The 2015 edition of the hugely successful music reality TV show, Vodafone Icons was launched on Friday.
This year’s show, dubbed: Vodafone Icons: High School edition, will be the company’s fifth and will feature bands from various competing senior high schools.
The show has seen very good ratings since its first edition back in 2011 and the others since including the Divas’, Mixed and Street editions.
The show has also produced a few of the Ghana music industry’s top talents including Afro-Pop artiste Wiyaala who was at Friday’s launch.
The auditions for the show will be done in three zones; the Northern, Middle and Southern zones which gives an opportunity for over 250 interested schools in all ten regions of the country to participate.
Bands which make it through the auditions will undergo training from seasoned coaches in order to perfect their talents as they vie for the title of Vodafone Icons.
Ten bands will then be selected from which a winner will be revealed at a final event
According to the Marketing Director of Vodafone Ghana, Agnes Emefa-Essah, the decision to focus on the students in the Senior High School this year was to “see the rejuvenation and promotion of music as an integral part of activities SHSs in Ghana.”
Given the huge competitive rivalry amongst the SHSs across the country in other sectors, including sports and education, the prospect of a music offers is an intriguing one.
Speaking at the launch of the show at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Mrs. Emefa-Essah stated that there “is a lot of talent in the SHSs that isn’t displayed.”
She added that music was one of the “key pillars” of the company and reiterated Vodafone’s commitment to ensuring that they “bring out new talent”
“Vodafone is about empowering the youth to do what they can and music is a good tool to do that with”
The winning band of this year’s Vodafone Icons will be given a music studio with a complete band set, laptops with audio editing software for music production, and powered with Vodafone’s fibre connectivity.
The band will represent Ghana at the global High school musical contest organised by Vodafone in Turkey; and each member of the band will also receive an educational scholarship.
The other nine finalists will get various prizes ranging from shopping vouchers, mobile phones, tablets and Vodafone souvenirs/hampers while the schools they are representing will be awarded a PA system.
Given the amazing successes chalked by previous shows, fans and music enthusiasts should brace themselves for what promises their biggest edition yet.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana