Rising Afro-pop artiste, Alyn Sano, made a name for herself after she participated in the third season of Voice Afrique Francophone. The singer has been wowing viewers with her performances on the reality show, earning her votes that took her to the final stage of the competition. Sano shared her ‘blind’ performance, a rendition of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ by Etta James, to which the judges quickly approved. Many of her fans applauded the singer for her great performance and referred to her as ‘an extremely strong contender’. “Here is my first performance in The Voice Afrique Francophone, I am glad it went well while I was representing my beloved country,” she said “Longer journey to go but I believe it will all go well”, reads part of her tweet. In an exclusive interview with this paper, the singer expressed her need to bring the crown home for the first time in the history of the competition, even though she’s aware that it’s not an easy task. “I understand the competition is at the climax, where almost the 42 remaining contestants will be looking for the prize. But I am more than ready to represent Rwanda and bring the prize home,” she said. According to Sano, the winner of the third season of The Voice Afrique will receive a cash prize (Grand Prix), as well as the release of a debut single and music video. Hosted in South Africa, the Voice Afrique Francophone is the French-speaking African version of the reality singing competition ‘The Voice’. Every season, four coaches train singers from across the continent and occasionally perform with them. The competitors are selected in auditions where the coaches listen to the auditioning contestant without watching them. There are five editions including, the blinds, battles, knock-outs, semi-finals and the finale, according to the singer. Alyn Sano is one of the six Rwandan artistes including Ariel Uwayezu, commonly known as Ariel Wayz, who represented the country at the competition’s third season. About Alyn Sano Alyn Sano whose offstage name is Aline Sano Shengero, grew up singing in church. Sano started singing in 2011, two years after joining College Adventist de Gitwe. Sources say a friend introduced her to the school choir. After high school, the need to make ends meet and to finance her college education saw her diversify from singing in the Adventist choir to covering secular concerts as well. In 2015, she was invited by Hope Irakoze to sing with him at a comedy show at the Kigali Serena Hotel. However, she got in trouble with her church choir after pictures of her during performance were published, forcing her to make a choice. “I decided to continue with secular shows because I loved it and it was getting me more money for tuition,” she told this paper in an earlier interview. She kept building her network, which in turn earned her more gigs. The same year (2015) she joined the Akillah Institute for Women to study Hospitality Management. In 2016, she recorded and released her first song, Witinda, which she describes as her best song to date. It took her another year before she released a follow up song – Ntako bisa, and early this year she dropped Naremewe wowe. Today, she boasts of popular hits including For us, None, We the best, among others.
