A Botswana native, Oliver Gaolaolwe is the winner of the first edition of the Pan African music challenge (AMC) 2021.
Oliver the Poet, as the singer is affectionately known, was crowned during a virtual live show hosted by the Africa Sport Ventures Group (ASVG) yesterday.
AMC, which is a musical arm of ASVG was founded on January 4th with the intention to find an artist who can make a theme song for the Africa Empire Warrior contest which is to be hosted in Liberia.
The challenge attracted interest from across the continent and was received well by 24 African countries out of 54; with 500 submissions made.
Kopano Berrybone- Bodume, producer and manager for Oliver the poet was over joyed by the news.
“Honestly, we are overjoyed so excited as we were not expecting to be awarded as the winners,” he said.
What touches Bodume more is the fact that Oliver is an up-coming artist and the first artist to sign to his record label ‘KGB music’.
“Oliver is an upcoming artist and when the challenge came, we were working on his first album and he wins the challenge while his album is still not done. And above all this is a motivation to show that we are doing something right,” he said.
According to ASVG Director of Communications Ntebogang Sebetlela, Oliver’s coronation was a culmination of a long and eventful journey.
“I can say it has been an amazing journey that the AMC and ASVG team undertook to reach all corners of Africa in publicizing and marketing the event to African artists. So much so that when artists started uploading their songs it was an instant hit,” Sebetlela said.
“The journey was very challenging as the team was spread not only across Africa but The United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea to name a few. So, time differences were a major challenge,” she explained.
Nevertheless, Sebetlela said the ASVG team conquered and worked hard despite different cultural backgrounds. However, at the end it had an interesting and intriguing ending.
According to Leslie Koroma, ASVG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said he along side the ASVG team are thrilled and happy to have created this vehicle called ‘Africa Music Africa Challenge’.
“This challenge will give life to the careers of many musicians across Africa and create opportunities where there was none before. We are looking forward to a bigger and better season 2 in 2022 and beyond,” he said.
During the grand finally streamed live on Zoom, Head of Global Tours for Beyonce Allan Floyd said Africa is truly vested with talent which lacks proper advertisement.
“Africa is immensely talented in music, I would urge artists to do collaborations with other artists in different countries even if it is within Africa, as this would help grow them beyond their boarder,” he said.
Despite the amazing talent within the continent of Africa, Floyd highlighted that they should learn to step outside their comfort zone and reach out of the international market.
Oliver the poet is said will be walking away with; US$1000.00, brand New iPhone 12 Pro, AMC winner trophy, vintage AMC 2021 t-shirt, a recording deal with ASVG and Partners and finally his song will be featured as ‘theme song’ for the Africa Empire Warrior Sportainment Series
