HANOI, VIETNAM - Media OutReach Newswire - 24 October 2025 - 8Wonder Winter 2025 officially announces its full lineup, featuring global music icon Alicia Keys, "the songbird of America" with 17 prestigious GRAMMY Awards; K-pop's new-generation phenomenon aespa; "the limitless voice" Dimash; and top Vietnamese artists Van Mai Huong, HIEUTHUHAI, and Maydays. With a grand scale, the "Symphony of Stars" concert, taking place on December 6 at the Vietnam Exhibition Center, promises not only to deliver an extraordinary symphony of music but also to affirm the prestige and steady global rise of Vietnam's national brand.
Alicia Keys, aespa, and Dimash Join Top Vietnamese Stars at 8Wonder Winter 2025 With the theme "Symphony of Stars," this year's music festival is crafted as a dazzling symphony, where international music icons and Vietnam's most celebrated talents unite in the heart of Hanoi. Each artist brings a unique hue, together lighting up the winter sky with one-of-a-kind melodies, creating a galaxy of layered emotions.
Alicia Keys, aespa, and Dimash Join Top Vietnamese Stars at 8Wonder Winter 2025
The headliner of the grand concert is Alicia Keys, the global symbol of soul and R&B, winner of 17 GRAMMY Awards, and the No. 1 R&B female artist of the century according to RIAA, with over 65 million records sold and 5 billion global streams. From her debut album Songs in A Minor to timeless hits like Empire State of Mind, No One, and Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys has left an indelible mark with multi-billion-view tracks that have shaped contemporary music for more than two decades. Beyond her artistry as a singer, songwriter, and producer, she is also a bestselling author, entrepreneur, social activist, and founder of "She Is The Music," a movement promoting gender equality in the music industry. Recently, she achieved great success with the Broadway musical HELL'S KITCHEN, which earned 13 Tony nominations, 2 wins, and a 2025 GRAMMY Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Joining Alicia Keys on stage will be aespa, one of K-pop's leading 4th-generation girl groups and a symbol of the new wave of Asian artists. Seen as the future of regional entertainment, aespa brings youthful, creative, and tech-forward energy to the stage. With their distinctive metaverse concept, the group has pioneered a fusion of real and virtual music worlds, making a global impact with hits like Next Level and Savage. aespa has won multiple Daesang awards, been named among Time's Next Generation Leaders, and recognized by Billboard as "Group of the Year." Their performance at 8Wonder Winter promises a futuristic visual feast that is explosive and full of energy on the "Symphony of Stars" stage.
This year's special guest, Dimash Kudaibergen from Kazakhstan, will take the audience on a journey through extraordinary emotional heights with his rare six-octave vocal range. Nicknamed "the voice of the universe," Dimash has captivated audiences from Bastille Opera in France to Kremlin Palace in Russia and Barclays Center in the United States. His fusion of pop, opera, and Kazakh folk elements, along with his multilingual performances, will make his appearance an unmissable highlight of the night.
The "Symphony of Stars" stage will also shine with outstanding Vietnamese representatives: HIEUTHUHAI, the young, dynamic rapper known for his powerful emotional delivery; Van Mai Huong, whose soulful and expressive vocals move listeners through heartfelt ballads; and Maydays, a rising indie band with intimate yet deeply inspiring music. Together, these three artists bridge memory and modernity, Vietnamese spirit and international artistry, contributing to the confident global rise of Vietnamese music.
Beyond the performances, 8Wonder Winter 2025 offers a multi-dimensional world of experiences where music, light, art, and emotions intertwine, creating unforgettable moments. Audiences will not only enjoy music but also immerse themselves in a vibrant festival space filled with folk culture, regional cuisine, entertainment zones, artist exhibitions, and community connection areas. Especially, 8Wonder leads the way in developing a "green festival," spreading a message of sustainable living with recycled art installations and eco-friendly booths. All of these elements combine to create a lively, modern, and memorable celebration for all generations.
Beyond the festival experience, 8Wonder Winter continues to define its distinctive identity through the Wonder Sound Lab project, a creative music "laboratory" initiated by 8Wonder. Here, young Vietnamese talents are given the opportunity to collaborate with international artists to produce one-of-a-kind performances, debuting for the first time on Vietnam's music stage. Wonder Sound Lab is not only a launchpad for the new generation of artists but also a powerful statement of Vietnam's aspiration to bring its music to the world.
