Over the last decade, most of the hit gospel songs released in the country have either been produced in Kumasi,or sung by musicians based in the Garden City. These include works by Hannah Marfo,Esther Smith, Yaw Sarpong and Edward Akwasi Boateng.
Last Friday, tens of young up-and-coming gospel musicians stormed the registration grounds of the on-going Nescafe music talent hunt dubbed, ?Nescafe African Revelation? (NAR), to lend credence to Kumasi?s hold on the gospel music genre. The show was the Ashanti/Brong Ahafo zonal event of the NAR competition.
The event also attracted many other young musicians who presented other forms of music including hiplife, reggae and ragga. Sixteen of them made it to the final contest after a hectic audition session.
The contestants presented songs in acapella and later sang with rhythms and beats of their choice. Undoubtedly, the Ashanti/Brong Ahafo event presented the three judges with a very tough job as all the groups made bold attempts to meet the various criteria of the contest.
The 16 non-professional musicians were judged on their personalities, attire, lyrics, voice, flow, bodily expression among other things.The two best performing groups who made it to the grand finals were the Praise Music Group and the Queens and King, a (raglife) trio whose songs were a blend of hiplife and ragga.
While the show was underway, some of the contestants were seen praying or chanting in corners of the Chop Sticks Restaurant and Entertainment Centre, the venue for the show. Their prayers and chants were obviously directed at their God(s) for divine intervention.
The event was previously scheduled to take place at the Kiravi Nightclub.Hiplife paddies, K.K. Fosu, Batman and new artiste, Kwaata, were the special guest musicians at the show. And their performances? Super!
The NAR is being put together by Top Dog Communications under the auspices of Nescafe. The show moves to Takoradi tomorrow. Ho and Accra will have their turns during the subsequent weekends.The ultimate winners will be offered a recording deal worth ?200 million to produce their debut works at the OM Studios.
