By Parveen Chopra, IANS
New York : The Super Bowl does not normally hold much interest for the Indians in the US. But many of them will have their eyes peeled for an Indian American music group whose video may air during the TV broadcast of the ultimate US sports event this Sunday, watched by an estimated 100 million.
Nivla featuring P. Oberoi of New York is one the three finalists of the Doritos ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ campaign.
If they emerge winners in the online poll conducted in January, their 30-second music video will play during a commercial break of the telecast of Super Bowl XLII – National Football League’s championship final in Phoenix, Arizona – between New York Giants and New England Patriots, which otherwise costs $2.7 million for a 30 second ad slot.
While Nivla and Parag Oberoi’s “Be Easy (Koi Naa)” is an energetic hip hop number with Punjabi bhangra influence, the other two finalists – Kina Grannis’ “Message From Your Heart” and Landon Austin’s “Waitin” – are conventional, sedate solo numbers.
“We believe voting has been going well for us – our supporters go beyond the South Asian community and include hip hop fans,” Nivla and Oberoi told IANS.
Nivla, 27, who hails from Kerala, is a rapper whose style and lyrics fuse his Indian roots with American culture. His debut album is “Child of God”.
Nivla is part of a larger music group called Soul Tap Squad, which includes Oberoi, who is featured in “Be Easy”.
Oberoi, 26, who came to the US from Delhi, is a DJ and choreographer based in New Jersey.
The ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ campaign had received 400 submissions in October from ‘undiscovered’ musicians, out of which a distinguished panel selected 10 semi-finalists. The list was whittled down to three by online polling in the last fortnight of 2007.
Besides featuring on the world’s largest stage, the winner of the campaign receives a record deal with IGA Records label. The three finalists in any case get $10,000 each and a trip to Phoenix to attend the Doritos Super Bowl party.
Doritos is a snack brand of Frito-Lay North America, a PepsiCo division, which also organised the first ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ challenge for Super Bowl XLI last year.