'Reality shows cannot find another Rafi'

BHOPAL: Raising eyebrows over talent selection through SMS in reality shows, singer Anup Jalota felt that it would be futile to expect such programmes to discover another Mohammad Rafi or Kishore Kumar.
  
''Though persons with knowledge of music are present as judges, the balance is tilted to the SMS side. That is the reason why voting often gets the better of talent and after a gap of five-six months nobody remembers who won which reality show. Talent definitely needs protection and honing but singers such as Rafi, Kishore and Lata Mangeshkar were gifted by God and have no comparison,'' he said  here on Wednesday.
  
Mentioning that he did not concur with this method of talent selection, Jalota added that was why he did not like being made a judge in any such programme.
  
''Ghazal exponents Jagjit Singh and Pankaj Udhas also share my view. I would certainly like to be associated with a reality show where the judges' decision is the sole yardstick for selection,'' he said.
  
Describing remixes as ''crime against music'', Jalota admitted those were hit like 'Kaanta Laga' became immensely popular with the masses but people remembered the dancer rather than the rendering!
  
''I always urge listeners to be ever alert regarding 'real' and 'adulterated' just as they do in the case of food. Though I have forayed into ghazals and film music, I feel better in the bhajan-singing arena as praising God stirs my soul,'' he explained.