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It is almost one year now Nigerians and other
entertainment lovers were treated to thrills and excitement in the West African
version of Idols, a popular reality TV show.
There was the great suspense that hung in the air when Pan
Africa Entertainment and MNET toyed with the idea of hosting the show which
industry watchers have rated high in terms of audience participation coupled
with doubts in the minds of Freemantle Media, owners of the Idols licensing
rights if a recorded version of the show could be achieved and the question
whether the Nigeria venue chosen for the event could live up to standards
considering the poor infrastructures, epileptic power supply and other
inadequacies inherent in the Nigerian entertainment industry.
But on December 1, 2006, MNET’ Nigeria Director for
Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Joseph Hundah and the General Manger, Mrs.Allison
Triegaardt announced to the world that West African Idols would be a
reality.
By
January 6,
2007, the audition doors at The Ibru Victoria Gardens,
Lagos
were thrown open by the show’s presenter, Michael Olubunmi Adekunle a.k.a Mike
Magic and thus started the search for an international singing sensation that
would become the first Idol from
West Africa.
The show which witnessed contestants from different West
African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint
Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo held auditions in Lagos, Calabar, Abuja
and Accra, Ghana respectively which produced 80 contestants that
were given the nod to proceed to the Planet One Entertainment Venue for the
event.
The auditions witnessed a hectic, comic and entertaining
scrutiny and selection by the trio of Dede Mabiaku, Abrewa Nana and Dan Foster;
the three chosen judges for the event.
The number was later reduced to 24 before the actual voting
process that saw 10 contestants which included three male and seven female
hopeful singers emerging in the top 10 category that would sing their way to
instant stardom within a couple of weeks.
The likes of Timi Dakolo, Omawumi Megbele, Jerrilyn Mulbah,
Eric Arubayi, Joy Odiete, Mercy John, Temitayo George, Joan Ekpai, Uche Ume or
Omodele Fatoki became instant stars from which the audience and viewers were
expected to vote their Idol.
At the end of the exercises which witnessed the contestants
performing some of the world’s renowned hit songs, including some local
traditional numbers, 26 year old, undergraduate at the
University
of
Port Harcourt, Timi Dakolo was
voted and announced as well as made history in the West African version of
Idols.
He, along with Omawunmi, who took the second position and Uche
were signed on to SONY BMG Africa, on a one year deal.
Apart from Timi, whose contract was automatic, the other two
were selected based on their outstanding performances.
It is now one year and the question on the lips of all Idols
faithfuls are where the Idols contestants are?
A search light was beamed on all 10 participants to
find out what each and every member has been doing for the past 12 months
and here are the findings.
Timi Dakolo: The
Youngman from
Bayelsa
State
who obviously showed much promises from the beginning of the show and later
became the Idol, had the greatest responsibility from the pack as all
his fans have been asking where his album is since he won an international
recording contract with SONY BMG. Early this year, news broke about the
uncertainty that beclouded his contract when he cried out that he was dropping
the microphone to go back to the ivory towers where he was studying….as SONY
BMG Africa and Pan African Entertainment were not living up to the promises of
the contract. Pan African Entertainment came out to announce that Timi would
start recording, four months to the expiration of the contract, leaving many
people wondering what time would be used in the production, promotion and
marketing of the album. Already, Timi has recorded a single entitled I LOVE
YOU, which is yet to be released officially. As at press time, there were
no indications that Timi had started recording at a time when his contact would
be expired.
On the personal side, Timi had really been involved in a lot
of shows like the Kanu Heart Foundation theme song show held last year in
Lagos, He was part of the contestants taken to the United Kingdom by Celtel for
the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards of which Tuface Idibia was a recipient
and has featured in so many functions courtesy of the Bayelsa State Government.
He is presently working with football star, John Fashanu in a reality TV
football show. No date has been officially announced for the release of his
album one year after he put pen to paper.
Timi narrowly escaped death from the hands of militants in
the Niger Delta region on New Year day.
Omawunmi: The lawyer
turned-musician, who gave a resounding account of her singing abilities,
contested closely with Timi Dakolo, the eventual winner of the competition.
Known for her impressive stage performance, smooth delivery and tantalizing
dance steps, many looked forward to seeing her album out in no time but so many
months later, the 24 year-old album is nowhere in sight.
Not being one to sit and wait for the fulfilment of the
promises of the record deal with SONY BMG of which she is a beneficiary,
Omawunmi has gone on to record two singles which Trends gathered, still has an
unknown date of release. The dynamic Omawunmi has kept herself busy with doing
musical jingles for telecommunication giant, MTN as well as one for Malta
Guinness, a beverage malt drink produced by Guinness Nig. Plc. She also starred
in TV talk’s show, Moments with
Mo.At present, she is stuck with Pan-African Entertainment waiting
for the dawn of her highly anticipated album.
Temitayo: Daughter of
Rev. Dele George, the highly respected and adored Founder of Little Saints
Orphanage in Palmgroove,
Lagos,
Temitayo has obviously been one of the most visible Idols top 10 contestants in
recent time and the only one to have released a single since the show closed.
The ever smiling singer who hoped to use her singing
abilities to support her mother’s ministry has performed with one of the
world’s renowned soul singer, Michael Bolton and top Nigerian acts like D’Banj,
Sunny Neji and Sammie Okposo during the Tinapa Business dinner sponsored by
Cross
River
State
government in September 2007. She is the only Idols contestant that has a
single on air, a love song entitled, In Your Eyes.
She has regularly being consolidating on her performances in
the Little Saint’s Orphanage’s monthly fund raising show, Joy Night.
