Shankar Mahadevan, Euphoria and Kailash Kher emerged as winners at the sixth edition of Artist Aloud Music Awards here.Artist Aloud, a platform by Hungama that supports and promotes independent music, organised the awards ceremony on Wednesday.Soumini Sridhara Paul, Vice President, Artist Aloud, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., said in a statement: "We believe that music and talent go beyond what's commercially available."While the Best Devotional Song award in the jury category went to "Aadiyogi" (Kailash) and "Tutari" (Shankar Mahadevan), Euphoria won the Best Composer award in the jury category for the song "Jiya jaye na". The band also won the Best Song award in jury category for it. It was shared with Shreya Ghoshal."Separate awards for music, especially independent artistes, are definitely important as movies and music need to be judged on different criteria. Separate awards for music motivate musicians and push them to give their best to the craft," Kailash told IANS.Winning the award for Best Hindi single in the jury category, Shirley Setia said: "This is the first time I am attending the awards and it was my first time being nominated as well. It was also absolutely amazing to perform and winning was like the cherry on the cake."
Hard Kaur, who won in two categories including Best Independent Artist - Female (consumer category), said: "I am very thankful to the ladies who made this happen. They have been supporting me for years."She also feels it's extremely important to have music awards as "even our movies have songs. India is a land of celebrations and we love dancing and singing. Without music the world would be a sad place. To give recognition is always important".Winning three awards, Alobo Naga said: "Tonight (Wednesday night) has been very emotional because I have worked really hard. It has been so tough to be in India and sing English songs. Finally I felt like all my hard work has paid off. Although the song is about break-ups, I write lyrics while looking at life, it is also about giving hope to someone that even after a break-up, there is life."In the consumer category, the Best Song award went to "Chasing ghosts" by Alobo Naga. In the jury category, Best English Song award was given to Naga's track "Wolo".There were also performances by artistes like Shibani Kashyap, Shirley, Jasbir Jassi, Tochi Raina and Mame Khan.Hailing the awards, Shibani said: "It is very important to separate music awards from movie awards. It helps to realise and eulogise the work of musicians -- lyricists, singers, sound engineers, music composers and everyone else connected with music. They are the backbone of the music industry and our entertainment industry is incomplete without music."