FIM

The results of the MACL Competition were announced on June 10th, on the occa­sion of the World Day Against Child Labour event, in the con­text of the International Labour Conference.

In 2021, the ILO, JM International (JMI) and FIM organ­ised the first-​ever Music Against Child Labour com­pe­ti­tion on the occa­sion of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. The com­pe­ti­tion invit­ed pro­fes­sion­al and ama­teur musi­cians to sub­mit songs that raise aware­ness and encour­age lis­ten­ers (gov­ern­ments, social part­ners or the gen­er­al pub­lic) to stand against child labour.

Running from February to May, the com­pe­ti­tion received entries by artists from over 50 coun­tries in all regions of the world, sub­mit­ting more than 200 songs.

The com­pe­ti­tion received sup­port and was judged by the fol­low­ing renowned artists:
 — A.R. Rahman, Grammy and Academy Award-​winning musi­cian and com­pos­er (India)
 — Laura Pausini, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-​winning singer and song­writer, Oscar nom­i­nee (Italy)
 — Ralph Johnson, Grammy Award-​Winning musi­cian, com­pos­er, and found­ing mem­ber of Earth, Wind & Fire (USA)
 — Juan Diego Flórez, Awarded inter­na­tion­al opera singer and phil­an­thropist (Peru)
 — Lokua Kanza, Internationally renowned song­writer, com­pos­er, and pro­duc­er (the Democratic Republic of the Congo)

MACL WINNERS 2021

Global Category Winner — Bernice, from Burkina Faso, with her song Mpa koss yé (J’ai pas demandé)

Born in 1992 in Ouagadougou, Bernice is a singer, per­former and com­pos­er. As a child, she joined the youth orches­tra AVM, where she took her first steps in live music at 15. Self-​taught, she trained her­self by imi­tat­ing artists she admired and com­pos­ing her own songs. Her jour­ney is strewn with karaoke com­pe­ti­tions, singing con­tests and her love for music, which lit­er­al­ly goes beyond under­stand­ing. Since 2015, she has been a mem­ber of some of the most pop­u­lar bands in Ouagadougou as a vocal leader. Since then, she has been cov­et­ed by inter­na­tion­al and nation­al artists for their per­for­mances on stage.

Grassroots Category: MCAZ Students band, from Zimbabwe, with their song Vana Ava (Children)

The MCAZ (short for Music Crossroads Academy Zimbabwe) band is a union of young musi­cians at the Music Academy in Harare, Zimbabwe. Spending most of their time at the Academy, the prac­tice time nor­mal­ly evolves into inter­est­ing musi­cal student-​led projects, as the MCAZ Students Band. The band com­pris­es 7 young musi­cians: Tinotenda Joseph Zingapeta (bass gui­tar), Bradley Tonderai Sibiya (sax­o­phone), Panashe Arundel Matoi (sax­o­phone), Carl Nathan Tinarwo (lead gui­tar), Mary Anibal (vocals and mbi­ra), Tanaka Blessing Mushangi (key­board), Abraham Victor T Samukodza (drums). Despite being in its infan­cy, the band has already per­formed at social events and spe­cial days for sev­er­al NGOs in Harare. During days like International Music Day, International Women’s Month, 16 days of activism against gender-​based vio­lence etc., the band works togeth­er to cre­ate con­scious musi­cal pro­duc­tions that serve to com­mu­ni­cate pow­er­ful mes­sages to the local community.

The Celebrity Jury also select­ed the win­ners of the competition’s CLEAR Cotton cat­e­go­ry. The ILO’s CLEAR Cotton Project is active in Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan, and Peru. This spe­cial award cat­e­go­ry was open to nation­al artists with songs high­light­ing issues con­cern­ing cot­ton pro­duc­tion and its val­ue chain. The CLEAR Cotton win­ners will be announced and show­cased dur­ing the nation­al World Day Against Child Labour cel­e­bra­tions in June.

To learn more about the win­ning artists and watch their amaz­ing live per­for­mances, sub­scribe to the MACL Youtube Channel and vis­it the MACL Facebook page.