MUMBAI: After seven successful seasons of ruling reality television and winning audiences over with melodious renditions and dhamakedaar performances by its phenomenally talented child prodigies, Zee TV’s marquee singing reality show for kids Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs is back with season 8. The new season is all set to welcome ‘the Golden Trio’ of Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Kumar Sanu as judges and the popular anchor Maniesh Paul as the host. With the camaraderie amongst the judges along with Maniesh’s comic timing, the audiences are in for a delightful weekend treat all through the season.

On the journey to find new talent, the ‘Golden Trio’ came across a contestant named Zaid Ali from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh who belongs to the Kirana Gharana (Ustad Ghulam Ali, Md. Rafi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi). This 12 year old who sang the sufi song ‘Arziyan’ by Javed Ali, impressed the judges with his flawless singing and command on the song. Before starting the performance when Zaid’s father  touched his feet, the judges were taken aback. On being asked the reason for doing something so unusual, Zaid’s father mentioned that everyone in their family feels he is the reincarnation of his grandfather, who was also an ‘Ustaad,’ and hence they touch his feet with as much respect. This prompted all three judges, who were also blown away by his talent, to go on to the stage and touch his feet as well and take his blessings.

While a shy Zaid couldn’t contain his emotions and felt embarrassed as the golden trio touched his feet, all the three judges, on the other hand, were truly impressed by his magical voice and commented that he has a long way to go!