It was the Big Day on Sunday, 7 July, when the winner of The Voice South Africa was announced during a live broadcast on M-Net.  After the Top 5 Talent were cut down during the progress of an Audio and Visual spectacular, host Anele Mdoda announced the Top 2 of this season, being Wild Card, Soné Joubert and Tasché Burger.

With one of her final, very fitting songs, Let it Be, Burger was announced the Winner, making newcomer to the Coaching Panel, Francois van Coke, this year’s winning Mentor.  Burger is South Africa’s first female winner of The Voice, following the wins of Richard Stirton and Craig Lucas in Season 1 and Season 2 respectively.

The Finale kicked off with the season’s top 5 Talent and the 4 coaches introducing the proceedings with a winner’s rendition of We Will Rock You.  Hopeful contenders in the running were crooner Eon le Roux and African princess Siki Jo-An, both from Port Elizabeth, together with the charismatic PJ Twins from the Mother City, making up the five-some with Burger and Joubert.

This year, all four of the show’s esteemed coaches were well represented by these incredible talent in the finale. Riky Rick was counting on Eon, LIRA, the PJ Twins, while Francois van Coke coached Tasché throughout the season. Coach Riana Nel was the only coach with two talent on stage – Soné and Siki Jo-An.  At the end, it was SA’s Afrikaans rebel, Van Coke, coaching the Winning Voice.

While the live audience waited for the results, some legendary and well-loved local vocalists were included in the line-up to perform during this live television broadcast, which included duets with each of the Top 5. For the first time in her illustrious career, Afrikaans music legend Laurika Rauch appeared on stage during a live television singing contest, breathing life into her iconic song, Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux, a duet with runner-up, Soné.

South Africa’s Queen of Afro-jazz, Judith Sephuma, joined 3^rd place-winner Siki  Jo-An, with an apt song for two big voices, I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan.  Season 2’s Caroline-Grace Brüssow and Eon raised the roof with Elton John’s Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me. Singer extraordinaire Timothy Moloi and The PJ Twins went for gold with Luther Vandross’ Impossible Dream, while not known as the winner yet, Tasché and her coach, Francois van Coke, blended their voices in their version of Toe Vind Ek Jou, a song by van Coke himself, recorded with Season 1 and 2 Coach. Karen Zoid.

Anticipating fans, as well as nervous talent back stage, were also entertained during the wait, by some goose-bump-inducing solos Jo Black and Roan Ash, who are currently both dominating the South African music scene.

Taché Buger, winner of the Voice SA 3rd Season, was determined by the voting public, after close to 10 million votes were received throughout this season.  M-Net’s Kaye Ann Williams told the media after the finale, that the voting process during such a talent contest, is a very important element of the show, as the margins between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, were extremely tight.  “Tasché was a serious contender and front-runner throughout the voting phase of the competition,” she added.

Tasché, would have drove off with a brand new Toyota RAV4, but because she admitted to not having a valid driver’s licence yet, will have to get someone else to do this for her. “I will get my license very soon”, she joked while accepting the car keys.  Besides new wheels, and the very deserved Recording Contract with Universal Music SA, Tasché walks away from this competition with a Telkom tech bundle with a Huawei P30 Pro, a Tab M5 Lite, a router, and a Huawei Watch GT, Telkom data, and an Anti-Theft Backpack, Truworths clothing vouchers to the value of R100 000 and the title of The Voice South Africa.

Video: The Voice South Africa YouTube Channel

Photos: YIP Photography

The post Tasché Burger Wins The Voice SA appeared first on Stage and Screen.

With thanks to M-Net, we are giving away double tickets away to the final Live Broadcasts of The Voice South Africa, starting on Sunday, 07 July2019.

This season’s finale will be broadcast live on Channel 101 from the Mosaic Teatro, in Fairlands, and you can be there!

The Voice Finale Competition is now closed.

Please Note:

1. This competition Closes on the Wednesday, 03 July 2019.
2. Tickets are only valid for the specified dates and performance times.
3. Seat allocations are up to the discretion of the promoters.
4. Tickets may not be upgraded, or exchanged for cash, or for alternate performances.
5. The prize comprises of two tickets per prize winner.
6. No-Shows will not receive replacement tickets.
7. By entering this competition, the participant agrees to the terms and conditions.
8. Prizes does not include accommodation and / or travel to and from the event.
9. Winners will be notified by mail.
10. One Entry per Email Address will be entered into the draw

The post Win Tickets to The Voice SA Live Shows. appeared first on Stage and Screen.

