MBABANE – The live recording deal that was won at the Mother of All Gospel Shows grand finale on Saturday is valued E500 000.
The Gospel show hosted the Rising Star Talent Search competition, where aspiring musicians battled it out in a singing competition to make it to the top two at Liberty Community Centre. The two winners were Ntandoyenkhosi Ngcamphalala and Gcebile Nkambule. These two aspiring musicians earned the E500 000 recording deal. They will record their Extended Playlist (EP), which will be two songs each, next week Saturday at Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre. After doing their live CD and DVD recording, they will be further marketed by Indumezulu Productions under Gospel musician Nduduzo Matse.
Auditions
The auditions leading up to the finals were conducted in all the local towns this year from January 28. The towns which were visited included; Buhleni, Mbabane, Manzini, Siteki as well as Nhlangano. The auditions had been running for four months and on Saturday, a grand finale was hosted a to determine the top two winners of the Gospel competition. Matse, who is the brains behind the Mother of All Gospel Shows initiative, shared with this publication that they were happy to be giving back to the industry. “We are so excited to be actually giving back to this industry through a marketing deal worth E500 000.
“This is not small, I hope people would recognise that and artists will know how difficult it is to actually have a recording of this magnitude. The content that we will be giving to the two artists in Eswatini, has actually taken big musicians years to have and some of them still don’t have it. Actually many big musicians are struggling to record live DVD’s because it is expensive and a lot of people cannot afford it,” Matse said.
“We are happy for Ntandoyenkhosi Ngcamphalala as well as Gcebile Nkambule for winning this deal.
Musicians
“We are would also like to celebrate and thank the Tvet College from South Africa (SA) for coming through after I had gone to approach them. We do not only want to see these aspiring musicians sing only, but we also want them to learn. Tvet College representatives will be in the country on Saturday to award the two lucky winners a bursary as they have already applied for this opportunity. I hope that they will also get to do this even next year. A deserving person who needs it will definitely grab this opportunity, two of them actually,” Matse added.
It’s worth mentioning that the other 14 contestants who did not make it through to the top two, will be cushioned with an exit which will see them record live a single each, courtesy of Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC). Matse went on to appreciate the council for their generosity. “We are grateful to arts and culture for offering that we also record demos for the remaining 14 contestants who didn’t make it to the top two. These demos will go a long way in their career, it will help them build themselves as well as expose them to the industry,” Matse said.
