The girls from Our Lady Oueen of the Missions, Salt Lake, put up a good performance in Unconventional Orchestra on WednesdayThe Eastern Vocal Music contest and Antakshari went on simultaneously on Wednesday morning. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta and Sanat Kumar Sinha

The spirit of Sona Chandi The Great TTIS Challenge continued untramelled on Day Two and Three of the preliminary rounds. It was hard to believe that the fest-cum-carnival had only begun. But that wasn’t unexpected with students from more than 105 schools jostling to make it to the finals in an array of events.

 

Melody makers

Twenty six groups battled it out to the strains of music in the Western Group Music contest on November 28, each with five minutes to impress the judges. From rock to rap and even hymns, the young crooners tried a bit of everything. The intriguingly-named group Wrong Number from Salt Lake School sang original numbers. “Insurrection, which we performed, was composed by us,” said Rathindranath Kundu, the lead singer. The Don Bosco, Park Circus band had the audience loving it as they crooned Ozzy Osbourne’s Mama I’m coming home.

Although the competition was tough, it didn’t stop the contestants from showering praise on their rivals. “They were simply superb,” was how Rajib Sarkar, the base guitarist of the group from Don Bosco, Park Circus, rated Frank Anthony Public School’s rendition of Zombie by The Cranberries. In between performances, the hosts threw questions at the audience. Correct answers fetched goodies from TTIS.

 

Matching steps

Groups in dancing gear were queuing up near the stage even before the Western Group Music contest had been wrapped up.

A total of 64 schools rocked the stage in colourful attire. Props ranging from basketballs to Japanese fans and cardboard sunflowers added a dash of innovation to the movements.

Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira and Aashiqui Meri from the film 36 China Town were the popular accompaniments. The boys from Ivory Hall School didn’t miss the chance to jive to the tunes of Shakira and Who Let the Dogs Out by Baha Men.

The eight girls from Our Lady Queen of the Missions, Salt Lake went on stage to perform what can only be labelled tribal-hip hop in jute dresses made by themselves. Some of the dance items were based on Bengali adhunik and jibonmukhi songs by Lopamudra Mitra and Fossils and bhangra beats.

 

East is best

Day Three of the prelims started off with Antakshari and Eastern Vocal (solo), the biggest event with over 150 participants. “There is so much talent in them. With proper training many of them can make it big in the music industry,” smiled Pandit Shantanu Bandopadhyay, one of the judges. Antakshari was a popular draw with participants drawing from a repertoire of Bollywood oldies and chartbusters .

 

Sound use

The Eastern Vocal contest continued after Unconventional Orchestra had kicked off.

Unlikely objects ranging from iron pipes, earthen pots, upturned buckets to wooden boards and even shoes were turned into musical instruments. Vivekananda Mission School used empty coke cans, struck dried leaves on a twig with paintbrushes, to replicate the sounds of the jungle. Future Foundation School made music out of scrubbing brushes rubbed together and a hollowed buffalo horn used as a conch.

According to judge Gourab Chatterjee of Lakkhichhara: “Some of the performances sounded like proper musical compositions with each instrument adding a distinct sound, rather than being there just for the sake of it.”

Crooner Chenelle had students on their feet at the end of the day to Shakira’s latest hit Hips Don’t Lie.

A screening of Lage Raho Munnabhai as part of the film festival organised along the sidelines of the fest-cum-carnival ended Day Three.

Romila Saha and Nabamita Mitra

Finalists

Day One of prelims

3 MINUTES TO FAME

Abhilash Dutta, St Joseph’s College; Sayan Chowdhry, Methodist School; Deepasri Bhattacharya, Future Foundation; Rupam Gupta, Don Bosco Liluah; Debojyoti Samanta, Aditya Academy (Secondary) School; Keshav Tiwari, National English School; Adrija Chakraborty, Aditya Academy (Secondary) School; Sourav Biswas, Salt Lake School; Titas Bhattacharya, South Point High School; Aashna Shah, Laxmipath Singhania Academy; Arijit Das, Don Bosco School, Park Circus; Manoj Kumar, St Xavier’s Institution; Sneha Ganguly, Army School Barrackpore; Pallavi Bhowmick, Kendriya Vidyalaya Barrackpore (army); Nitin Chaturvedi, Shree Jain Vidyalaya; Alakananda Bhattacharya, St Augustine’s Day Shyamnagar; Rajlakshmi Somani, Shree Digambar Jain Balika Vidyalaya; Raina Ghosh, Delhi Public School Newtown; Ravi Aggarwal, The Heritage; Bidushi Biswas, Our Lady Queen of the Mission; Samrat Rakshit, Hartley High School; Shahzad Parvez, St Laetitia’s School; Medhashree Paul, Julien Day Elgin Road; Sourajit Chakraborty, St Augustine’s Day School Ripon Street; Upalabdhi Kalanoria, Loreto Convent Entally; Ankur Pal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; Ishu Kedia, The Aryans; Abhibroto Roy, St James School; Sujoy Chatterjee, Calcutta Boys’ School; Rounak Bhattacharyya, Vivekananda Mission; Sanchari Basak, Mangalam Vidya Niletan

LAUGHTER CHALLENGE

Delhi Public School, Newtown, Don Bosco School, Park Circus, St Augustine’s Day School Ripon Street, St James School, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, North Point Day School, Calcutta Boys’ School, Loreto Day School Sealdah, AK Ghosh Memorial School (primary), Vivekananda Mission School, Sunrise English Medium School, Loreto Convent Entally, Methodist School

WAR OF THE RJS

Alokananda Bhattacharya, St Augustine’s Day School Shyamnagar; Pratikshit Roy, AK Ghosh Memorial; Karishma Sharma, Calcutta Girls’ High School; Yuvraj Dasgupta, Don Bosco Liluah; Debarati Sanyal, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan; Rohini Singh, Methodist School; Prateek Sarkar, Methodist School; Sreyoshi Ghosh, Nivedita Vidyapith; Dania Javed, Calcutta Girls’ High School; Dipshikha Ghosh, Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan; Sarani Chakraborty, Kendriya Vidyalaya Ballygunge; Akash Sinha, Kendriya Vidyalaya Barrackpore; Shivam Sinha, Pailan World School; Souryadeep Banerjee, St James School; Priyanka Shaw, Loreto Convent Entally; Puskar Roy, St James School; Sana Farzeen, St Paul’s Mission; Ananya Roy, Mangalam Vidya Niketan; Shreya Sarbadhikari, Rajasthan Vidya Mandir; Somdatta Mitra, South Point High School; Sanjita Saha, South Point High School; Pooran Panjabi, Delhi Public School, Newtown; Rajarshi Lahiri, Don Bosco Liluah

FASHION PARADE

Rajasthan Vidya Mandir, North Point Day School, Saifee Hall, Shree Jain Vidyalaya, St James School, Springdale High School, Kalyani, Loreto Convent Entally, Loreto Day Sealdah, Methodist School, Shree Shikshayatan, Pailan World School, Calcutta Girls’ High School, Julien Day Elgin Road, St Joseph’s College, Don Bosco Liluah, Ling Liang High School, Sunrise English Medium School

Names of the other finalists will be carried in the next Youngmetro