Barely three days after Airtel Malawi announced that the Airtel Trace Music Star will be back this year, Trace has revealed that the competition will start in February.<\/p>\n
In a press statement, Trace also announced that the official mentor for the competition\u2019s season two is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer Keri Hilson.<\/p>\n
The statement said that season two of the Pan-African talent search competition which debuted last year will see Hilson on the hunt for Africa\u2019s next music talent from February.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s mentor was multi-award winning musician Akon.<\/p>\n
The statement said that with 2.3 million calls made in its previous season, the Airtel Trace Music Star talent search is the biggest music competition to ever take place in Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of contestants surpassed European and American talent shows such as The Voice and Idols.<\/p>\n
The mobile phone-based talent search contest also won the Best Pan-African Initiative accolade at the prestigious AfricaCom Awards held in Cape Town, South Africa,\u201d reads the statement.<\/p>\n
Niger is a new recruit this year, joining Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia.<\/p>\n
The organisers said that the best singing talent in each territory will be identified, rewarded and put in competition to run for the title of best African music talent.<\/p>\n
Trace Country Manager, (Malawi) Annie Chisala, said all was set for the competition which starts with the local contest before the grand battle involving pan-African countries.<\/p>\n
To participate, contestants will need to call in a short code number with their mobile phones, record their songs to stand a chance to become the next big music star in Africa.<\/p>\n
Last year, the grand finale was held in Kenya but this time it will be held in Lagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The grand prize comprises a mentorship programme with Hilson in Atlanta, USA.<\/p>\n
The winner will not only star in their own music video alongside Hilson but he or she will get an opportunity to record a duet with the \u2018Knock You Down\u2019 songstress, as well as receive a signed contract with a major music label and worldwide media exposure through various Trace\u2019s platforms.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s winner was Tanzania\u2019s Mayunga Andrew Nalimi.<\/p>\n
Mayunga won a record deal with Universal Music, mentorship from Akon and promotion for a total value exceeding US$500,000.<\/p>\n
The Tanzania\u2019s first track \u2018Nice Couple\u2019 reached number one on all major radio and TV charts in his home country.<\/p>\n
A few months ago, he was in Los Angeles with Akon to record his second single \u2018Please Don\u2019t Go Away\u2019 and shoot the music video.<\/p>\n
On the local level, singer and keyboardist Sam Mjura Mkandawire, who is also a member of Mafilika Band came first and pocketed K14 million.<\/p>\n
He then went on to fly the country\u2019s flag during the Pan African grand finale where he made it to top six.<\/p>\n
Trace is a leading urban and black entertainment group with activities in 180 countries.<\/p>\n
It is a signature hub for black and urban entertainment content and offers TV channels, FM radios and mobile services among others.<\/p>\n
Times Television spearheaded by Times Group was among the partners in last Airtel Trace Music Star season one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barely three days after Airtel Malawi announced that the Airtel Trace Music Star will be back this year, Trace has revealed that the competition will start in February. In a press statement, Trace also announced that the official mentor for the competition\u2019s season two is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer Keri Hilson. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17477,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17473\/revisions\/17477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}