Donna Collins
The first live show of the new ‘Voice of Namibia’ singing competition took to the stage in Walvis Bay last weekend with eight finalists battling it out in the elimination round.
A huge fund raising event and line-up of local and SA artists who came and went under the huge marquee, provided the perfect platform for upcoming artists to impress the panel of judges with well-rehearsed songs. The ‘Voice of Namibia’ event which is being organised by singer/songwriter and country ‘queen’ Alinda Lu’Mar, who released her album Namibland last year, has all the potential to become a major competition in the future. Alinda has also voice- coached many of the contestants, and through this competition aims to offer a different talent search platform, using social media to expose her contestants to a wider Namibian audience.
From the 36 original entries last November, 15 of the best were selected, and by Monday this week the top six were announced, who are: 16-year-old Jessica Strydom (Swakopmund), Denise Du Toit (Henties Bay), David McCorney (Okahandja), Jo-Ann Claassen (Windhoek), Claudine Nelson (Windhoek) and Joharetha Nel (Walvis Bay). “I wanted to bring a different type of singing competition to Namibian viewers, where one can find talent that you’ve never seen,” says Alinda, who is so proud of her finalists. “We’ve started off small and by using social media as our stage, the viewers and fans are loving it, and already our rising ‘stars’ have a huge following on our ‘Voice of Namibia’ page, which grew from 178 to over 4 000 likes in just a week.” she adds.
The competition started with video clips of the contestants singing and the week-end’s live performance was just a taste of things to come for these artists.
“I have a panel of judges who study the video clips and make their choice during the elimination rounds,” informs Alinda. Judges are well-known songstress Lize Ehlers, musician Paul Herbst, Cat Lamondt from the South African Music Association who will write two new songs for the winner to be recorded. Also Harold Bartch from Varta Namibia and Marnus Byleveld, have come on board, with Pierre Rossouw, well-known singer/ songwriter who will be writing a new song for the winner to be recorded as a single. The top three will be announced early next week, after new video clips are uploaded, and the judges will make their decision. The top three will have a new assignment and the public will vote for the winner on the face book page.
Alinda says next season she will do live auditions in three different parts of Namibia and go live with the Top 10.
“I really trust and hope that The Voice of Namibia will become a great opportunity for singers to showcase their talent in a different way and to get rewarded for their efforts.”