With the 3rd Season of M-Net’s The Voice South Africa currently being broadcast on DSTv’s channel 101’s most Successful Slot on Sundays, the deserving Talent of our Country, is slowly but singingly filling up the available spots in their chosen Coach’s teams.

Audiences all across M-Net’s satellite reach, have already familiarized themselves with the new faces in this Season, with Anele Mdoda as the new Host, Francois van Coke, Riana Nel and Riky Rick joining the only returning cast member, Lira, to complete the foursome Coaching Panel.

Real fans of The Voice South Africa, who might not be as oblivious as the rest of us, would have noticed by now, that the Producers of this season, did not replace the role and functions of Stacey Norman, who was always busy behind the scenes with some quirky interview for the Voice SA’s Social media pages.

To contribute to these socially nice-to-watch behind the scenes videos, M-Net has decided to put the The Voice microphone in the hands of some of Jozi’s Online and Social Media Influencers.  It was an honor for Stage and Screen to have been invited by M-Net’s Lani Lombard and her team to conduct a few of these Post-Blind Profiles for this reality series’ social links, and also M-Net’s Website. 

Our very own Louw Mulder, took on the challenge of the micr0phone, this time in front of the cameras, to chat with some of the Talent, who had just got a chair, with a coach on, turned for them.  We can only publish content already aired on M-Net’s TV channel, so keep coming back to this page for more clips…

Coach Riky, really took his time to make sure Joshua Parker’s rendition of this song by Ed Sheeran was Perfect, before turning his chair.  Here is what this 19 year old Talent shared with us:

After some episodes of The Voice came, and left quietly into the 19:00 timeslot of Carte Blanche, Coach Francois van Coke really battled to get the Talent he turned for, to choose the Coke Squad.  However, The fizz was back in #TeamVanCoke when a self-confessed rebel at heart, impressed Coach Riky and Coach Francois with the Sound of her Voice, not the Sound of Silence…

40 Year old Chezelle Shahadat, chose to continue her The Voice journey under the mentorship of the Rebel Coach on the panel… This is how she broke the sound of the studio’s silence, when she shared her excitement with us:

During the 5th episode of this season, #TeamVanCoke grew to seven talent, with Ashur Peterson and Mia Malherbe joining his cartel.

It was also Mia’s 26th birthday on the night of these Blind Auditions that saw her progressing in this competition, and even though This is a Man’s World, it was clearly a Woman’s Stage with Riky, Riana and Francois turning their chairs. We were fortunate to have a few minutes with Just Mia, on her birthday…

During episode 7 of this season, all of us joined in the excitement of the four coaches, when 25 year old Skhumbuzo did the unexpected by singing a song by Valiant Swart, translated into Zulu.  Coach Francois, a friend of Swart, got Swart on the line, sharing this young man’s entry into #TeamRiky, with this composer on National TV.  We talk to this Sonvanger after his audition.

Episode 7 ended with the successful attempt of the PJ Twins, successfully making their double-entry into #TeamLira.  Not just did they do their formal audition with I Swear, but also an impromptu operatic duet, on request by their Coach.  This set of Twins, shared some of their plans for this competition with us:

Then came the last episode of the Blind Auditions, and Lira broke the rules, forcing the Executive Producers to give each coach an extra Talent for their team.  Second to last on the night, with two spots on two teams respectively still up for grabs, Elisha James came on, and with Cry me a River, Riana turned for this crazy youngster, and in our chat, we told him he is crazy in his face…

Then the end was in sight, One Talent still back stage, with only Coach Riky with a spot on his team left, and with this last contestant inevitable to get a spot, her talent took nothing away from her deserved spot on #TeamRiky, when she made him turn his chair, promising her a You and I Journey.  We chatted to Nikita Williams, to close of this season’s Blind…

Click on the link below, which will take you straight to all the Video Content of The Voice, where you can look at all the other conversations between Talent through to the next round, and other Media colleagues…

The post Stage and Screen Collaborates with The Voice SA appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Matt Simons has announced the release of his new 12-track album, After The Landslide. This is New York, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s third long player, is due for release 5 April 2019, on PIAS Records abroad and Gallo Record Company, in Africa. The album will be preceded by lead single Open Up, which is out.

