THEY met exactly two days before the deadline to submit their entry for the Old Mutual Amazing Voices competition.
JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA
Sadly, the Zimbabwean group, Unveiled, bowed out of the competition in the finale.
Amazing Voices is open to singing groups made up of 4 to 8 members in the Afro-pop, R&B and gospel categories.
Each of the participating countries produces one team that will advance to the finals scheduled for South Africa.
This year’s second season of Old Mutual Amazing Voices competition attracted 546 initial online video entries from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“We feel so honoured and privileged to represent Zimbabwe in the finale. We met through Joshua inviting a few friends, we met with 2 days to go before the deadline to submit the online auditioning video,” Ashy Mapfumo, the group’s publicist, said.
Asked if they felt let down by voter apathy by Zimbabweans around the world, Mapfumo said it was because most people got involved at the last minute.
“On the contrary, we feel Zimbabweans tried their best (to vote), it’s unfortunate most people got to know about the show a little bit late,” he explained.
South African group Hush SA were picked as the 2021 winners of the pan-African Old Mutual Amazing Voices crown and took home a massive US$100 000.
The group had secured five Golden Voice wins for best performance throughout the season and were crowned winners of the sensational continental singing competition during a spectacular finale held recently.
They are an all-male gospel group of six members, formed as a brotherhood of childhood friends spanning over 10 years.
Tsholofelo Ntuli, Phumlani Tshabalala, Sinethemba Magubane, Zamokuhle Nkosi, Thamsanqa Mthabela, Nicholas Malimba, also known as Hush SA to their new fans who have followed their progress across the DStv Amazing Voices competition, all hail from Johannesburg, South Africa.
But all hope is not lost for Unveiled who have vowed to continue with their music journey.
“We are actually working on new projects. We are working on a single, and are still putting together songs for an album,” Mapfumo said.
“It was such a good experience, we learnt a lot about music, performance and showbiz. It was also good that we got a chance to showcase Zimbabwean talent.”
He said one of the cherished experiences at the competition was working with renowned South African musician Zwai Bala.
“It was such a huge privilege, the man has so much wisdom! He gave us a lot of musical tips. It was also a pleasure working with other big artistes,” he said.
However, a win would have been a life-changing opportunity for the group, but taking part was all the more rewarding.
“It made us feel proud of ourselves and it made us realise how much talent we have and that nothing can stop us as Zimbabweans from believing in our talents.”
So far, the members remain hopeful that they will continue working as a group.
“We are planning to remain intact and work on various projects which include community development, concerts, music development and making more good music,” he said.
The group started out as just an idea.
“Joshua Mtima (one of the members) and his two sisters were always singing together but never really thought of forming a group. When the call for auditions was made, Joshua then invited Mary, Ashley and Rejoice and then we invited more people, bringing the total number of group members to 13.
“However, because they wanted only eight people with passports, we had to drop some members,” he explained.
Like other groups, they submitted a one-minute video online and, luckily, out of 157 submissions Unveiled was called for the final audition at Rainbow Towers in Harare where there were more than 20 groups.
Unveiled was selected together with Effect from Bulawayo to represent Zimbabwe. The competition enables Africans across the continent to connect through the universal language of music and demonstrates that with the right financial partner, anyone can achieve greatness.
During bootcamp at Sun City, the surviving groups, ranging between four and eight members, were put through vocal as well as stage presence training.
They were mentored by Khaya Mthethwa to refine their musicality.
During an extreme three weeks, the finalists prepared for the final phase sing-off by having their vocal and performance abilities honed by the Amazing Voices team.
The drama, the build-up, and tensions of Africa’s prime musical event had been eagerly followed by a pan-African television audience since Amazing Voices Season Two launched in April.
For many other contestants and not just Unveiled, it was their first exposure to the glittering but demanding world of world-class TV productions.
What happened next may now be history but has left South Africa with an accolade of national singing sensations whose voices could be the ticket to international stardom and further ambassadorship for the country and its people.
“MultiChoice Zimbabwe believes that music is an international language that crosses borders and brings people of different nationalities together.
“We are happy to have been able to broadcast this competition to our DStv customers and proud that two local groups, Unveiled and Effect, represented our country well. We will continue to air content which showcases and recognises great African talents and our rich heritage,” says Liz Dziva, publicity and public relations manager at MultiChoice Zimbabwe.
