How to Win Your Local Music Competition
Rise To Vocal Talent Challenge
For the past 10 weeks, I have been a part of an interesting, yet ‘cool’ music competition. ‘Rise to Vocal Talent’ Challenge got its start in the later days of May. The basic gist of the competition was to have local musicians – ranging from rappers, to acoustic guitar players, to Singeli singers – showcase their musical prowess by performing original material. That last part was the crucial part. ‘Original’ material. The songs have to be your own. The winning prize is Tzs 1 Million + studio time to record an album + a music video paid for by the organisers + a feature from a relevant artist here in Dar. That artist is yet to be determined. Still, seems pretty reasonable to me.
So, how goes the competition? Well, to be honest, it’s been interesting. Entertaining, too. One of my major takeaways thus far has been the supreme talent and discipline that has been on display. Maasai rappers, dancers, singers with seemingly three lungs a piece. Truly, it has been an extraordinary process. The journey began with a vague announcement – one passed down from ear-to-ear. ‘There will be a competition, sometime, soon, maybe, somewhere, and the winner gets cash money.’ That morphed into more concrete details, followed by an official game plan.
Aaah long story short, I didn’t win. Came in second, but still.
It was quite a ride and I look forward to more such adventures.
Dequan “Q” was the brains and resources behind this venture. I have come to appreciate such a noble attitude. A man who seeks to draw out talent, in a competitive setting, whilst funding it himself. It truly brought in an optimistic energy from aspiring young musicians. There buzzed with excitement and possibilities. It was quite clear from a very early stage that every other competitor had the same angst that I had – we just wanted to perform. Now here comes a man that says you can perform every Sunday afternoon, in a competition, singing your own songs, with knockout rounds, for a prize of 1 Million + plus studio time to record an album + a music video paid for + a feature from an artist – well…That’s just music to our ears.
So, after more than two months of fierce, healthy competition, the winner has been declared – and it was not me, malhereusement. Once, I finished second, who sort of undercuts the entire thesis of this piece once I started writing it (about a week ago). The entire idea was to walk you all through my process in this event, how I prepared, the contestants, the judges, the venues etc. All building up to the final day, where I take the grand prize home. And the grand prize(s), should I need to remind you what they are? Anyhow, life doesn’t always dance to our favourite tune. That being said, it is important to highlight the eventual winner – Yesser, The Genius – and his impressive achievement. After all, he faced the same competition that I did. And he won. Hell, in order to win, he had to beat the toughest competitor out there – ME!
Now, when it is all said and done, I wanted to pick Q’s brain to get some insight into his mentality, his background and general outlook and philosophy. Our conversation went like this:
- Tell me about your experience with this competition. Kwanzia mwanzo mpaka mwisho
- First of all, we realized that if you don't accept defeat, you are not a competitor because you can't compete alone. You have to have people who want to compete, that's how I grew up. To continue the competition every step until the end.
- Now that you have won, do you have your eyes set on another challenge?
- I plan to compete in another competition, but internationally, it will be cool now on and focus on my music first, but I want to make it big and international.
- When do you expect you’ll be dropping the album?
- An album is not a small feat - it needs a good amount of time to prepare and not to do.
- What does the future look like for you?
- Expect beautiful works with different flavours
So, there you have it, folks – Yesser Genius Boy. Big ups for a fantastic performance. A true competitor.