Robin And The New Revolution and others. It’s a double treat!! And guess what?? Buy a 500ml bottle of sprite at the venue & get a free entrance! Now, how cool is that? It works even in this chilly winter.

The second season of SBC is also nearing its end and for the full updates on the biggest band competition untill its big winner is announced, keep it here on cybersansar.com as well as on Kantipur Television, Wednesdays, 9pm.

Top 6 SBC 2 Rockers Soaring High!!

3rd December 2009

Not a surprise to us anymore, performing in restaurants, pubs and cafes have been very good platforms for budding musicians. You must've realized yourself that you tend to notice live performances more attentively than by actually listening to a finished piece of new music.... Well, lucky are these Top 6 finalists of the Sprite Band Challenge-2 (SBC-2), who've been given the golden opportunity to rock some of the most happening venues around Kathmandu!!

With the aim of taking the competition to a whole new level, the SBC organizers decided to hand the fierce contenders an ever precious chance to perform live in front of a music-loving crowd. Hence, exposing them to more publicity. Well, the ultimate gig began with Baptizma, Inflected and The Time performing at Oasis Restaurant at Basundhara on 13 November, while Kalash, Dead Bone and Sound Cuddles gave their best at Cafereena,Durbar Marg on 14 November.

Now wait till you hear what they had to offer at the big shows! The evergreen hit "Ma Mauntama" by Om Bikram Bista was covered wonderfully by Inflected, adding their own flavor to the original composition with fast paced and entertaining beats. Baptizma, on the other hand, came up with a rendition of Gaun Gaun Bata Utha from the movie Balidan, and The Time sang their original track Artha.

Kalash was truly loved by their listeners for presenting a magnificent cover of Hamro Nepal originally by X-Marika. They deserved a huge round of applause and they did earn it. The remaining two bands Sound Cuddles and Dead Bone both did their original songs, "Doobi Hera" and "Chadke Najar", respectively.

Overall, we have a tough a competition going on this year on SBC2 and we'll just have to wait and see who walks away with the top prize...Till then, you can keep yourself updated here on cybersansar.com and on Kantipur Television, Wednesdays at 9pm (even to know where the bands are performing in coming weeks. It could just be your favourite spot. )

Sprite Band Challenge Top 12’s 4th November performance

5th November 2009

It is for sure that all rock lovers should reserve their TV time from their families at 9 pm sharp every Wednesday on Kantipur TV as the rockumentary ‘Sprite Band Challenge-Freedom to Rock 2’ has made the half an hour show the most alluring. It feels like the challenge started just few days back with call for audition, but the search venture has climbed the ladder up to top 12 and the episode yesterday was a step of it. Bands like Baptizma, Rubicon, The Travellers were showed on yesterday’s episode.

Baptizma performed their originals to which Robin Tamang compared it having elements like Linkin Park and really appreciated their work, at the same time their performance was also judged as ‘unclear’. ‘Rubicon’ received bitter judgment; Robin Tamang and Dev Rana responded their work as ‘unable to distinguish’. They complained the management about poor sound after receiving the hurting feedbacks from the judges. Picking up a mistake, ‘The Travellers’ were also judged as appalling performance.

Encounter, Equinox-49, Rubion, Rockyug, Kalash, Pranay, Infinity and Iroer are the bands that participated in the last season too, they have succeed to reach top 12. From top 12 bands, the competition will narrow down to 6 and then 3 out of which the winner will be declared. The ultimate winner will enjoy the cherry of Rs 1, 00,000 and make a music video on their original song.

Picks of Sprite band challenge

25 October 2009

Sprite Band Challenge - Freedom to Rock 2 has now mount its ladder up to 22 top bands and some received bitter where other received good judgments. Over and over again, judges were asking about original flavors to have kept in the performances of the bands. Judges were found to get irritated with same choices of songs. But some bands were able to win their hearts to some level.

It was a heart felting moment when some bands were asked to stop their performances at the middle. Most of the time, Robin Tamang was shouting Stop! stop! stop! But the band kept playing continuing their some of the verses. Abhaya Subba and Dev Rana were also reminding the band that the rockumentary was running its second season and hoping to see better bands than before.

When 'Musu musu hasideu' was performed, Abhaya called the band a dance group not a rock band. Baptizma received a good feedback. Abhaya said, 'you are a really good band, you gotta future there.' But when Da-Soul performed 'Aakasaima', Robin Tamang judged saying, 'Josh ma over josh bhayo' but later the band was found to be selected in Top 22. Are you ready to read some of such judgment from these rock gods of Nepal? Here are some of the feedbacks received by bands.

