The winners for the 2019 Afropunk Battle of the Bands competition were announced at the weekend ahead of the festival on Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 30 and 31 December.
The winners, Muney and Shameless Band, will share the stage with such artists as Solange Knowles (US), Miguel (US) and NAO (UK). Other artists include Nigerian singer Burna Boy and southern African acts Sjava, Urban Village, Busiswa, Distruction Boyz, Sho Madjozi, Zoë Modiga, Morena Leraba, Darkie Fiction, TCIYF, Umlilo, DBN Gogo, Gina Jeanz, Lelowhatsgood and Fif Laaa.
The winning acts, which triumphed against Raspy and Yanga Yaya, will also receive an Africori distribution deal as well as the opportunity to meet London’s 2019 Battle of the Bands winners. The competition traditionally selects one band as a winner, but this year the orgnisers made a surprise as chose two acts.
“Every year, we get to witness amazing talent from young artists who are diverse and not afraid to express themselves freely in whatever form they feel like,” Afropunk co-founder Matthew Morgan said. “The Battle of the Bands platform has been a success in South Africa because of the multi-cultural landscape which inspires raw and untamed talent which is what we witnessed tonight. Congratulations to all the finalists and we’re really excited to see their rise to stardom.”
Africori head of operations Adam Tiran described this year’s competition as “an eclectic melting pot of daring talent with the potential to shape the country’s music landscape. Previous winners of the Battle of the Bands competition include Red Robyn, Ikati Esengxoweni and Stiff Pap.
The Afropunk Festival (commonly referred to as Afropunk or Afropunk Fest) is an annual arts festival that includes live music, film, fashion, and art produced by black artists. The festival made its first debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2005, and has since expanded to other parts of the world. Originally co-founded by James Spooner and Matthew Morgan, the festival was inspired by Spooner’s 2003 documentary film Afro-Punk, which spotlighted black punks across America and later culminated in a series of live shows entitled “The Liberation Sessions” co-curated by Spooner and Morgan.
The festival originally sought to provide black people an opportunity to build community within the predominantly white punk subculture and to provide a stage for black alternative performers that were not acknowledged in the mainstream and stood outside hip hop, R&B, soul, etc. To attract a wider audience, the festival shifted to include soul music and hip hop, which expanded its target demographic, attracting headliners including Ice Cube, Lauryn Hill, Lenny Kravitz, and Gary Clark, Jr.. Musical performers now represent a variety of genres, primarily known to reflect African-American culture.
Afropunk’s changes to its diverse cultural showcase has allowed for the festival to build its masses to 60,000 attendees. Due to festival alterations that deviated from the original Afropunk culture, former co-founder, James Spooner made the decision to end his involvement in 2008. Soon after, Jocelyn Cooper was introduced to the festival as co-organizer, broadening Afropunk Fest to Atlanta, Paris, London, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
