For over a Month in Malaysia the 2nd Edition of the AfroBeatz Festival Malaysia was the talk of the town. Social networks were buzzing with regular updates of the upcoming event so much that you had to be living under a rock not to know about it. The organizers went to great lengths to create awareness of the festival and it certainly worked. They had road runners out on the streets of Malaysia giving out free mix tapes of the line up of artists that were expected to perform on the night. The mix tapes certainly gave us all a great taste of what to expect and everyone who got the mix tape had no excuse for not recognizing the talents that were going to be showcased on that night.
After much anticipation the 2nd Edition of the AfroBeatz Festival took place on the 25th of October at the Club Ballroom in Damansara. The program was packed with something for everyone with the likes of music, comedy, cultural dance, fashion show and an exciting DJ Battle competition. The crowd was thoroughly entertained through the night. It was an impressive turnout considering the fact that there was heavy rain towards the evening. Some were worried that people may be discouraged to attend, but thankfully a good turnout was recorded by the organizers.
The main organizer of the event and founder of Afrobeatz Malaysia is SkyHitz Global, a registered company here in Malaysia which is involved in Event management and Student recruitment. SkyHitz Global spared no expense when it came to the promotion of this event. SkyHitz Global also worked in Partnership with X-Trail Entertainment and AiEvents to assist in Making the project a bigger hype. SkyHitz Global also worked with first time sponsors Egypt Airline, This truly was the beginning of break through for the African Entertainment in Malaysia. The combined team took an aggressive approach that took the public by surprise as they left no stone unturned while raising awareness. The public had no choice but to pay attention. Their promotion strategy certainly worked well for them judging by the turnout.
In true AfroBeatz style, there was an exciting line up of Malaysian based performers from all across the African Continent. There were cultural dancers representing West Africa and models representing East Africa just to mention a few.
The performers showed raw talent as they showcased their talents and gave all they had in their performances. There was a bit of everything for everyone. For the Hip Hop lovers there was Sleek Beatz very own Young Stunna, for the Afro Pop lovers there was more than enough to keep you dancing and cheering with the likes of Britella, Dabenja, Kebsu and so many more, while Play Entertainment’s new Play Boy, Prince Micah had something for the ladies and got them all heated up as he walked through the crowd interacting with his audience.
The D.J battle was by far one of the most exciting events of the night. It definitely was stiff competition among the D.J’s as they showed off their talent, creativity and swag on the decks. The crowd was kept dancing and singing along as the D.J’s showed off their skills. It was no surprise that there was a tie between D.J Ice and DJ Mighty Walex as they were the two that really got the crowd fired up despite the technical hitch that DJ Ice faced. Their performances left the judges no choice but to let the crowd decide and D.J Mighty Walex was crowned the much deserving King of AfroBeatz 2012. The Competition was Sponsored by Omoba Reliable Ventures.
Nigeria’s internationally known, lyrically talented Olamide was undoubtedly the main attraction for most people. He stormed the stage and got everyone out of their seats dancing as he performed well known blasts from the past tracks from his previous album RapSody, as well as a few tracks from his new album that is due to drop on the 12th of November. He also performed “Bwate” a track he collaborated with our very own Young Stunna, Olamide’s performance left no one untouched as he connected with everyone in the crowd, including the kids too when he carried a young boy on stage with him.
It was a bit of a surprise to everyone when the show came to an end without the much anticipated perfromance of I Go Dye who was one of the headliners of the event. We were informed that it was due to flight issues that were beyond the control of the event managers. With the action packed line up and a couple of highlights, the show still managed to score a well earned 7.8 out of 10 which, in my opinion, is not bad at all.
The 2nd Edition of the Afrobeatz Festival Malaysia successfully brought out the best in our Malaysia based African artists and also brought about an integration of different nations from the North to the South of Africa and from the East to West of Africa. They definitely made each and every person that attended feel proud of their culture and above all proud to be African. And so far so good has been the biggest Event of the year 2012 in Malaysia.