The contestants of this year's KPN Award join past winners for a reunion concert at Royal Paragon Hall
The 12 contestants of the 2010 KPN Award will be taking to the stage of Royal Paragon Hall at Siam Paragon this Saturday at 7.30pm for their debut concert that will see them appearing as a cohesive group after competing against each other for the past several weeks.
"This year, we revised our 26-year-old music contest by adding songs and revising the programming and voting system to support Channel 9's airtime over nine weeks. It's the only music contest where the marks come from judges in addition to a popular vote and the winner receives the King's trophy," says Korn Narongdej, the CEO of the KPN Award.
"Previously, most of the contestants went to various music labels, but now we have Revol, which is our own label. Anthony "Guy" Thong, the contestant who won the popular vote, will be the first to make an album. His first single is titled 'Khae Fun'," he adds.
Joining Guy on stage are 11 other young talents: Natee "Tong" Khanaratphatoom, Lalin "Act" Ketsilp, Apisada "Sa" Lindeberg, Aqrin "Art" Chaikaewskulchai, Alongkorn "Pluck" Sirimahawero, Nalinthron "Gana" Teameesupab, Panithi "Tua" Leelabhandit, Ekkapan "Pure" Wannasut, Supapan "Joy" Saowadee, Jitti "Ie" Chalerychit and Tunyanun "Pla Thong" Thongsritanapong.
They'll be performing with guests Jennifer Kim, Ice Sarunyoo, Janet Khiew, Tuck Leela and Tin Chokkamolkij at the reunion show, which has a budget of just under Bt10 million.
"After the contest, we received very positive feedback about the quality of the singing, as well as the stage production and the costumes," says the young CEO.
"At Saturday's concert, all 12 contestants will put on their own shows and we'll also have stunning performances from previous winners. All in all, there'll be more than 30 songs," he adds.
Korn is planning to market his contestants on the international stage.
"We had a judge from England at the contest who's produced songs for both Celine Dion and Elton John. Kim was impressed with Pure, our champion, and says Pure's style is varied enough to go down well in Europe or America. He'll get some training from foreign voice coaches.
"KPN's contestants have to sing in Thai and English from the very beginning so it isn't too hard for them to go international. England would be the first country for our winner to get a start," he says.
