Sennheiser Top 50 Season 2 - The Grandest of Grand Finales

Band culture is dead, says who?

Infact, the decision to host a live performance for its second season finale was probably the best thing about Sennheiser Top 50 this year. The event was a riot; with fans and aspiring musicians come in hoards to show their support and enjoy an evening of good ole live music, even on a Thursday!

22^nd September saw five renowned bands take centre stage at Hard Rock Café, Mumbai, to battle it out for the coveted prizes; a two year endorsement with Sennheiser with access to Sennheiser gear, the opportunity to perform at an acclaimed music festival, be the face of Sennheiser for the next two years across catalogues & branding and individually take home evolution wireless 500 G3 vocal microphones and HD 280 Pro.

The stakes were high and the five chosen ones, from around 366 entries across varied genres, gave it their all. There couldn’t have been a more eminent and appropriate panel to judge the event other than Uday Benegal, Papon and Ashish Manchanda. Raghu Dixit and Shankar Ehsaan Loy joined the panel to shortlist the bands that would contend at the finals. We all know their decisions are ones that won’t ever need to be challenged. Luke Kenny played host for the evening and we all know how charming he can be.

After an eventful night, Parvaaz, the Urdu sensations from Bengaluru, emerged as the deserving winners with Peepal Tree a close second and Barefaced Liar taking third place.

After watching the crowd sing out loud to numbers by last year’s winners, The Local Train, who took the stage as final performers of the evening; we had enough reasons to believe that winning this title meant everything.

Vipin Pugalia, the Director of the Sennheiser Professional segment said, “I am extremely excited and ecstatic after looking at what we have been able to achieve with Season 2. We wanted to go a notch higher with Season 2 and bring glory to our Pursuit of Perfect Sound by giving talented artists a platform to prove their mettle, and today I believe we have achieved that. The immense talent that we have witnessed in this journey is a testimony to the fact that India has a plethora of talent across the country, waiting for the right platform and opportunity to prove themselves. From 366 bands to now the Top 3, the journey has been exciting and eventful! And I would like to thank our jury and sponsors for making this journey and Sennheiser Top 50 Season 2 possible. I would also like to congratulate the winners and welcome the bands to be a part of the wonderful Sennheiser family.“

Parvaaz also had a few things to say about their win – “This is dream come true! We still can’t digest it. From the very beginning, the experience has been nothing less than amazing! Sennheiser is known for its perfect sound and to be associated with them is an artist’s dream. They have not just given us a platform but an experience of a lifetime with stalwarts like Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy, Papon, Raghu Dixit, Ashish Manchanda and Uday Benegal appreciating our music. We are looking forward to the doors that Sennheiser has helped us unlock and are ready to go at it with full force!“

Here’s wishing Parvaaz a successful run and hoping aspiring bands take notice and start gearing up for their shot at Season 3 next year. Thank you for the lovely evening, Sennheiser Top 50!

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