AFRICA.ROCKS Soundcheck

AFRICA.ROCKS has opened the public vote for Soundcheck 2026, a rehearsal-based video competition that puts African bands in front of listeners far beyond their own local circles. For a lot of heavy music outside the usual industry centres, visibility is still half the battle. Soundcheck was built as a practical response to that. It gives bands across Africa a shared platform, asks for one original song performed live, and then puts that work in front of a worldwide audience through one official vote. Soundcheck came out of AFRICA.ROCKS’ daily work covering African rock and metal, and the need to give bands a practical platform of their own.

The first-round videos are now live, and public voting is open worldwide through the official AFRICA.ROCKS vote page only. Social media likes, shares, comments and reactions do not count as votes. The ten participating bands are Aliens in Oceans and Mysanthrium from South Africa, Cartagena from Tunisia, Chovu from Kenya, Dikamba from Angola, Grey and SLA.ID from Madagascar, Nakaka Vibration Band from Malawi, and Pagan Ulver and Tagrest from Morocco.

The public vote runs until 9 May 2026 at 23:59 GMT. The five bands with the highest valid vote totals will move on to the final round, where they will need to return with a second video featuring a different original song. From there, a five-person jury will choose the winner, who will receive a USD 250 cash prize.