India’s Radio City is back with the 5th edition of its Freedom Awards – a platform to search and reward India's greatest independent bands across various genres and languages.

The theme for this year’s awards is ‘Sounds of the Soil’ which will be an ode to local sounds, heroes, stories and music.

The awards kick started with a gig in Chennai on Thursday with performances by 'Oorka' and 'LIVE Banned'. The event marked the beginning of a tour across the country with 13 live gigs by renowned Indie bands in 10 languages across 8 cities.

The awards will recognize musicians across categories including Best Hip Hop/ Rap Artist, Best Folk Fusion Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Rock Artist, Best Metal Artist and Best Electronica Artist.

The entries will be judged by a jury including Luke Kenny, Ritnika Nayan, Vehrnon Ibrahim, Atul Churamani and Yotam Agam .

The grand finale and gala award night is scheduled to be held in Mumbai in March.

Popular Musician, actor, director and a member of this year's jury, Luke Kenny, said: “The beauty of indie music is often overlooked with all the hype around the mainstream artists. Radio City Freedom Awards is a great initiative to recognize the vast pool of creative talent of this country.”