Every year during The Music Imbizo, keynote addresses are a major drawcard. 2020 is no exception, The Virtual Music Imbizo will be drawing inspiration from the best of the continent as it looks to inspire the music industry during the global pandemic.
The theme for The Music Imbizo 2020 is "African Unity: The Real Currency" and it communicates the importance of unity within the continent and how that is our gold. “We are excited and pleased that so many influential leaders from the global music industry already committed to participate at The Virtual Music Imbizo 2020. Their experience and leadership in the music industry will allow for critical and insightful discussions at the conference." commented Sphe Mbhele, Project Manager, The Virtual Music Imbizo 2020.
Owned by the KZN Music Imbizo (Pty) Ltd, the conference has been running for more than 10 years. It is the first time ever though that the full conference will exist strictly online due to the global pandemic. The conference is expected to draw more than 500 representatives of the global music industry, policy makers, collection management organisations, media, government, and others in attendance daily. The conference will include some 50 speakers addressing the most topical, strategic, commercial and technical issues facing the music industry. Over 30 music-related companies will also be exhibiting.
The Music Imbizo 2020 keynote speakers are:
YVONNE CHAKACHAKA (PERFORMING ARTIST, ENTREPRENEUR, TEACHER AND HUMANITARIAN – SOUTH AFRICA)
The princess of Africa, Yvonne ChakaChaka is Vice President of CISAC – the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers PLUS the opening keynote speaker of The Virtual Music Imbizo 2020.
Born Yvonne Ntombizodwa Machaka in Dobsonville, Soweto in 1965, Yvonne Chaka Chaka is a daughter of Puti and Sophie Machaka and one of three girls. As a young performer, Yvonne Chaka Chaka happened to have been the first black child to have made an appearance on South African television, in 1981. She was discovered by Phil Hollis of Dephon Records in 1985 when she was just nineteen years old and later earned herself the appellation of ‘the Princess of Africa.’ From this moment on, she had consistently developed her creative capabilities and expanded her media portfolio to include musician, record producer, talk radio and television shows, and acting in several South African television dramas.
Yvonne has been noted to share the stage with, and performed for leading lights like President Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth I I, Richard Branson, Bono, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey. Yvonne Chaka Chaka is acknowledged as a word-class performer defined by originality, creativity, and consummate showmanship. Music has taken her to different parts of the African continent and all over the world as the demand for her music intensified. During her many performances, one of her backing vocalists, Phumzile Ntuli, contracted Malaria in Gabon in 2004 and later died. Touched by this tragedy, Chaka Chaka later became a Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Roll Back Malaria Partnership.
After all these years Chaka Chaka still finds time to record music for her fans and supporters.
(visit: http://www.themusicimbizo.co.
AUDU MAIKORI Esq (ENTREPRENEUR, LAWYER AND CREATIVE INDUSTRY EXPERT - NIGERIA)
Audu is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, lawyer and creative industry expert plus a keynote speaker at The Virtual Music Imbizo 2020. He is better known as the founder of Chocolate City Group- a media /entertainment company which is comprised of Chocolate City Media (Film, TV and content production), Chocolate City Kenya, CCX (live Music space) and Chocolate City Music record label -one of the biggest record labels in Africa- and home to some of Africa’s most talented artistes including Grammy Nominated Femi Kuti, M.I Abaga, Dice Ailes, Ckay, Blaqbonez etc. In March 2019, Chocolate City Group signed a landmark partnership deal with Warner Music Group (one of the biggest record labels in the world) to bring the Warner Catalogue to Africa and promote the Chocolate City catalogue and artists across 60 new markets globally.
Born in Kaduna, Nigeria, he attended the prestigious King’s College Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2001. He has served as legal counsel in several corporations including Chief Afe Babalola SAN & Co, Leasing Company of Nigeria (a subsidiary of Bank of Industry), Abuja Markets Management Limited and was Senior Legal consultant with CPCS Transcom International(a Canadian infrastructure advisory firm) where he was lead counsel for major Bureau for Public Enterprises(BPE)/World Bank funded projects including the privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) reforms, Abuja Rail Mass Transit system and the Lagos Blue Line Rail Mass Transit project.
(visit: http://www.themusicimbizo.co.
JEREMY LOOPS (SINGER, SONGWRITER AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR – SOUTH AFRICA)
“I haven’t been at home this long in a decade,” says Jeremy from his beachside studio, where producers including Carey Willetts (Dermot Kennedy, Freya Ridings) and Edd Holloway (Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker) came to collaborate on the upcoming album.
Brought up in Kommetjie, a surfing village on the outskirts of Cape Town, by his South African dad and Swiss-born mum, Jeremy came to music late. He’d always loved folk but didn’t imagine becoming a musician even when he picked up a guitar while studying finance and property development at university.
“I enjoyed singing but I never thought I had a great voice,” he says. “At uni I took on a tough business degree and really struggled with it. I skipped classes often and was given the nickname Loopholes. I’d still pass the exams but took pride in doing as little studying as possible. The frustration born from this period is essentially what led me to music.”
He was still a closet musician who had never played in public when he returned home. With the waste he saw at sea driving his energy, Jeremy co-founded Greenpop during this time. Organising a fundraising gig in a Cape Town club with some big local bands, he put himself on the bill as the opening act.
“I thought if I don’t do it now, I never will,” says Jeremy. “I had a panic attack before I went on stage, but as soon as I started playing, I didn’t want to stop. I had finally outed myself as a musician.”
From there, things moved fast. A residency at a local Cape Town bar proved so popular that after six weeks, the police shut it down because so many people were spilling into the street. Live agents and festivals came calling. Festivals like Rocking The Daisies and Oppikoppi in their prime were the prelude to selling out the 5000-seater Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town and 7000-seater Durban Botanical Gardens. The fan fervour and demand moved radio stations to start playing his songs.
(visit: http://www.themusicimbizo.co.
0 Comments
Feel Free To Leave A Comment or Message