The Airtel Trace Music Star competition finally came to an end when Sandra Suubi,one of the five final contestants was announced the competition winner and recipient of the 100 million shillings prize money. This was during a colorful ceremony that was held at the Serena Hotel in Kampala.
Last year, Airtel Ugandapartnered with Trace, an international music video channel,to launcha music competition tagged ‘Airtel Trace Music Star’, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based music competition designed to create a robust platform for Airtel subscribers to achieve their dreams of becoming the next big music star in Uganda, and possibly across Africa and the world. This competition attracted millions of Airtel subscribers who looked at it as an opportunity to showcase their hidden singing talent without having to go through the usual procedure of doing live auditions.
Speaking at the event, Airtel Uganda C.O.O, Mr. Diego Javier congratulated Sandra upon her victory and encouraged Ugandans to always take advantage of opportunities such as this one to express themselves.
“Many times, people want to participate in singing competitions but lack the confidence to stand in front of a crowd and sing. With Airtel Trace Music Star, this worry was eliminated and I am sure our winner as well as very many of our subscribers were encouraged by the fact they could try out their singing talent through their mobile phones from the comfort of their homes,” he commented.
“I congratulate Sandra upon this achievement and truly believe that today is just the start of a very long and fruitful career,” Diego added.
As a pan-African initiative, the Airtel Trace music competition has also been held simultaneously in other African countries, where Airtel operates.
The winners from each participating country are now going to compete in a televised pan-African grand finale, where the African champion will win a trip to the USA to be mentored by megastar, Akon, for a period of two weeks, in addition to a professional music video and a record deal with Universal Music.