Idea Jalsa completes five years of musical odyssey

“Idea Jalsa – Music for the Soul” the multi-media platform for all forms of Indian Music has completed five years of a melodious and momentous journey. Initiated by the Indian Music Academy (IMA) – a CSR initiative of Art And Artistes’. Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company, has partnered with this unique Indian Music Project, right from its inception in 2006.  

 

A host of dignitaries including Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj (Founder Patron IMA), Smt. Rajashree Birla, Mr. Himanshu Kapania (MD – Idea Cellular), Mr. Punit Goenka (MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.), Pt Shivkumar Sharma (Patron IMA), and Ms. Durga Jasraj (Director, Art & Artistes’ and Co Founder IMA), were present at the Press Conference held to mark the occasion.  

 

“Idea Jalsa – Music for the Soul” is a unique Indian Music Project bringing together Legends, Maestros, Stars, Young Maestros, and Rising Stars of Indian Music, to present a rich & diverse showcase of Indian Culture – and all of it through purely Live Music Performances.  

 

Announcing the milestone, Mr. Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular said, “Indian Music is an intrinsic part of our country’s rich cultural heritage. In these 5 years of our association with the Indian Music Academy for ‘Idea Jalsa’, Idea has supported the cause of music promotion in India, and has endeavoured to take this form of music to the masses. Idea Jalsa has now undisputedly established itself as the single largest platform for all genres of Indian music.”  

 

Over 700 artists and more than 50 different genres of Indian music, Idea Jalsa has provided the Indian Music industry with a diverse collection of timeless content and a large repertoire of classical and contemporary Indian music. ‘Idea Jalsa – Music for the soul’ stage has witnessed enthralling performances by music legends like Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Late Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh, Wadali Brothers, Javed Akhtar, Shankar Mahadevan, Colonial Cousins, Niladri Kumar, Anup Jalota, Alka Yagnik and endless list of legends, maestros and star performers from across the world.  

 

The journey of Idea Jalsa began in 2006 as a Ground Concert Tour across 39 cities. In its 3rd year, Idea Jalsa went on Air as a Television program of 78 episodes on Doordarshan, with the objective of reaching out to a larger audience. It was arguably the consistently highest rated program in the morning slot across channels, and was also aired on Regional channels of DD, for the last two seasons. 

 

Since February 2011 Idea Jalsa has been running successfully on Zee TV, first season as the Best of Idea Jalsa, and continuing with a new season, airing at 10:30 AM on Sunday Mornings with repeats on the same night at 11:30 PM. Being on Zee TV helped Idea Jalsa to achieve the important milestone of crossing more than 100 Million unique viewers on TV! 

 

Mr. Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE) said, “At ZEE, it’s always been our endeavour to promote indigenous talent. Be it Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, country’s longest running musical talent show that has given singing superstars like Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghoshal or Dance India Dance, a show about the common man and great dancing. Zee TV is extremely proud to associate with Idea Jalsa, a novel real music show, which aims to promote and nurture all forms of Indian music. I congratulate Durga, Idea Cellular, and the entire team of Art And Artistes’ on Idea Jalsa’s completion of five successful years.” 

 

Durga Jasraj Director, Art And Artistes’ and Co Founder IMA, who has conceived and produced “Idea Jalsa”, says “Idea Jalsa has established itself as a credible Music platform, and going forward, we have plans to make a Digital Media foray with the rich bank of this timeless content. Apart from new media, we will continue to design entertaining but musically sound performances for National Television, while penetrating deeper into the interiors of our vast country to unearth skilled and deserving young Musical talent. The International market also beckons this quality production of pure Indian Music, and we are keenly determining the way forward to telecast this content Internationally.

 

On achieving this milestone of 5 years and 100 million TV viewers, I would like to sincerely thank Idea Cellular, Aditya Birla Group for partnering this initiative since its inception. This would not have been possible without the support of Zee TV, Air India, all the Musicians and the loyal audiences.” 

Idea is known for unique brand associations with prestigious properties in the genres of Music, Cinema, and Entertainment & Cricket. Idea’s association with such premium programs enables it to offer rich content to its subscribers, making it the highest VAS revenue grosser in the industry.  

 

Apart from making significant contributions in the Indian Music World, Idea Jalsa has also achieved significant milestones through this journey.