Grammy award-winning US gospel superstar, Israel Houghton, will be in South Africa next week to conduct vocalist auditions for his New Breed Africa programme.
The open auditions will be held in Cape Town at Radisson Blu on Tuesday; at the Coastlands Hotel, Umhlanga, Durban, on Wednesday and at the Pyramid Convention Centre, Johannesburg, on Thursday, June 9, from 8am to 8pm on each day.
Houghton, who is based in Houston, Texas, along with his band New Breed, is known for fusing gospel, jazz and rock into a unique sound. His album, Love God, Love People, won a Grammy for Best Pop/ Contemporary Gospel Album this year.
He is a regular visitor to this country and recorded a live CD here in 2005, also winning a Grammy for Alive in South Africa.
Candidates who audition will go through a first round of judging with local judges and then a second round of intensive questions from a panel that will include Houghton.
While gospel and worship music forms the core of New Breed, Houghton is interested in connecting all styles of music and cultures to form a united diverse sound and believes that this new move-ment will change the way music is defined.
The auditions will be filmed with the view to build up content for a possible reality programme on the making of New Breed Africa.
Houghton will return in the first two weeks of August for more auditions.
To keep track of the updated details, visit Facebook.– Tonight Reporter