SA Country Star is a new concept that has never been staged in South Africa before, placing it in the unique position of having the power to resurrect country music back to its former glory and beyond.
It intends to do so through the introduction of a national country music competition that will run for the entire year.
For the first time in South Africa, this competition officially offers all country singers, bands and guitar and banjo players a platform from which to showcase their talent, until the SA Country Star is crowned, which will be a first for South Africa.
“The fact that such a competition now exists within the country music market, will undoubtedly generate much excitement in the industry, stimulating further growth and competition which have become relatively dormant over the decades,” said SA Country Star conceptualist, Eugene Havenga.
Havenga has been in the music industry for about 45 years and is the director of Country Gold Productions and Eugene Havenga Concepts and Productions.
The staging of SA Country Star will be the new injection that will create a national platform catering exclusively for country singers, bands and musicians.
Through the www.sacountrystars.co.za website, all country artists nationally can fill in their details to enter the competition, which will be held in Johannesburg (Boksburg) and Cape Town.
“They will simultaneously submit their demo songs which will be screened by a panel until we have established the semi-finals and the finals, all to be staged at Presley’s in Boksburg,” said Havenga.
The website, however, will only be up and running at the end of January.
Auditions, to be announced, will be held every Sunday of each month, until the winner is chosen at the end of the year.
The winner will receive a SA Country Star trophy, a R50 000 cash prize, a five year recording contract, original songs composed by the South African country music industry legends or have the option to use their own compositions, and a national tour promoting the winner.
The winner’s CD will also be available for purchase on the SA Country Star’s website.
The other top performers will also have their performances screened on the website to promote them.
“That means free advertising for a period of one year and will be included on the compilation album for season one of SA Country Star,” said Havenga.
SA Country Star will naturally attract the professionals of the industry – the country legends that had been there all the time, who will endorse the staging of SA Country Star in the best interest of country music and its performers.
“It is these legends who will share the credit for the establishment of this national country music competition,” said Havenga.
“These legends are automatically honorary members of SA Country Star, who will help guide this project into becoming the vehicle needed to ensure that the country artists will benefit from constant shows, recordings and distribution on the website.
“A legend like Lance James forms an integral part of SA Country Star, because he is the father of country music in South Africa and is already an established artist. He has a booking agency which will fill the much required criteria for each show staged by SA Country Star. He also hosts his own country music radio show which will also play a big role in this project.”
Matt Hurter is the founder of the CCMS and has a database of hundreds of country artists who could all benefit from entering the competition in the Cape Town leg.
He is also a renowned country music composer and could provide the original music for the CD to be recorded for the winner.
“With the assistance of these legends in the industry, SA Country Star will become the one-and-only platform from which to choose our future country stars and honour those who have already been shining for many years,” said Havenga.
The Johannesburg auditions will take place at Presley’s, in Boksburg, from the end of March.
The exact date will be published closer to the time.
