Salma Akhter :: Close Up1 2006 Winner in Bangladesh

Salma Akhter won the Close Up1: Tomakei Khujche Bangladesh 2006, a musical talent hunt show organized by Unilever Bangladesh. She clinched the title by winning the hearts of thousands of fans who voted for her to be the crown winner. About fifty two thousand contestants from home and abroad participated in this event. Yesterday at night (10.00 pm December 29, 2006) the organizers of the competition announced the name of the winner in a ceremony at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre and with this announcement, the tremendous excitement and curiosity of the last few days came to an end.

Salma Akhter was the youngest of all contestants in this competition. She is a very simple girl from a very poor family and she has been brought up in a small village in Kushtia. She generally likes to sing Fakir Lalon Shah’s songs. She didn’t learn music but her voice is God-gifted. Salma has taken Lalon as her inspiration and she may become among the greatest of singers. Salma loves music and loves her parents, who are supporting her every step of the way. She thinks her work is to sing and she wants to make Bangladesh proud with her amazing vocal abilities.

“She is truly a natural singer. I always get the smell of Bangladeshi soil in her voice. I am not surprised at all as she walked away with the first prize”, added Ahmed Imtiaz Bulbul, one of the honorable judges of this competition, on NTV.

Salma Akhter received as many as 17 lakhs 96 thousands 980 of votes from the viewers and 40 marks from the three honorable judges: Kumar Biswajit, Fahmida Nabi and Ahmed Imtiaz Bulbul with total marks of 86 to win this competition quite convincingly while the first runner-up Muhin got 8 lakhs 51 thousands 367 of votes from the viewers and 46 marks from the judges. His total was 67. The second runner-up Nisheeta got 4 lakhs 20 thousands 477 of votes from viewers and 41 marks from the judges; that’s she got total of 51 marks.

The people of Kushtia brought out a big procession on Friday night in the district town as soon as the final result was announced. As a winner, Salma received a cheque for 10 lakh taka sponsored by Unilever Bangladesh, a brand new ‘Nissan’ car sponsored by BRAC Bank and 2 lakh taka as a scholarship for higher education in music by Western Money Transfer Ltd. The Unilever chairman in Bangladesh, Sanjib Mehta, handed over the cheque to the winner while Mosaddak Ali, Naushad Ahmed Chowdhury, Enayetur Rahman Bappy, Asaduzzaman Noor and Ali Zaker were present.

As a first runner-up, Muhin got a music contract of 5 lakh taka cheque and as a third runner-up, Nisheeta received a contract worth 3 lakh taka cheque. The rest top seven contestants received 1 lakh taka each. Moreover, these top ten contestants will get a chance to perform in concerts in Canada, Europe and America.

Besides these, the organizers handed over two more awards. Farah Diba Brishti, a contestant from Noagaon, won the ‘Close Up1 Confidence Award’ for taking part in this competition in spite of her injured legs (she had got one of her legs injured in a road accident while coming to participate in the audition round!) and ‘Dengu’ fever. Brishti received a crest and a cheque for fifty thousands taka. ‘Close Up 1 Patriotic Award’ went to Farzana Boby who now resides in the United States. She took the award along with a cheque for fifty thousands taka.

The grand final of the ‘Close Up1: Gao Bangladesh Gao’ was arranged at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka on the last night. Besides the invited guests, thousands of viewers at home & abroad enjoyed the live telecast of this 'Closeup1 Winner Announcement Program' in NTV. The gorgeous arrangements, beautiful lightings - all became glace-less by the flow-less performance & melodious music by the Closeup1 participants.
Source: http://fmshaon.blogspot.com/2006/12/salma-akhter-close-up1-2006-winner-in.html