With a world-class artist lineup and international-standard organization, 8Wonder Winter 2025 - hosted by Vingroup - promises a luxurious and unparalleled symphony of music, art, and experience, setting a new benchmark for Vietnam's entertainment scene. This event is expected to energize the entertainment market and reaffirm Vietnam's position as one of Asia's leading music and entertainment destinations.
Official Ticket Sale Announcement
8Wonder Winter 2025 – Symphony of Stars marks the fifth season of the 8Wonder music festival series, continuing to bring the world's musical excellence to Vietnam and crafting a world-class artistic celebration.
Tickets will be available nationwide from October 24, 2025, via VinWonders.com, Trip.com, Ticketbox, and Klook, with prices ranging from 1,600,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND, including luxurious Skybox & VVIP, premium VIP Zone, and energetic Standing Zone near the stage.
Hashtag: #8Wonder #AliciaKeys
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** The press release content is from Media OutReach Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Code4Mzansi highlights the growing strength of South Africa’s developer ecosystem and the role of youth-led innovation in shaping the country’s digital future
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 May 2026 - South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy.
The winners at the Huawei Developer Competition, Code4Mzansi The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. "The Code4Mzansi competition is not just a celebration of achievement, it is a launchpad for the future," said Minister Stella Ndabeni, whose department co-hosted the event and delivered the closing address.
The finals revealed a clear shift from building abstract digital products to practical tools that help small businesses trade better, communities access services more easily, and local industries solve problems faster.
Four finalist teams focused directly on the township economy, with solutions covering food safety verification for spaza shops, offline point-of-sale systems built for load-shedding, WhatsApp-native marketplaces for informal retailers, and community credit systems for SASSA grant recipients.
Others addressed AI-driven healthcare access, electricity theft detection, smart agriculture, financial infrastructure for the creator economy, and AI-generated African music.
Held at Huawei Office Park in Woodmead, the finals brought together more than 100 attendees, including government representatives, academic partners, industry leaders and media.
"The quality of the finalist solutions demonstrated the potential of local innovation to respond to real market needs," said Steven Chen, Cloud CEO of Huawei Technologies South Africa.
Academic partners included the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and technology is their greatest accelerator. The participants here today are future entrepreneurs who will drive South Africa's digital economy forward," said Professor Thokozani Shongwe, Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Industry partner rain also attended. Leon Nortje, Principal and Senior Architect at rain, said the competition offered a strong view of the country’s emerging technology pipeline.
"It is always good to see new projects and new teams working on solutions that are valuable and industry-related. We will be looking out for potential new employees," said Nortje.
The winners
The finalists competed for a prize pool of R800,000. MAAT by SIMVAK was named the overall grand winner and received the Business Value Award, taking home R300,000. The platform addresses food safety and regulatory compliance in South Africa’s informal retail sector through AI agents, real-time product recall alerts, and counterfeit detection for the spaza shop ecosystem.
"The spaza network is the supply chain for most South African households," said SIMVAK founder Shingirayi Mandebvu.
HealthHive by FTCK received second prize in the Business Value Award category, taking home R200,000, for its AI telemedicine platform that matches patients with the right medical practitioners based on their symptoms.
Auraa received the Grand Innovation Award for its AI music engine built to generate authentic African sound. The platform has been associated with an album that has crossed one million streams.
The Future Star Award went to e-Khadi, a community credit and stokvel platform giving SASSA grant recipients access to essentials at their local spaza shops, supported by AI-assisted credit scoring and fraud detection.
The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public on Huawei’s social media channels, went to DevRift, a semi-finalist in the competition, who took home R100,000.
Minister Ndabeni delivered the closing address, positioning Code4Mzansi within the government’s agenda for youth entrepreneurship, small business development and digital inclusion.
"Our task is to ensure that innovation does not remain a moment of applause, but becomes a pathway to enterprise creation, digital inclusion, and sustainable growth," she said.
"Thank you to Huawei for being a perfect partner on the journey that we are travelling, and of course, those that matter most, the developers who dared to compete," she said.
Code4Mzansi forms part of the global Huawei Cloud Developer Competition. In its inaugural edition, South Africa attracted more participants than any other country: 1,041 across 353 teams, including 176 enterprise teams, resulting in the highest enterprise participation rate among all competing markets. Twenty semi-finalists were selected before the top nine advanced to the final.
