Kampala — A Kenyan singing hopeful walks up to the Idols East Africa judges and says she is going to sing Noah by "Shakeez".
Halfway into her acappella, they realise she meant No One by Alicia Keys. The three judges are quick to stop her and with three "nos", her dream of becoming East Africa's answer to the classically trained Keys comes to nought.
The Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam auditions that have aired on DStv so far have only yielded 13 and four hopefuls respectively for Top 100 slots. Add to that Uganda's nine hopefuls and East Africa has only 26 golden ticket holders that will compete for a place among a choice Top 24 alongside contestants from Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
These will later be whittled down to an elite singing Top 10 from which the winner of an $80,000 cash prize and recording deal with Sony BMG will emerge.
The apparent lack of able singing talent, the kind that can carry a tune outside the confines of a shower could be put down to having the hopefuls ape international songsters. Not much can be done about that though, since that is the Idols format.
The rules could have been bent a little for countries like Tanzania where English takes a back seat to Swahili. That would have saved the contestant that wrote the opening lyric to Bob Marley's Three Little Birds (he sang: "Don't Worry about a sin [sic], coz every little sin [sic] is gonna be alright") the wrath of the judges.
But for people looking for singing talent, the judging threesome comes off as a haughty lot trying to fit into the American Idol judge template.
And so you have Zimbabwean music entrepreneur Trevor TK Siyandi sitting on the fence much like Randy Simon, Botswana rap star Scar playing the "King of Mean" to the hilt and Kenyan radio personality Angela Angwenyi acting as the salve to Scar's stinging comments. But now would also be a good time to question this trio's music credentials.
They offer no constructive musical criticism, which is what these singing wannabes need. For all we know, Scar could be tone deaf which is probably why he is a rapper and not a singer.
It served the three judges right when a Kenyan contestant came in and poked fun at the whole spectacle, opting to comically play his guitar from the back of his head and treating the judges to spoken rhymes about his wretched young life. The Ugandan auditions of the Celtel sponsored show air this Sunday on M-Net at 6p.m. or Africa Magic at 8p.m. The entire audition sessions are screened on DStv198.
Comments 1 to 5 of 26 Post a comment
TK,what is your recording label called again? dude you clearly dont know what you want and what a good singer sounds like.
Angela,ohh my God!!!you are definitely at the wrong place i need to know the criteria they use to select judges.
Scar,you are deef my brother,maybe thats why you'r a rapper .Stop trying to be Simon cause you look pathetic.Half of the things you say dont make sense and my little bro think you can learn a thing or 2 from our own HHP.
Hi all Idols fans, read Idols fans, not judges. Commenting on the judges : Angie, beautiful and probably the only music expert. T.K. I dont know of any great Zambian producer. You like a puppy behind Angie, when she says yes you also say yes, toka wena. The man from Botswana, come on, since when can a rapper sing or have a ear for melody and music??? There is so many music talent and judges in Africa, why take a rapper? Scar or whatever your name is, go back to Gabs and rap at the university, dont make beautiful Botswana's name bad. Angie, i like your Swahili and your manners, but then ,all Kenyans are well mannerd people. By the way, i am white, but i luv African talent and sponsor some people in West Africa. Angie, nakupenda sana. Take care. PP
What was the name of the guy with a big scar on the side of his face again??? Did I hear SCAR? The guy sucks!what does he really know about good music and by the way anybody can rap.
Will someone pls tell me, why people must sing in English to become idols; Arent Africans proud of their heritage? Music started in Africa. Its funny that to become an idol you must sing like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross! How about singing like Miriam Makeba, Franco, Papa Wemba, Kofi Olomide or even Fadhili Williams!!! I think we are lost!
The 3 Judges are a bunch of ignorant,arrogant and rude novices in music! Who picked them???? Angie is a radio presenter who didnt even study radio presentation and music! TK simply owns a music enterprise and does not appreciate African music no wonder Zimbabwe has nothing to offer in the music scene. This guy should be on the forefront promoting Zimbabwean music! as for SCAR, I have no words he should have stayed at home, no wonder he thought they were jinxed in Malawi! Gosh! its annoying.
Bet you are the experts,who sit on the side lines and bring poeple down, yet you have no clue in the music industry whatsoever. I can bet a million dollars you can do a crappy job as a jugde on idols
I think i just love idols, they are funny,ive never seen poeple believing so much in them selves yet they dont have that talent. but Uganda has talent.
See All Comments