Project Fame
Adedayo Adejobi
For more than nine weeks now, Nigerians and West Africans at large,
have been glued to their television screens, watching Africa’s
longest-running most productive and popular musical talent hunt show,
the MTN Project Fame West Africa. With the array of superstars that
found their way into the academy, viewers and followers of the show,
have classified it as one of the unsurpassed editions ever.
Undeniably, from the unveiling of the sixteen superstars, till date,
the show has been exhilarating, enthralling and even awe-inspiring, as
judges find it knotty and mind-boggling in selecting the least talented
performer. These superstars, have on several occasions swept the judges,
members of faculty, music artistes and guests as well as viewers at
home, off their feet, with their top-of-the world melodic renditions and
this has been one of the biggest challenges, judges and even viewers at
home, face in the weekly eviction.
Artistes and guests who have visited the academy have showered encomiums on these superstars, giving great commendation.
Weeks ago, after watching their performances, Nigerian R&B
sensation, Bankole Wellington, popularly called ‘Banky W’, could not
curtail his admiration, for the astonishing talent and resourcefulness
of each of them. He admitted that he had one of his best evenings,
having just witnessed such amazing lyrical delivery and vocal quality,
exhibited by all the superstars, in the musical academy. He continued:
“the show has a track record, at this point, of creating superstars.”
Validating these words, Nigerian king of pop, Wizkid, foretells the
future of these superstars: ‘these contestants are truly gifted and will
go places’’.This season, these superstars’ top-of-the world
performances, from different genres of music, have been very remarkable:
from R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dance Hall to Rock and Classical African
music, among others. One of the most appreciated music genres performed
by these super-stars, was the classical African music.
It is not often that you see a musical legend re-cast by some rookies,
who have hardly made a name for themselves, on the entertainment scene.
But, these superstars, in the MTN Project Fame musical academy surpassed
expectations and justified the wider acclaim accorded to the show among
youths by remoulding some African legends and originators of musical
genres that are peculiar to the continent, as well as earned ‘Mother
Africa’ respect, on the global entertainment scene, as they performed
their songs with glamour and great enthusiasm.
They re-cast and rendered from a fresh perspective ‘evergreen’
offerings of Chief Ebenezer Obey, Brenda Fassie, Angelique Kidjo, Majek
Fashek, Bright Chimezie and Wasiu Ayinde. Owing to the challenges of
imitating an original song, these superstars exhibited a high level of
creativity, ingenuity and flawless musical rendition, to these classical
African songs. Their performance was amazing. Their resilience has been
very tremendous and encouraging. As the competition for who-comes-top
in the academy heats up, viewers and followers of the most fruitful
talent hunt show, are keenly waiting to see the last superstar standing.
Out of the sixteen that started the race, only six are left, competing
for the top spot: they are Olawale, Immaculate, Omolayo, Rowland,
Margaret and Niniola. These superstars, will stay in the academy till
the end, battling for survival, using their powerful voices, aptitude
and performances to win the heart of judges, as well as viewers at home.
Obviously, this will be a very difficult task for the judges and
viewers to make their final decision on who wears the crown in the end.
Confronted with the ingenuity of the evicted contestants, the six
finalists have been delivering, week-in-week-out with admirable zest,
great music performances that have made the judges, faculty members and
the entire West African audience commend their musical dexterity.
With the most productive and popular musical reality show coming to its
climax on Saturday 28th September, 2013, the degree of excitement,
awesome musical prowess and entertainment, leaves the teeming audience
of the show brimming with great expectation.
In a similar development, the social media have been kept saturated
with commentaries of this season’s superstars. Many are of the opinion
that, there should be a special video compilation of this year’s
performance. This is because, these superstars with their great music
prowess and top-of-the world performances, have been able to prove
beyond any reasonable doubt, that, apart from MTN Project Fame being the
most productive musical reality show in the sub-region, this has been
one of the best seasons ever.
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