RWANDA’S upcoming artistes have their eyes set on a new music competition which is scheduled to kick off next week. The new platform seeks to offer an opportunity to emerging musicians to showcase their talent and push it to another level. Dubbed ‘Heads Up’, the music contest is organised by Genesis Broadcasting Network with the aim of contributing to the development of new talent in the music industry and give them a platform to grow. Marie-France Niragire, the brains behind the music competition, told The New Times that the contest intends to give new talented singers a chance to shine and show their potential in music. “I am a music fan and I love to see new faces coming up and thriving and it’s for that sole reason that I came up with an idea to bring this music competition on board to contribute in detecting, developing and nurturing new talents in this fast-growing music industry,” said Niragire in an interview. Through this competition, she said, at least one, two or three new artists can find a way through and push their music to the next level. “That is what the competition is intended for. We believe new musicians can be discovered through this contest and they go on to do good music in the future,” she said. Organisers are in talks with different key figures in the music industry including producers, journalists and music legends who will be part of the panel of judges during the music competition. The panel’s marks will contribute half (50%) of total marks of the contestant compared to the public voting (30%), while the way they will be performing during music recording sessions will account for the remaining 20 per cent. The competition is open to only upcoming artists aged between 18 and 35 years old and must be preferably doing RnB, Gospel, Hip-hop, Gakondo or Afrobeat music. Registration in competition begins on August 3 and closes on August 31. Aspirants can register via www.genesisbizz.com. The preliminary phase will see a total of 80 eligible contestants selected to compete through performances that will be held live on Genesis TV starting September 12. They will later be reduced to 40 during the first phase of the knockouts slated for December 6. A week later, on December 13, the names of the top 10 finalists that will qualify for the grand finale slated for December 26. The overall winner of the music competition will take home a cash prize of Rwf1 million and will be supported to record a six-song mini-album and two videos for any of their two songs. The first and second runners-up will be rewarded with Rwf500,000 and Rwf300,000 respectively.
