A CRICCIETH singer has flown half way round the world to take part in a television singing contest which will be aired on India’s biggest channel.

Nesdi Aneurin Jones, 23, is no stranger to India, having begun her singing career there when she was just 17, after she moved to New Delhi to widen her musical horizons.

Over the last few years she has gained huge success, with her debut single London going straight in at the top of the BBC Asian Network chart and being crowned best newcomer at the UK Bhangra Awards.

The talented singer also secured a record deal with VIP Records, which manages British Asian artists. Now she is embarking on a new challenge by taking part in the Hindi-only singing competition, Dil Hal Hindustani, which is aired on India’s biggest television channel, Star Plus.

Nesdi has been in Mumbai for around a week, and admits the training for the X Factor style show has been intense.

She said: “I’m just competing in the first rounds right now, so the last few days have been very intense, with a lot of training and long days.

“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. The company behind the show asked me to send them videos of my music a few months ago and I got picked to take part through that.

“I eventually got invited to Mumbai and here I am!

“I’m hoping I will do pretty well, but it’s a pretty tough competition and everyone is so good. There are a lot of great artists from all over the world taking part.”

The former Ysgol Ardudwy pupil has a huge online following and has over one million views on her YouTube videos, which she performs in four languages – English, Welsh, Punjabi and Hindi.

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News