Encounter – Whao! Good tight band and we are looking more and more with you.
Equinox 49- Try to sing rather than shouting.
Evoke- Stop! Stop! Stop!
Kalash -Too much of patriotism sometimes will make ourselves less patriotic.
Minds in illusion- 'Guitar tune nai chaina,' Dev Rana.
Rubicon –Ghati bata na geet gayera pet bata gaauda open up your lung that will help.
Sanskriti -Played bhul ma bhulyo and Abhaya Subba commented 'you sounded like robin but it should not be –aafno pan hunu paryo'.
D. Mechanism- It was instrumentally oriented because the bassist had a major accident just few days before the audition and the judges were hoping to see more. Abhaya was proud to have a lady playing violin but wished to see a vocalist and a bass player in the band.
Like D. Mechanism, the band 'The House Call ' was fronted by a female vocalist. Abhaya Subba named the 'Solid Band'.

Auditioned Band List

12 September 2009

Below are the names of bands that performed for the challenge in the audition round.

Sprite Band Challenge Audition Begins

7 September 2009-Monday

Audition of Sprite Band Challenge -2 has begun!! The date was 6th September, i.e. yesterday when Studio 4 at Kupundole was heated up by performances of participant bands; some were quite exciting; while some made the judges ask to stop the performance in the middle.

Day 1 of the auditon had the bands like 48 hours, Abaloklan, Aavash, Black Space, Alaukik Trishna, Aarambha, Baptizma, Cricifix, Dead Strings and Black Out taking the stage with their cover versions of populr Nepali songs. Robin Tamang, Abhaya Subba and Dev Rana had their words on the caliber of the bands, also marking the ones that will make to the contest and ones that will be left out. Traditional musical instruments were also used by few bands where they had chosen instruments like flute and talk box. Compared to the last year, this year's event has more number of participants; 50 bands competed last year and this year, there are 97 bands participating.

Conveying some words from the judges, Dev Rana yearn for complete respect on the judges’ blunt compliment as it is going to act as a helpful medium for them to bring improvement. Similarly, Robin Tamang has his gladness to see such an increasing enthusiasm and participation of the bands and linked it with the probability in decline of drug indulgence. He says, ‘See, because of music these aspiring rockers will save their money to buy instruments instead of drugs and smacks.’ Abhaya Subba was pointing out to the lack of showmanship among the band members which she forced as an important element while taking up stage.

Episodic play of the rocumentary will be aired from Kantipur Television every Wednesday 9 pm; program being bridged by Suraj Singh Thakuri and new host, delightful and saccharine Upali Lama (RJ Radio Kantipur and Miss Tamang 2009). Don’t miss it!

Sprite Band Challenge 2

10 August, 2009

Rockheads are given the privilege to introduce themselves as the best rock band all over again because entryway of the rockumentary 'Spite Band Challenge-Freedom to Rock 2' is unlocked for all the meritorious rock bands of the nation once more.

50 rock bands enlisted the challenge in the first season where Anuprastha made a history with the tag of the first winner with prize money of one Lakh rupees and a contract of making music video followed by Bequeath and Alt F4 in the second and third position winning 50 thousand and thirty thousand correspondingly. The challenge is like a locked treasure box and a second chance for all the rock bands to prove themselves and get the padlock open for their career in the music field.

The last date for the submission of the entry form is only up to 25th August. Come on rockers, its time to jam-up and bring yourself to the world.

Sprite Band challenge winner Anuprastha with a music video

-3 July 2009

Winner of Sprite Band Challenge - 'Freedom to Rock' Anuprastha's long awaited music video of the song 'Din' is out now. The music video chronicles Anuprastha's journey from the coming together of this rock band to rising to fame after winning the Sprite Band Challenge. According to Niran, vocalist and guitarist of the band, “This is a dream come true for us. I really want to thank Sprite for providing us a platform to showcase our musical prowess. The music video released today is the result of continued encouragement by the Sprite brand team, our effort and hard work and our single minded focus to make our mark in the field of music.”.

According to Saumindra Bhattacharya, Country Manager, Bottlers Nepal Limited, “We are always on the lookout of innovative ways to engage and connect with our consumers. As part of the same endeavor, Sprite Band Challenge was organized to provide a platform to the aspirant young rock stars in the country. The entire initiative spread over a period of three months witnessed some incredible performances by the rock bands. The launch of the music video today is a great moment of pride and achievement for 'Anuprastha' rock band. We look forward to organizing many more initiatives to foster music in the country”.

Yes we need more quality contests like the Sprite Band Challenge and it has been sometime we have not seen any.

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