International Songwriting Competition (ISC) announced the 2010 finalists and semi-finalists. This year, ISC received well over 15,000 entries from 115 countries throughout the world, representing all genres of contemporary music.
The finalists in the World Music category are Seckou Keita (Nottingham, England), Eric Hester, Lale Labuko (Valencia, CA, USA / Jinka, Ethiopia), Chris McKhool, Kevin Laliberte – Sultans of String (Toronto, ON, Canada), Fely Tchaco (San Francisco, CA, USA), Prashant Michael John, Prakash Sontakke – Lehera (Richmond, BC, Canada), Amirah Ali (Chicago, IL, USA), Sikiru Adepoju, Douglas Serrant, Bola Abimbola – Afrika Heartbeat (Oakland, CA, USA), Jacco Muller – Jacco Muller and Victor Ghannam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Richard Layton Gannaway, Jay Oliver, Miriam Stockley – AOMUSIC (Asheville, NC, USA), Alejandro Escallon, William Tappan, Maria Angelica Duque – Jaranatambo (Bogota, Colombia), and George Mutinda Wambua – Mutinda (Nairobi, Kenya).
The ISC listening committee narrowed the entries down to 323 finalists in 22 categories. These finalists hail from 33 countries from all corners of the world, from Uruguay to Armenia, from Moldova to Hungary, from Zaire to the Ukraine, and everywhere in between. Reflecting the international scope of the competition, over 58% of all finalists and semi-finalists come from outside the USA.
Winners will be selected from the group of finalists by ISC judges Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Rihanna, Ben Harper, Baaba Maal, Toots Hibbert (Toots & The Maytals) Jeff Beck, McCoy Tyner, and many more.
Winners will be announced in late April, 2011. Prizes include over $150,000 in cash, merchandise, and services – including a Grand Prize of $25,000 cash and $20,000 in additional prizes.
The ISC finalists’ songs are currently posted on the ISC website as part of the 2010 People’s Voice – an online voting contest that allows the public to listen to and vote for their favorite ISC finalist. The winner of the People’s Voice is selected solely by public vote and is in addition to, and completely separate from, the regular winners who will be selected by the prestigious ISC judging panel. To listen to the finalists’ songs and to cast your vote (you be the judge!), visit: sonicbids.com/voting
ISC sponsors include: Martin Guitar, Berklee College Of Music, Disc Makers, D’Addario, Shure, Westone, Thayers, Onlinegigs, ASCAP, SongU.com, Grooveshark, TuneCore, Aspen Brownie Works, The Music Business Registry, Independent Mastering, Indie Venue Bible, Tanager, George Stein, Esq., Celebrity Access, Sonicbids, Taxi, music Submit, and Alphabet Arm Design
ISC is now accepting entries for 2011. For more information and an entry form, go to http://www.songwritingcompetition.com.
Go to http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners to see the complete list.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
Dear ISC,
Thank you for your great work! it really helps artistes all over the world to show their potential to the fans across the globe and step towards stardom. One day, you can be really happy about all your efforts.
A bouquet of flowers to Aromero, too for your neat article!
Sumedha