AfriMusic Song Contest announces National Selections

The AfriMusic Song Contest is the largest music competition platform in Africa to include all 54 countries, creating equal opportunities for emerging musical talent throughout our continent.

The AfriMusic Song Contest is geared to educate, empower and enable untapped songwriters, composers and singers across Africa, by constructing a positive and confident image of Africa in unity through music, across the continent and on an international stage. Aspiring Africans eager to showcase their talents and represent their country with their musical endevours have now been given an opportunity to enter and put their songs forward.

This year contestants from 16 African Countries across the Continent submitted entries for the 2019 instalment of the AfriMusic Song Contest. The entries phase ended on the 17th February 2019 and the National Selections commenced on 11th March 2019. The organisers of the contest said that the response from artists across the continent was overwhelming and the vetting process successful.

South Africa and Ghana received the most entries followed by Nigeria and the Kingdom of eSwatini.

In 2018, Symphony from the Kingdom of eSwatini took the first big win with her song Sengikhona and the contest organisers are very excited to see which artist and country will take the title in 2019. AfriMusic award Symphony with a trip to Lisbon Portugal in 2018, where she got to perform at the EuroVision Villiage infront of 20,000 spectators and the performance broadcasted live to 186 million viewers on RTP, the public service broadcasting organization of Portugal.“The trip was a huge success and an eye opener for Eurovision fans, as they welcomed the African beauty on stage and several other venues throughout the EuroVision Song Contest week. The audience excitement when Symphony walked on stage was electric and she represented Africa in an engaging and enspiring manner, fans are now excited to know who AfriMusic will be taking to Europe next.” said Managing Director of the AfriMusic Song Contest Michelle Fernandes.

After 2 weeks of reviewing and preparing all the entries for the National Selections, the AfriMusic Song Contest organisers had all entries vetted, to ensure that the entries complied with the contest rules and regulations. The following songs made it through to the National Selections and voting closes on the 25th March 2019:

Cameroon

Water Time Bomb Game Over
Is it Love

Côte d’Ivoire

Merci

Republic of Congo

Peine et Tristesse

Ghana

Mede Mawo
The Voice of a Woman (Bla Bla Bla)
Juju
Sleeping Baby
Woara
I Live for You
No Limit
Cross Road
Vex
Kings Queen
Full Yuh Up
Always and Forever Option
Thunder Fire ITiNiDon
Hypnotize

Malawi

Come Thru

Mozambique

Drug Love Carlitos Vício

Nigeria

Dancehall on Fire My Heart
Set Me Free Abokoku Dancehall on Fire Fun Won Tan Oleburuku

Rwanda

Yari Ngewe

Senegal

Au Calme Babylone

South Africa

Be Like This
Lover of My Soul
So Crazy Love
Come to Me
Take A Boy
Ho Tlaba Jwang
Can we go back Andiyi Ndawo Phakama Mbokodo
I will never fight again

South Sudan

Slow Motion

Kingdom of eSwatini

Ng’celu Vume Uwami Ngik’tsandzile

Zambia

Gold

written by Street Cooper written by Sitsandzile Motsa written by Miss Trophy

written by Towela Kaira

For the 2019 installment of AfriMusic, the contest organisers have decided to group the qualifying countries in regions for the National Selection voting process. All countries per region, will compete with one another, and the songs with the most votes, will progress to the AfriMusic Song Contest Finals. The process is managed as follows:

Western African Countries:

Cameroon Côte d’iVoire Ghana Nigeria Senegal

The 10 highest voted for songs from this region will compete in the AfriMusic Song Contest finals.

Central and Eastern African Countries:

Republic of Congo South Sudan Malawi
Rwanda

The 2 highest voted for songs from this region will compete in the AfriMusic Song Contest finals.

Southern African Countries:

Mozambique
South Africa Kingdom of eSwatini Zambia

The 8 highest voted for songs from this region will compete in the AfriMusic Song Contest finals.

“A total of 20 contestants will be selected based on the number of votes received, to compete in the contest Finals this year. All countries with approved submissions could participate, making the contest fully inclusive, provided that they meet the contest rules and regulations. Currently this method has had a positive response and we are excited to see the results”. – said Suzie Vicente, Business Development and Sponsorship Director of the AfriMusic Song Contest.

The finalists will be announced and the Final phase of the contest will commence from the 29th March 2019 to the 12th April 2019. The voting process will remain the same as it did in 2018, where all 20 songs get voted for again by the judges and the supporting public. The voting for both the national selections and finals will be tallied on a 50/50 voting process, where judges scores and the public scores are counted.

The public and judges will have the opportunity to listen to the approved songs via the AfriMusic digital platforms and will be able to cast their vote for their favourite song. Further information on the process and voting is available on www.afrimusicsongcontest.com

To vote for your favourite song visit the AfriMusic Song Contest website (www.afrimusicsongcontest.com)

You can also find AfriMusic on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afrimusicSC/Twitter: https://twitter.com/afrimusicSC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afrimusicsc/#afrimusic

For any queries please contact:

Michelle Fernandes on info@afrimusicsongcontest.comSuzie Vicente on suzie@afrimusicsongcontest.com