A born USA West Coast talent who first found success in Europe, Simons’ two studio albums to date – Pieces and Catch & Release – have seen him reach huge audiences worldwide. The biggest hit on the album We Can Do Better, reached over 80 million global streams and spent two months in the Top 10 European Airplay chart. His collaboration with LA-based artist Amy Kuney, with its acclaimed campaign video message of love, acceptance, and equality, show a deeper side of his song writing and have further bolstered a burgeoning career.

After The Landslide is his biggest, most ambitious and most personal record yet. With nods to both Bon Iver, and Bruce Springsteen, it’s a record that approaches some of The Big Themes in our lives – love, loss, grief, and the power it takes to get through it all. Matt’s piano-rooted melodies ally themselves to lyrics that speak plainly and sometimes starkly, about important events in his life and with these, he crafts songs that make the personal, ‘universal’.

Simons says he chose After the Landslide as the title track, because for him, it encapsulates what the whole album is about, more than any other. The record is about a quarter life crisis. It’s about “blowing up your life,” starting over and all the cathartic yet terrifying things that go along with it. He wrote the songs at age 29, in a much more settled place, but in order to do so, he had to dig deep into what he remembers feeling in his early 20’s. He adds he didn’t have a lot of direction, just starting out in Brooklyn, fresh out of a big breakup and not having any idea of what he was doing with his life. Scary as that was for him personally, it also came with a lot of freedom, in trying to capture those feelings and experiences on this album.

With over 500 million streams, in excess of 1 million single – download sales, 10 million Shazams, a Top 5 hit on AAA radio, a number 1 European airplay hit and 100 million VEVO views, Matt Simons has established himself as a bona-fide recording artist.

Simons will be touring the European festival circuit this summer, including a coveted support appearance for Ed Sheeran at Firenze Rocks in Florence, Italy. A full tour will be announced later this year.

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Andrea Bocelli has recorded 15 solo studio albums of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums and nine complete opera. For his latest release ‘Si’, Andrea Bocelli has teamed up with some of the hottest musical stars on the planet – reuniting with his friend Ed Sheeran after their chart-topping ‘Perfect Symphony’ on a brand new song called ‘Amo Soltanto Te’ (written by Ed with lyrics by Tiziano Ferro) and joining with pop sensation Dua Lipa on the single ‘If Only’. Crossover superstar Josh Groban and classical soprano Aida Garifullina also duet with Bocelli on the record,. It is his first album of new material in 14 years – 16 brand new songs which celebrate love, family, faith and hope.

At the centre of the new record is a spine-tingling duet between father-and-son, as 20 year-old Matteo Bocelli steps into the limelight to duet with Andrea on ‘Fall On Me’ – a beautifully poignant song which reflects the bond between parent and child.

Bocelli’s humble manner belies his international status as one of the world’s biggest classical stars – he’s sung for Popes, Presidents and royalty, performed in all the greatest concert halls and opera houses around the world, and sold 85 million records. He has performed at major international events including the Olympic Games and the World Cup, as well as his own sell-out arena shows. He has a Golden Globe, 7 Classical BRITs and 7 World Music Awards under his belt, plus a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Drawing millions in with his popular crossover appeal, Bocelli has collaborated with a host of A-list pop stars including Céline Dion, Tony Bennett, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger, and many more. He also wowed UK football fans with a performance for Claudio Ranieri’s Premier League-winning Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in 2016. Bocelli continues to tour the world with major shows in the US, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Ireland the UK and now South Africa, where fans will have the opportunity to hear his new music.

Andrea Bocelli is proud to return to South Africa where he will be performing with a full 140-piece symphony orchestra and choir. In Johannesburg, he will perform with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg and in Cape Town with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. The concert will be split into 2 parts. For the first part, fans will get to experience Andrea Bocelli perform some of the most famous opera arias. The second part will be dedicated to his most popular hit and crossover songs for a once in a lifetime evening. Matteo Bocelli will also be joining his father to perform the duet ‘Fall On Me’.