Temitayo was the missing face in the Idols Road Show that took the top
10 contestants through selected states in the country owing to disagreement
with the terms of the deal being offered by Elvina Ibru’s Twice as Nice,
who were handling the management of the upcoming artistes. She opted out and
ironically has stayed above board.
Mercy: Her deep vocal
delivery and towering height made Mercy very noticeable among the 10. The 25
year old contestant who was a staff of one of the telecommunication giants in
the country, GLO, went back to her plum job after the competition. But
surprisingly, she has been able to wriggle and overcome the challenges in
combining her career in the telecommunication industry and the studio to record
an eight track album with Orangootan Records. Hopefully, her album may be
released within the next few weeks.
Jodie: The petite
graduate of Mass Communication from the
University
of
Lagos, whose eviction shocked so many and
made one of the judges to ask
Africa if they wanted a
mediocre as the idol, has been the least on the news. Jodie suddenly vanished
from the scene owing to her heeding the call to serve her fatherland in the one
year mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme (NYSC) meant for every fresh
Nigerian graduate. She was posted to
Anambra
State in the South East part of the
country and lost touch with the entertainment industry.
Jodie, who was listed among the favourite to win the
competition, has recently completed her service year and has returned to the
studio hopefully to record an album.
Eric: The most
handsome among the guys who many attributed his good looks as being among the
factors that saw him lasting for the while he did, delved into modelling
shortly after the curtains were drawn on the Idols show. Eric, who
confessed that one of the things he would miss most in the competition was the
free food and drink, tried to do some recording but nothing more has been heard
from him. He indicated interest in joining the Nigerian motion picture industry
otherwise known as Nollywood but Trends could not ascertain if Eric had
been lucky in getting some scripts to augment his singing career. So far,
nothing has been heard about the 25 year-old Eric musically.
Jerrilyn: Described as
the survivor and luckiest contestant among the Top 10, Jerrilyn, the former
Liberian refugee and mother of one, is among the beneficiaries of one of the
major sponsors of the show, Celtel. The only non-Nigerian that made it to the
Top 10 stage in the competition is presently a presenter in Celtel’s radio
show, Celtel Hit Zone. Though in the studio for a purpose slightly different
from what the Idols competition main objective was, it is not clear if
Jerrilyn is romancing the microphone well enough to record an album.
 Joan: The self
confessed Cinderella from a poor home hoping that Idols would give her
the opportunity to build a house for her mother is back to her first love,
sound engineering. The studio girl has moved up on her career and is at present
training with one of Nigerian’s wonder producers in the music industry, Cobhams
Asuquo, in his music production outfit, Cobhams Asuquo Music Production
(CAMP). She has not started recording any song but is instead concentrating and
consolidating her music and sound production skills. Her revelation that she
has written a book is yet to be realized in print as neither her album nor book
can be found in the public shelf.
Omodele: Who was the
first to be voted out from the top 10 stage has gone back to finish her studies
at the
Olabisi
Onabanjo
University in
Ogun
State. No news has emanated from her
end.
Uche: Former choir
boy, who is of the beneficiaries of the juicy contract with SONY BMG/Pan
African Entertainment, may soon join Temitayo in the league of
Idols participants with a song to show for it as he is set to release his debut
album.
Uche who was signed on to Orangootan Records by Pan African
Entertainment is almost through with his 8 track album entitled: “I am Kumeh.”
The soft spoken Uche, who did a duet with Jodie on popular demand during the
final day of the show, was recently attacked by armed robbers on his way back
from the studio and robbed of his laptop computer.
Though he worked with Cobham’s Asuquo, Uche said that his
album is experimental as his recording label took more creative control of the
songs in the album.
Idols presenter Mike
Magic is busy with his Yellow Dogg Production outfit doing entertainment shows,
Dede has since relocated to
Ghana
from where he now operates while Nana is still doing very well on her music
production outfit in
Ghana.
Dan Foster still mesmerises Lagosians with his American-accented voice from the
studio of Cool FM where he is a presenter.
Unlike other Idols shows which turns the contestants into
instant stars and launch them into full time music, Idols West Africa has not
lived up to it’s billing when compared with the other Idols competitions where
the likes of Heinz Winkler, Anke Pietrangeli and Karin Kortjé won
the three successful local editions of Idols while British hero Will
Young won national attention across the UK when he swept the title there.
In
America
, the show launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia
Barrino, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks. Clarkson went on to win two Grammy
Awards this year for her second album while Jennifer Hudson, who was part of
the top 10 in season three of the American Idols, won an Oscar for her
role in the film Dreamgirls; all that were part of the show anywhere in
the world were transformed into instant stars after the show.
Trends gathered the
reason for the unexpected eventuality witnessed so far was as a result of
communication breakdown between the record label, SONY BMG through their
representatives, Pan African Entertainment and Twice As Nice Ltd.
managers of the artistes which has Elvina Ibru as its CEO.
Industry watchers are of the opinion that what the artistes
needed was a voracious, aggressive and result oriented management for the
artistes as the Elvina Ibru, who was part of the production of the show, lacked
the zeal needed to achieve such feat bearing putting into considerations her
comfortable family background.
“What they needed was a manager grounded in the
entertainment scene who is hungry to achieve not an already made person,” a
music pundit who spoke under condition of anonymity indicated.
As the East African edition of the show is about to round
up, it is being said that the eventual winner of the show who might not be as
good as either Timi, Omanwumi, Jodie, Uche or Temitayo will become more popular
than Timi as they (organizers) would ensure that the platform will take the
eventual winner to the promised land.
But as it is now, many are asking if the
Nigeria
factor is part of what has kept the 10 encouraging and promising stars still
missing in the Nigerian African and world entertainment scene after being
exposed in such a platform like Idols.
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 18.05.2008 07:08