Blue-collar workers gear up to showcase their talent at show
dubai — Indian expat Ambily has truly earned the moment she has been waiting for, through sheer hardwork and hope that keep her going. Ambily is a bus conductor with Gems Modern Academy, and she is going to be living her dream of singing at Smart Idol, a competition organised to showcase the talents of Dubai’s blue-collar labourers. The Smart Idol finale will take place on Friday at Sheikh Rashid Auditorium.
Organised by SmartLife, an NGO licensed by the Community Development Authority-Dubai (CDA), Smart Idol takes place after every nine months. More than 1,500 labourers from 15 labour accommodations of Dubai auditioned for the event with their singing and dancing talents in the preliminary rounds.
“I was always known for my singing talent… till throat cancer decided to put an end to my singing. I overcame all that, the treatment is now complete and I slowly regained my confidence, enough to participate in a stringent competition like Smart Idol and emerge as one of the finalists. Idol has given me an avenue to be trained by professional people, a platform to sing before a crowd and for this I am grateful to SmartLife and Smart Idol.”
A jury panel selects the top 15 talents, split between singing and dancing performances, who will then be trained and mentored by industry professionals to fine-tune their skills. Smart Idol winners and select finalists become part of SmartBand, which performs at corporate events.
“Smart Idol gives our hard-working labourers a healthy break from work and gives them an opportunity to exhibit their talents, and thereby enhance their self-esteem,” said Indrani Dasgupta, project lead, Smart Idol.
Officeboy Kamal Rai, who was once a part-time dance teacher in a primary school in Nepal, said the event is the first step towards realising his childhood dream of becoming
(Smart) Idol has given me an avenue to be trained and a platform to sing before a crowd.” Ambily, bus conductor with Gems Modern Academy
an actor and director. “I have a dance institute in Nepal where I used to teach dance and my sister now looks after that. Smart Idol has given me a massive stage where I can showcase my
With the excitement mounting, I cannot wait to be on that stage on May 19.” Kamal Rai, office boy
dancing skills in front of 1,000 plus audience. With the excitement mounting, I cannot wait to be on that stage on May 19,” he told Khaleej Times.
One of the judges for the competition told Khaleej Times: “We have witnessed past editions of Smart Idol and each time the surprise never ceases. The huge cache of talents in these labour accommodations is truly heart warming. From Smart Idol 2017 too we are in for a treat, for the quality of performances is bound to be at an all time high. Since the finalists have passed through various levels of auditions and filtering, we can be assured that it is the superlative talents that are going to be on stage on May 19.”
saman@khaleejtimes.com