Radio Sur Sangam began with a straightforward observation: an enormous number of people sing well, and almost none of them will ever be heard by a stranger. Talent shows want a story. Labels want a market. The rest sing at weddings, in kitchens, on WhatsApp groups — and stop there.
So we built the thing that was missing: a real radio station, on air around the clock, whose entire playlist is non-professional singers. No auditions at the door, no entry fee, no sponsor deciding who deserves airtime. Send a recording; if it is clear enough to broadcast, it goes on the schedule.
Airtime turned out not to be enough. Singers wanted to know where they stood — so we built Navras, a contest around the nine rasas of Indian aesthetics: Shringara, Hasya, Karuna, Raudra, Vira, Bhayanaka, Bibhatsa, Adbhuta and Shanta. Not a genre contest. An emotion contest.
Our podcast now carries on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well as on the site. AawaaZ, a weekly bilingual bulletin written for elders, goes out every Sunday morning and evening. Neither was in the original idea; both exist because listeners asked for something the music alone could not give them.
The rule we started with is the rule we still keep: professionals and playback singers are not eligible, on air or in any contest. Not because they are not worth hearing — because they already have somewhere to be heard, and the people we built this for do not.