After a successful first season, Old Mutual’s Amazing Voices Africa fast became the Pan-African musical platform of choice for musical hopefuls across the continent. For this reason, the walls were widened in season 2 for Africa’s big brother, Nigeria to participate. The ‘winner takes all’ competition kicked off in October 2020, with a total of 10 groups from Zimbabwe, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, and season one champs, Kenya.
The audition phase for the second season took place online and attracted well over 540 hopefuls from the above-listed participating countries.
While South Africa missed the beat in 2020 and watched Kenya’s Wanavokali lift the winner’s trophy and cheque, they, through Hush SA, an acapella male group formed as a brotherhood of childhood friends: Tsholofelo Ntuli, Phumlani Tshabalala, Sinethemba Magubane, Zamokuhle Nkosi, Thamsanqa Mthabela, Nicholas Malimba brought the music in the second season – and their efforts paid off in dollars!
Hush SA’s winning streak began long before any of the groups even dreamt of the finale. Their five consecutive Golden Voices wins were accompanied by high praise from the judges and kudos for incorporating their signature take on music, alongside the wealth of advice dispensed by show advisor, Zwai Bala.
The competition took a fiercely competitive turn when group scores were a few digits shy of ties. After managing to reach top 5 with both their representatives still in the competition, South Africa and Zimbabwe went head-to-head to retain manpower but both yokes were broken when sister groups, Southern Six and Effect were sent packing. What followed, thereafter, would place Hush SA in pole position.
Head of Brand at Old Mutual, Thobile Tshabalala, says “Our purpose at Old Mutual is to champion mutually positive futures across all the African markets in which we operate. This competition enables us to connect with Africans through the universal language of music and demonstrate that with the right financial partner, anyone can do great things and become their exceptional best. We have seen exactly this with the winners of Season 2 Amazing voices and congratulate Hush SA for their well-earned success”
Congratulations to Hush SA for singing their hearts out and being crowned winners Old Mutual’s Amazing Voices season 2.