For the finalists, the work is just beginning. As Minister Ndabeni said, "Go home today proud. But tomorrow, wake up, build again."
Hashtag: #Huawei #Code4Mzansi #SouthAfrica
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https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
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http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Huawei
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With 213,000 employees operating in over 170 countries, we serve more than three billion people worldwide.
Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei generated CNY880.9 billion in revenue, reinvesting 21.8% (CNY192.3 billion) into R&D, with about 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company fully owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create lasting value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:
http://www.huawei.com/za/
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 May 2026 - South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy.
The winners at the Huawei Developer Competition, Code4Mzansi
The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. "The Code4Mzansi competition is not just a celebration of achievement, it is a launchpad for the future," said Minister Stella Ndabeni, whose department co-hosted the event and delivered the closing address.
The finals revealed a clear shift from building abstract digital products to practical tools that help small businesses trade better, communities access services more easily, and local industries solve problems faster.
Four finalist teams focused directly on the township economy, with solutions covering food safety verification for spaza shops, offline point-of-sale systems built for load-shedding, WhatsApp-native marketplaces for informal retailers, and community credit systems for SASSA grant recipients.
Others addressed AI-driven healthcare access, electricity theft detection, smart agriculture, financial infrastructure for the creator economy, and AI-generated African music.
Held at Huawei Office Park in Woodmead, the finals brought together more than 100 attendees, including government representatives, academic partners, industry leaders and media.
"The quality of the finalist solutions demonstrated the potential of local innovation to respond to real market needs," said Steven Chen, Cloud CEO of Huawei Technologies South Africa.
Academic partners included the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and technology is their greatest accelerator. The participants here today are future entrepreneurs who will drive South Africa's digital economy forward," said Professor Thokozani Shongwe, Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Industry partner rain also attended. Leon Nortje, Principal and Senior Architect at rain, said the competition offered a strong view of the country’s emerging technology pipeline.
"It is always good to see new projects and new teams working on solutions that are valuable and industry-related. We will be looking out for potential new employees," said Nortje.
The winners
The finalists competed for a prize pool of R800,000. MAAT by SIMVAK was named the overall grand winner and received the Business Value Award, taking home R300,000. The platform addresses food safety and regulatory compliance in South Africa’s informal retail sector through AI agents, real-time product recall alerts, and counterfeit detection for the spaza shop ecosystem.
"The spaza network is the supply chain for most South African households," said SIMVAK founder Shingirayi Mandebvu.
HealthHive by FTCK received second prize in the Business Value Award category, taking home R200,000, for its AI telemedicine platform that matches patients with the right medical practitioners based on their symptoms.
Auraa received the Grand Innovation Award for its AI music engine built to generate authentic African sound. The platform has been associated with an album that has crossed one million streams.
The Future Star Award went to e-Khadi, a community credit and stokvel platform giving SASSA grant recipients access to essentials at their local spaza shops, supported by AI-assisted credit scoring and fraud detection.
The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public on Huawei’s social media channels, went to DevRift, a semi-finalist in the competition, who took home R100,000.
Minister Ndabeni delivered the closing address, positioning Code4Mzansi within the government’s agenda for youth entrepreneurship, small business development and digital inclusion.
"Our task is to ensure that innovation does not remain a moment of applause, but becomes a pathway to enterprise creation, digital inclusion, and sustainable growth," she said.
"Thank you to Huawei for being a perfect partner on the journey that we are travelling, and of course, those that matter most, the developers who dared to compete," she said.
Code4Mzansi forms part of the global Huawei Cloud Developer Competition. In its inaugural edition, South Africa attracted more participants than any other country: 1,041 across 353 teams, including 176 enterprise teams, resulting in the highest enterprise participation rate among all competing markets. Twenty semi-finalists were selected before the top nine advanced to the final.
For the finalists, the work is just beginning. As Minister Ndabeni said, "Go home today proud. But tomorrow, wake up, build again."
Hashtag: #Huawei #Code4Mzansi #SouthAfrica
https://www.huawei.com/za/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Huawei
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With 213,000 employees operating in over 170 countries, we serve more than three billion people worldwide.
Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei generated CNY880.9 billion in revenue, reinvesting 21.8% (CNY192.3 billion) into R&D, with about 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company fully owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create lasting value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:
http://www.huawei.com/za/
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
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