ABU Radio Song Festival 2014

The ABU Radio Song Festival 2014 was the second edition of the biennial ABU Radio Song Festivals, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). The festival took place on 23 May 2014 in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo.[1] The Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre was originally chosen as the host venue, but was later moved to the Stein Studios. Twelve countries participated the song festival.[4] The festival was to be originally hosted by ABC Australia however for unknown reasons this did not occur.[5]

ABU Radio Song Festival 2014
Dates
Final23 May 2014[1]
Host
Venue
Executive supervisorVijay Sadhu[3]
Host broadcasterSri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC)[1]
Participants
Number of entries12
Debuting countries
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countries
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2014
Vote
Voting systemEach performer received a 'Token of Appreciation' from the festival organiser's.
2012 ← ABU Radio Song Festival → 2015

Location

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Location of the host city in Sri Lanka.

Colombo is the largest city and the commercial, industrial and cultural capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte suburb or the parliament capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is also the administrative capital of Western Province, Sri Lanka and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo. Colombo is a busy and vibrant place with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins[6] with a population of about 752,993 in the city limits. It was the political capital of Sri Lanka, before Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.

The original venue selected to host the festival was the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, in Colombo.[1] The theatre is equipped with ultra modern facilities such as an auditorium with 1,288 seats, a library, and training facilities.[7]

On 21 March 2014, ABU announced Stein Studios would be the new venue for this year's edition.[4] Its Founders Block studio is over 15,600sq ft (1500 sq m) in area and can turn into a 2000-seat theater.[8]

Format

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Unlike the format used in the Eurovision Song Contest there are two versions of the Song Festivals, ABU Radio and ABU TV Song Festivals. The ABU Radio Song Festival which took place on 23 May 2014 coincided with the Radio Asia 2014 event that took place between 22–24 May 2014.[9]

Participating countries

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A total of 12 countries took part in this years festival.[10][11] Host country Sri Lanka, who withdrew prior to the inaugural 2012 festival, and Thailand made their debut at the radio song festival whilst Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, Vanuatu and Vietnam withdrew from the radio festival this year.

Unlike the 2012 festival, this year's festival had no awards presented to the top five acts. The festival organiser's presented 'Tokens of Appreciation' to the performers as a sign of recognition of the diverse range of musical genre.[12]

Order of performance

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Draw[12] Country[12] Artist[12] Song[12] Language[12]
01   Malaysia Mohd Rizal Ahmad "Di Sudut Kamar Hatiku" Malay
02   Pakistan Marryum Hussain "The Soft Song of Peace" Urdu
03   Iran Moghtada Gharbavi "Bezar Asheget Bemoonam" Persian
04   Thailand PRD Band "Kwam Smakki" Thai
05   Brunei Neff Aslee "Juliet" English
06   Singapore Nur Hasanah Zakaria "Boneka Ku Hilang" Malay
07   India Mangka Mayanglambam "Tamla Loibi Napom" Meithei
08   Iran Peyman Talebi "Wave of the Infinity" English
09   Australia Iluka "12 July" English
10   Sri Lanka Shehara Liyanage[13] "Something Bout’ You & I" English
11   South Korea Seokwan Ryu "A Regular" Korean
12   Sri Lanka Super Stars "Boot Song" English

Did not qualify

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Of the sixteen preliminary entries, twelve were selected to proceed to the final of the ABU Radio Song Festival. The remaining four did not qualify (as shown in the following table)

Country[14] Artist Song Language
  Brunei Rapul Rezal "Inilah Sebenarnya" Malay
  India Abhijith Kishan "Be the Change" English
  Iran Heshmatollah Rajabzadeh "Larzan" Luri
  Iran Mohammad Saveh "Fountain of the Sun" Persian

Other countries

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  •   Bhutan – On 30 December 2013, the station manager of Centennial Radio confirmed to Eurovoix.com that they would not be taking part in the 2014 contest.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "2nd ABU Radio Song Festival 2014ABU Radio Song Festival: Festival Date Moved Back to May 23".
  2. ^ "ABU Radio Song Festival finalists chosen". ABU. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  3. ^ "RadioAsia2014 Conference & ABU Radio Song Festival 2014". radioasia.org. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b "ABU Radio Song Festival finalists chosen". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  5. ^ "ABU - GA Billy Acoustie awarded the Grand Prix in the inaugural ABU Radio Song Festival". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  6. ^ Jayewarden+-e, Mr. "How Colombo Derived its Name". Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  7. ^ "Rs. 2,430 m Performing Arts Theatre at Nomads Grounds". Daily News. 22 May 2008. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Founders Block". SteinStudio. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  9. ^ "Radio Asia 2014 dates confirmed". ABU. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  10. ^ Granger, Anthony. "ABU Radio Song Festival 2014: The Songs Are Revealed". Eurovoix. Eurovoix. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  11. ^ "ABU Radio Song Festival 2014: Indonesia & Vietnam To Participate". Eurovoix. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Mikheev, Andy (23 May 2014). "List of the finalists". ESCKaz. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  13. ^ "Sri Lanka: ABU Radio Song Festival Entry Revealed". Eurovoix. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  14. ^ Granger, Anthony. "ABU Radio Song Festival: 12 Finalists Announced". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Bhutan: Will Not Take Part In ABU Radio Song Festival 2014". Eurovoix. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
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