Ticketing Information:

Johannesburg

18^th April 2019

Ticketpro Dome

Ticket from R1,140

Platinum seats @ R4,295 per person

Prime seat ticket in the first 3 rows in blocks FB and FC

Does not include merchandise, parking, or hospitality

Tickets and hospitality available from www.bigconcerts.co.za starting Friday 25^th January 2019 at 9am

Cape Town

22^nd April 2019

Val de Vie Estate

Tickets from R1,140

Platinum seats – R3,995 per person

Prime seat ticket in the first 3 rows in blocks FB and FC

Does not include merchandise, parking, or hospitality

 Gold Hospitality Package – R4,295 per person

Prime seated ticket in Block B (Rows 10-15), Block C (Rows 11-18) and Block D (Rows 10-15)

Delectable three course buffet

Complimentary local bar

Fully staffed private suite facility (before, during and after the show)

Cocktail style furniture

Gold parking nearest to venue (ratio 1:4)

Tickets and hospitality available from www.bigconcerts.co.za starting Friday 25^th January 2019 at 9am

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Where do you go when you’re trying to get away from your monster mother-in-law?  If you’re Annalakshmi, then it’s a different country and a different continent altogether!

Annalakshmi’s African Adventure is a hilarious musical comedy about being an Indian National taking refuge in South Africa.  This one-woman-show will take place for the first time on a Joburg stage on the 24th of March at the Theatre of Marcellus, Emperors Palace.

Using singing in a variety of Indian vernacular, as well as old and contemporary English music, Annalakshmi tackles family, social, economic and political issues. She loves telling stories and giving candid commentary of her Indian take on things and her parodies are witty, funny and they hit home.

Anasia Govender – better known as her stage character, Annalakshmi – is a 42-year-old mother of 3 and an entrepreneur.  She is also the chef and owner of Chilli Kadhai Restaurant in Durban.  In fact, this was where it all started when her video advertising the restaurant went viral after she gave Ed Sheeran’s song, Thinking Out Loud, her own twist.

One of her comedy career highlights was being a semi-finalist on SA’s Got Talent 2017.  She has shared the stage with some of South Africa’s best comedians including Carvin Goldstone, Joey Rasdien and Marc Lottering, to name a few.   Kamz Govender, an exciting new up-and-coming comic, will be the opening act.  His clean, hilariously well-thought out one-liners, has him standing out on stage.

Annalakshmi’s African Adventure is entertainment for the whole family.  Tickets are available from R120 per person. Annalakshmi’s Adventures is poudly brought to you in association with Blu Blood.

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Talented musician, singer, song-writer and rapper, Desmond John first made a name for himself in late 2015, when he released his debut and self-penned single, All for Us. His first international track, Untradable, hit the airwaves at the end of 2016, and garnered the teenager a loyal fan following.

Several covers followed, including an acapella version of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You that left fans waiting in high anticipation for his next offering. Desmond John brags with close to 48 000 followers on Instagram alone.

https://youtu.be/U0wb7dl59Y0

Just in time for the Festive Season, he has dropped his brand-new melody which, is a Desmond John original from beginning to end.  The easy listening gently upbeat song, speaks to that special lady, telling her she doesn’t have to worry, even when they are apart, as he is true to her, no matter where he is or who he is with.  Something that young lovers the world over will relate to over the holidays that might separate them.

Pop with R&B overtones, the song is perfect for summer love in South Africa but has also made a solid impression on Spotify as well as other digital platforms since its release mid-November with top territories that include US, Australia, UK, Canada, Philippines, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands and Italy.

You Don’t Have To Worry also showcases Desmond John’s maturing song writing and musical talent, with the score and the lyrics penned by the gifted teenager.  The video, which will be released later in December, will be shot in Cape Town, by Origin Recordz, under the watchful eye of Meredith Shearer-Aylward, who has produced and directed many of Desmond John’s recent musical video offerings.

Desmond John was born in Germany to a South African mother and British father. He spent his formative years in Frankfurt and Johannesburg, has spent time in the UK and Atlanta, USA, but now calls Cape Town his home. An avid footballer, as a young boy Desmond dreamed of achieving fame on the field, however, from the age of thirteen he began expressing himself through music.

While experimenting with a friend at a Johannesburg sound studio he was ‘discovered’ by a visiting US entertainer.  The upshot of which, was a whirlwind trip to the Atlanta, Georgia where he was subsequently introduced to numerous Grammy Award-winning producers, musicians, and industry leaders such as Kuk Harrell, Kendrick Dean, DJ Toomp, Li’l Ronnie and more.

Drawing his inspiration from legends such as Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, Babyface, Justin Timberlake and Drake among others, Desmond John has developed his own compelling sound – part pop, part R&B, with richly layered vocals.

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