Akinyemilaw’s Songwriting Competition unlocks West African Talents, Records over 1000 Emtries

With the successful conclusion of its fifth edition recently, Akinyemilaw songwriting competition has beam the spotlight on young West African music talents. The competition attracted over 1,000 entries under a month following the expansion of entry submissions from Nigeria to Ghanaian.
Speaking on the outcome of the award, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa complimented the quality of entries received as well as the enthusiasm displayed by young music talents.

He disclosed, “The hunger by young musicians to maximize their talents continues to fuel our resolve to keep this competition going regardless. This year’s edition witnessed more significant entries than all previous ones, which is a key growth indicator. We expanded coverage from Nigeria to Ghana, bith of which are the two major drivers of the Afrobeats movement and the excitement among the young talents has been infectious. Akinyemilaw Songwriting Competition will definitely continue to move the needle of African music culture as part of our own contribution to the ecosystem.”

At the end the competition, the prize went to budding songwriter, Akujobi Elvis better known as Zichy alongside his producer, Olalekan Oluwadamilare Adeleke otherwise called Kss. The tag team emerged victorious with their original song and beat out a total of over 1,200 entries reviewed by the organizers in Lagos, Nigeria.

A jury comprising seasoned music executives was saddle with the onerous task of pruning down the large number of entries to a finalist of 10 contestants. This was followed by the unveiling of a three-man shortlist, among whom the eventual winner was picked. The esteemed jury members for the fifth edition who are top artiste and repertoire managers included Olatunde Adediran, co-host of Afrobeats Weekly, Lolu Olumideko, Sony Music West Africa and Dowe Iyere, Chocolate City.

Powered by Amelia Songs, a subsidiary of Greysage Consulting, Akinyemilaw Songwriting Competition is an online music challenge rallying young talented indie or underground African music talents and providing them with a pedestal. The competition is the brainchild of leading Lagos-based entertainment lawyer, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa who represents a retinue of celebrity Nigerian artistes and producers. He began the competition in Lagos five years ago as a self-funded initiative to help showcase budding music talents. In its fifth year, the growing platform has now expanded its coverage to Ghana with hopes to cover more countries.

The competition filters music entries along criteria such as quality of the beat, lyrics, melodies, originality, vocal performance, relevance to the theme, production quality, and the transmission of emotions. Some of the genres it is opened to include Afrobeats, Highlife, Amapiano, Fuji, Juju, and Reggae, among others.