Rahman, Honey Singh to compete at Europe Music Awards

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Oscar-winning singer A.R. Rahman and Punjabi rap artist Yo Yo Honey Singh have been nominated by MTV India to represent the country in the Best Worldwide Act Category at the upcoming MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA), which felicitates best songs and artists of the year.

Rahman has been nominated for "Nenjukkule" from Mani Ratnam's Tamil movie "Kadal", while Honey Singh has been selected for his song "Bring me back".

Apart from that, three chartbusters - "Badtameez dil", "Tum hi ho" and "Manjha" - have also been nominated in the same category, said a statement.

The category will see participation of artists across genres and regions that have been divided into 10 clusters.

India, Africa and Middle East are part of one cluster and the nominations will compete with each other. Gradually the winner of clusters will battle it out for the final award. MTV has nominated five artists-songs from each country.

Rahman is keeping his fingers crossed.

"It feels extremely nice to be nominated, especially an awards like EMA which recognises musicians on a global scale. I am keeping my fingers crossed ... may the lucky one win," said Rahman in a statement.

Indian music has begun to have international impact and the nominations prove this, says Aditya Swamy, EVP and Business Head, MTV India.

"Having five Indian artists nominated at one of the world biggest music platforms says so much about what we have going on in India," said Swamy.

MTV EMA will take place Nov 10 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.