SA leads 2020 AfriMusic contest finals with eight songs

South African artists who qualified for the finals are Holly Rey, Jolanda Becker, Kenton Lee, Leota Taylor, LusiBlaq, Mandlamakhulu, Presss and Thato Kashe.

Following are Nigeria and Cameroon with four and three artists respectively. Representing Nigeria are Ayuba Tete, Dhortune ThatOndoBoy, Dr Philz and Zinny, while Cameroonians Joahn Lover, Liya Yoh and Epiesco will be hoping to be crowned as winners.

The DRC, Ghana and Kenya have two artists each in the contest. They are Anouchka Tuluka (DRC), Eddy Rug (DRC), Efe Keyz (Ghana), EpiqMenz (Ghana), Crank (Kenya) and Otis Jela (Kenya).

Countries that registered one artist include Zimbabwe (Simple Claude), Tunisia (Hamza Matchcima), Zambia (Waina), Tanzania (Voice Prince), South Sudan (Yuppie Jay), Malawi (Bamoc), Ivory Coast (Leflo Gnezale), Uganda (Frank Magic) and Burundi (Miss Erica).

“We have been very pleased with the results from the national selections and are very excited to see how the finals will pan out,” AfriMusic Song Contest co-CEO Michelle Fernandes said. “Never has the contest results ever been this tight, with six additional contestants qualifying to join the top 24 finalists, due to a tie in three out of the four regions.

“'Which country will take the title of the best song in Africa?' is now more exciting than ever. Being able to introduce such amazing talent to the rest of the world has always been the ultimate goal and we have now seen this materialise for two consecutive years. Music is built within African culture, and AfriMusic is cementing songwriting in the music industry.

The winner will be awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is planned to take place from 12 to 16 May.

Public voting is now open via the AfriMusic official website. The overall winner will be announced on 27 April.