The competition: The event was part of The Standard Chartered Marathon 2007 and took place on a sunny Friday in the overflow car park area of Emirates Towers, next to the start/finish line of the marathon.

Five bands were shortlisted to play. They were judged by a mixed nationality panel of music professionals — Johnny Miller, organiser of the Dubai Original Music Festival, Fahd Knieder, Middle East representative, Yamaha Music Gulf, Toshiaki Yamashita, managing director, Yamaha Music Gulf and Lazar Karikaraj, general manager, Thomsun Yamaha Division.

Winner: Hybrid, the band from Our Own English High School, Al Ain. They had a 11-member team.

Runner-up: Asking Alexandria — a six-member team made up of students from various schools.

Prizes: The winning band received Dh8,000 worth of vouchers to spend on Yamaha music equipment, with the runners up receiving Dh2,000 worth of vouchers.

— Safiya Salim is a student of the American College of Dubai

The winners

"Winning the Battle of the Bands was totally amazing! We did not expect it at all. When we heard them call our name we just started shouting … we were so happy. It was an out of the blue thing… we all went into a frenzy. It is a dream come true."
–Benjin Joshua, grade 12, Our Own English High School

"Singing in the Battle of the Bands was a fun experience. I have never sang in front of this many number of people before. We sang one of our own songs, which [student] Jude John wrote for us. The crowd was jumpy and loved it."
–Omar Fathi, grade 12

"I love the music and I loved playing it for the crowd. I play the drums and I want to really play in a leading band one day. I have been playing music for 14 years now."
–Mithun Abraham, grade 12, Our Own English High School

"I can describe how we felt during the competition with one word… Elevated! It was such an adrenalin rush. That was a chance that does not come often."
–Jude Mascarenhas, grade 12, Our Own English High School

"You know it did not matter if we had won or lost. What mattered most was that we did it well … that we did it right."
–Joel John, grade 12

"The music scene is not really big in Dubai. So for a band coming from a school in Al Ain to win the competition was a great thing."
–Kevin Mascarenhas, grade 12

"I am the only female member of the band and the lead singer. It was scary at first to perform in front of all those people, but they loved our music and songs. The judges told me that they were impressed because we played our own music."
–Anzette Fernandez, grade 12

By Reema Saffarini, Notes Reporter and Safiya Salim

Articles from the author

Battle of the bands