Live music lovers will on December 18, be given a Christmas and end of year treat— as three best bands in Kigali will compete in the second edition of ‘The battle of the bands’.

The three bands; Symphony, Salus and Umurage have reached to the finals, after winning a series of one-on-one competitions with other bands at Kigali Marriott Hotel’s lobby bar, Iriba Bar and Terrace.

Speaking about the competition, Victoria Obiakor, the director of Sales and Marketing at Kigali Marriott Hotel, said: "As we are in hospitality industry, we’re always looking for ways to keep Kigali entertaining with new concepts, and battle of the bands is one of them.”

"We have so many talented bands in Rwanda with different genres, but no platform for them to meet and actually learn from one another with a healthy competition, so we thought it would be a great platform for them.”

Obiakor explained that the finals will be somehow different from the series. There will be a panel of judges, whose vote will account for 60 per cent in winning, and the rest 40 per cent will be from the fans at the event and on social media.

The competition started in August, this year, bringing together eight different bands, and voting was done on social media by the public in weekly series of elimination exercise.

Ten bands had signed up, eight competed and one dropped out due to other commitments and the three winners meet for the finals.

The best band will perform on Marriott’s New Year’s Eve, and win a one-year contract as their resident band, among other prizes.

Last year’s winner of the battle was Neptunez band.

Tickets go for Rwf5,000.