The talent search forms the core of the Halls ‘Free Your Voice' campaign, which aims to communicate Halls' unique ability to clear the nose, soothe an irritated throat and invigorate the senses, enabling South Africans to do what they do best - express themselves vocally!
Africa's ability to produce top acapella talent is legendary. From scatimiya groups like Lady Smith Black Mambazo, to the Grammy-award winning Soweto Gospel Choir, and South African born World Beatbox champion (2005) Cyber, we lead the pack in pure vocal ability.
Conceptualised by the winwin group, the Halls BeatBox Choir talent search aims to launch a purely acapella hiphop group. The search is on for three beat boxers and one free style MC with judges Lance Stehr of Ghetto Ruff and Bongani Fassie looking for unproduced talent. The talented foursome will win a record deal with Ghetto Ruff that includes a music video, and the opportunity to work with top producers like Bongani Fassie.
They will be teamed up with an acapella quartet, to create a full acapella Hip Hop album, produced using only voice - a combination of beat boxing, rap and acapella singing.
The BeatBox Choir concept takes advantage of the popularity of the Hip Hop genre, but the combination of beat boxing, rap and acapella singing takes the sound to an interesting new level.
Although the official search only starts in May, campaign MC Shimane and his team have been active at leading underground events like 1808 and Slaghuis.
MC Shimane says, “Big ups to Halls for doing something fresh and different. It's completely unusual for beatboxers to be given the chance to shine in the spotlight. The beatboxers are usually at the edge of the ciphers and its MC this, MC that. Now is the time for the beatboxers to rise up.”
Up and coming producer Kenna Mahlangu, who has worked with the likes of Gang of Instrumentals, has also wowed fellow musicians when he recently mixed the pre-promo track in Amu's studio. “We had a group of penny-whistlers who came into studio and they would not believe that our tracks were all vocal, no instruments at all. This is a revolution.”
It's not just local hiphop headz who are excited, the brand behind this ‘revolution' are also revved up.
“We are extremely excited about uncovering local talent and giving South Africans the opportunity to ‘free their voices'. The campaign has already raised the awareness of the music industry and we anticipate huge interest going forward.” says Geoff Whyte, Cadbury Group Marketing Director.
The official search kicks off on
May 10 at Carfax in Johannesburg, followed by two more regional events - one on
May 24 at the Bat Centre in Durban, and another on
May 31 at Distrix Café in Cape Town. The final event will take place on June 13 at Carfax.
Each event will be filmed and featured on Ses'khona on Thursday evenings at 7pm, while the entire campaign will be supported above-the-line by promos aired on all SABC channels and Metro FM as well as on Face Book, YouTube and the event website
www.freeyourvoice.co.za; and below-the-line through the likes of in-store posters.
