Nairobi — The Tusker Project Fame 3 talent search came to a roof-raising finale last weekend, with Rwandan entrant Alpha earning his induction into the newly rich club, grabbing the Sh5 million prize for his eight-week toil.

Besides, he won a one-year recording deal with Gallo Records of South Africa.

It was clearly no catwalk for the high-spirit, mild-mannered performer who appeared to know from the start that he had to work hard to overcome the stiff competition from the selected finalists.

His rendition of Lucky Dube music and style (but devoid of the dreadlocks) set him apart in a field that was more American-inclined, winning him distinction and favour from the audience.

But it was his version of Simba Wanyika's classic, Sina Makosa, that confirmed him as a singer set to cultivate his own identity as a true face of East Africa.

As an event, the Sunday grand finale was undoubtedly the best of the TPF series so far. It brought together all the contestants to celebrate the close of the show with a lively parade and reflections.

Adding to the pomp was co-host newcomer Dr Mich from Uganda, who injected his own style of presentation with his cheeky, prickly humour and exuberant showmanship that can be either funny or offensive, depending on how one looks at it.

The introduction of a live band was certainly an inspirational shift from the playbacks, and this encourages the development of music in a much more well-rounded way.

On their part, the Aaron Rimbui trio was up to the task, but only in as far as jazz and other Western-type music go. But they need to have another look at their treatment of African music if they are to evolve as a truly versatile band.

This obvious weakness was evident in their back-up for the Samba Mapangala hit, Vunja Mifupa, performed by Ngang'a, and Alpha's rendition adaptation of Sina Makosa, in which the band -- with a guitarist for the Sunday -- was obviously unable to adapt to the African rhythm, and instead attempted to copy and paste their jazz style onto an East African one.

Rimbui could be heard trying to implant a bouncy keyboard rhythm akin to what one expects of Bob James, the American jazz legend, while his guitarist attempted to paste Earl Klugh's technique onto the songs.

But on realising that it was not jelling, he resorted to a cat-and-mouse game of sorts as they tried to find the appropriate approach to the music, causing some discord and resulting in a rather messy performance.

As a singing competition, TPF 3 had its disturbing moments, too, notably on the judges' attitudes towards the contestants. And some of the cited flaws were too general to be of merit, or had nothing to do with the singing, the business of the moment.

One oft-repeated remark was that the singing was inconsistent; it tended to start out low as the performers got onto the podium from backstage, and improved as the song progressed. This could be the result of stage fright, which merits criticism, although anybody coming before such a harsh bench would panic.

More commonly, it could also be a technicality in which the backing track is inaudible to the performers, causing the low vocal entry, but builds up in volume as they reach the stage where they are able to hear the playback or band more clearly.

It gets worse if the monitors are wrongly positioned and a singer could be screaming unwittingly because she cannot hear the soundtrack or the voice.

This is a common flaw, and my worst experience was recently with Roberta Flack performing her classic Killing Me Softly at the Cape Town Jazz Festival, at which she literally screamed through this ballad.

But anyone who saw her constantly touch her ear knew that she was having a problem hearing her own voice and struggling to sing over the noise in the auditorium.

The case about singers not owning the songs is also valid, but on Sunday, it tended to be applied selectively. Eventually, even the experts were unable to own their songs when called upon to show their mettle.

First on the podium was voice coach Kavutha who did a rendition of StreetLife, originally sung by American jazz artiste Randy Crawford. He gave a good rendition, although it had no interpretation.

Worse still was Chief Ian Mbugua whose version of My Way, popularised by Frank Sinatra, had no added value. He sang well, but simply copied the original, which is ironic as he has been very cynical about contestants not owning their songs.

Not to be left out was saxophonist Hellon, the music director at the academy. He performed well but, like his predecessors, was a copy of American musicians, complete with the final jump, which is all too common in jazz concerts.

But for real distinction, this year's event will go down in history as one in which feuding between the judges and the academy constantly stole the show. On the whole, the judges' disparaging remarks at the contestants were uncalled for as they tended to taint their noble position in the event.

Ultimately, the academy had to rise against the attitude of especially Judge Ian and the booing by large sections of the crowd over his decisions or remarks, which showed the general disapproval of the judges' nastiness.

In one of his first assignments, Dr Mich single-handedly took the fight to the bench, Judge Ian in particular, and the Ugandan has the knack of really offending, and for a good cause.

They finally made peace and hugged (although I suspect only as a PR gimmick), but Dr Mich had made his point on the judging.

Finally, the big moment arrived, and nothing else mattered.

On the content, I think the emphasis has been too much on English-type or non-East African music, which does not augur well for a region that ought to be emphasising more on developing an identical sound.

The Western ballet-type choreography by Edu of Sarakasi does not help either, and without a unique characteristic, music from East Africa will be a hard sell as both a domestic and an export commodity -- all largely due to a wrong concept of what constitutes modern music.

It would be important to expand the regional component to include established genres that are native to East Africa, notably benga and taarab, which have cultivated universal appeal in the region and beyond.

But there were encouraging signs on the last day, which though not a contest night, had all the contestants dedicated the time to music from East Africa. But one wishes there was much more of this in the main contest.

The wild applause Alpha received with the rendition of Sina Makosa is enough evidence that the market is ready for East Africans singing their own songs.