A brand new Eurovision spin-off has been announced, the AfriMusic Song Contest. African musicians will now have the chance to battle for the title of Best Song in Africa. For its inaugural year, the contest will run on digital platforms.
Calling for entries
AfriMusic is currently in pre-registration phase until October 3rd. African musicians can submit an original song that has not been commercially released. Then from November 1st, 2017, and until January 8, 2018, entries will be accepted. A vetting process follows that will select up to twenty entries from each country.
Songwriters and composers can submit up to three songs for any country. Artists, however, must be citizens or residents of the country that they are representing. Only artists aged 18 or older are eligible to compete. Also, the artists may only compete for one country.
National selections
Between January 13th and February 11th, 2018, national selections will be held. A combination of jury and public voting will determine the winner. Winners from each country will then participate in the final.
Finals in March
The last phase of the contest will take place between March 15th and 29th, 2018. AfriMusic organizers will produce professional music videos, to be available on both the Internet and a television channel. The public will then vote to determine the winner of the first ever spin-off of Eurovision in Africa.
Winner to attend Eurovision
As a courtesy of the ESC Covers website, the winner of the AfriMusic Song Contest will attend, with all expenses paid, the Eurovision Song Contest final in Lisbon on May 12, 2018.
Africa at Eurovision
Despite the fact that several Northern African countries are eligible to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest, Morocco remains the only one to have done so. They participated in 1980 with Samira Said and the song “Bitaqab Hub” (Love Card). They placed second to last, after only receiving seven points from Italy.
How would you feel about the Eurovision Song Contest expanding to Africa? Is AfriMusic the start of Africa’s own contest? Let us know!
Tunisia was also reportedly due to make their debut in 1977 but withdrew a month before the contest started.
What do you think of the AfriMusic Song Contest? Who would you like to see perform? Leave your comments below.
