After several weeks of touring Ghana and searching for music talents the NESCAFE African Revelation (NAR) is set for the grand finale to select the NAR 2008 Ghana national champion.
NESCAFE as a brand exemplifies the qualities of youthful exuberance and has identified music as the most effective tool to reach out to the youth.
The passion for music among the youth cannot be underplayed in anyway as our youth today are seen “living” the musical life or dream in a variety of ways.
The usual buzz and excitement associated with previous versions of the NAR show was very much present from the launch of the event through the regional tours.
Venues for auditions were always swamped with teeming youth ready to show the judges they are the next NESCAFE musical ambassadors to follow in the impressive footsteps of PRAYE, WUTAH and TRAFFIC.
This year’s NAR kicked off with lots of excitement in the Ashanti region, where budding young music talents, ‘Kopow’ and ‘Kete’ emerged as winners and runners-up respectively, after an impressive showdown with six other contesting groups at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi.
The Northern region proved to be the most exciting region as stated by the judges on the NAR TV series currently running on Metro TV.
The event was held at the Tamale Cultural Centre, where the competing groups gave the audience a ‘wow’ performance.
The quality of performance was so good and the panel of judges, made up of ace highlife musician and producer Charles Amoah, the current National Dance Champion Collins Dumfeh (Copper) and Northern songstress, Sirina Issah were so impressed that in a rare move three groups were selected instead of two to participate in the national NAR finals. These were MP3, Too Natural and Echo.
The Greater Accra regional competition which was held in November recorded the highest number of groups at the auditioning.
Over one hundred and twenty groups participated, out of which eight were selected to compete for the Southern zone at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra.
In all, the regional tours and competitions discovered eight groups - Kopow, Kete, MP3, Echo, Too Natural, Ahenfie, Kitchen and 3AM.
These young and talented music talents would compete in the final show to be held at the Nima, Kawu Kudi Park on January 18, 2008.
In an interview with the NESCAFE Category Business Manager, Setutsi Goka, she indicated that all was set for the upcoming national finals event.
She also indicated that characteristic of the NAR music talent hunt the eight finalists are being mentored by some of the country’s hiplife stars as they prepare to record their demo albums. The mentors include K.K Fosu, Kwaw Kese, Praye and Wutah.
As part of the NAR package for the eight finalists NESCAFE has provided a rare opportunity for them to work with some top music producers in the country - Zapp Mallet, Appietus, Richie and Oteng - to produce their demo albums.
Watch out for the exciting prize package for the ultimate NAR champion, to be communicated just before the national finals!
It would be recalled that successful music groups Praye, Wutah and Traffic were all discovered through the NESCAFE African Revelation music talent hunt.
