YOU GUYS NAILED IT!

Rashid The Magican in action.

With the audition episodes nearing the end, episode 5 of  SA's Got Talent pulled out all the stops to bring us another very entertaining show. With a few exciting dance routines, a magican, a rapper, an Elvis impersonator, and some acrobatics on a stripper's dance pole must have kept the viewers virtually glued to their seats. It certainly brings home the meaning of "variety is the spice of life" cause there was something for everyone! First up was a dance crew (they call them that nowadays) calling themselves Ninja Turtles. Heaven knows why they had that name as they didn't look anything like turtles. Maybe they need to work on a name, as there seemed to be nothing wrong with their dancing. Some very athletic dance moves and the audience watching them seemed to love the performance, although Kabelo didn't think so. "I don't find you believable" is what he more or less said to them and gave them a resounding "NO". Luckily for them the other two judges thought differently and put them through to the next round. Do you like acapella singing? If you missed last night's episode you would have loved the D-Seven. Some of you may remember the group Naturally 7 who performed at the Montreux jazz festival? Well D-Seven are similar, performing without musical instruments and using only their voices to great effect. Their performance caused Ian to utter "You guys nailed it!" and all three judges, including Kabello, to vote "YES" and put them through to the next round. Once awhile someone cmes along and has a passion for what they do, and as one of the judges said that "they share their passion". Last night a young man called Canvin Van Wyk, did just that! He certainly delivered the passion in his dance moves. Well done, Canvin! Even the judges were visibly moved and voted him through to the next round. Have you ever heard of a fast rapper? Najabulo is known as the Bullet Man  and can rap as fast as lightning, impressing all three judges enough to put him throught to round two. Another act that impressed all three judges, was Elvis impersonator, Andrea Gigolia from Durban. I was brought up on Elvis and this guy was spot on with his impersonation, his costume, his mannerisms and voice. In between all these acts I've just described, was the best and the worst in the form of short video clips, showing Kabelo buzzing out the odd "classical" act. A former contestant from one of the earlier seasons, Rashid The Magican was back to wow the judges with his routine of comedy and magic, with a little help from presenter, Tats Nkonzo. He presented one of those simple illusions that makes you say: "How did he do that?" . This display of talent had Ian again saying "You are fantastic!" and his fellow judges agreeing wholeheartedly. A slightly nervous Elsa van Niekerk sang to audience and the judges in Afrikaans. Her voice impressed the right people, the three judges as they all voted "YES" to a very emotional Elsa. A spot of pole dancing with a difference was next, when two girls called Vertical Vixens, did acrobatics on a strippers pole that you wouldn't have thought possible. The judges all voted "YES" with Shado making some comments which were very complimentary to the two ladies. This show always saves the best for last! A 16 year old boy from Atteridgeville, Tiego Ndhlovu, danced into everyone's hearts as he did his routine. He says he gets his inspiration from Beyonce. I did a bit of research and found that he had won  the Strictly Strreet Finals 2012 in the category Male Solo (13 to 17 years). I do hope he is one of the Top 18 next week, because that is talent! I can't wait!

I SMELL A RAT!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Tshidi Tenyane should have been in the Top 2 of the IdolsSA contest. Since I last looked at her Facebook fan page she has increased her "likes" from over 15,000 to nearly 18,000. Where were these people when the talented singer got voted off? And why is Melissa in the Top 2? These are all questions which need answers and don't look at me, cause I'm not the expert here. I can only tell you what I hear people talking about. In my opinion, Khaya Mthethwa should win this competition. He's managed a total of 72,799 "likes" on his Facebook page which is like three times more than Melissa has, and for those who like statistics....it's 7,118 more "likes" that Idols page itself. In the time I typed this last sentence, he gained another 200 likes. Let's just hope that all 72,801 Facebook "fans" vote for him!

      It's amazing, as it seems that Khaya has just gained over 200 more "likes" in one day, and definitely a sure winner of Idols. Just for a moment let's turn our attention to the "other" contestant in theTop 2: Melissa Allison, who has a mere 9,500 "likes" for her page compared to the almost staggering 73,000 "likes" of  Khaya's page. Her mediocre performances in the Top 3 didn't even come close to Khaya's heart stopping performance of Nikki Minaj's "Super Bass". That alone has got everybody talking, and will get him votes. So what's left for me to say? The fans must vote, vote, vote! I can't tell you who to vote for, do so wisely. A person with talent is better than a person who has absolutely no singing talent at all.

HAS THE IDOLS WINNER BEEN PRE-PICKED ALREADY?

A little over 2 years, on a suggestion from my niece, I started blogging. It started out as thoughts about subject matter that nobody ever read, that was on the 10th September, 2010. As you progress you discover new ideas and subjects that people want to hear about. One just needs to go to Facebook and browsing through the pages one can get hundreds of ideas from Breast Cancer to Lady Gaga. Here locally there has been a lot of hype around the talent show IdolsSA and judging from all the comments people are suspecting a rigged contest. Are they? I'm going to ask you two simple questions: Where is Tshidi Tenyane and Shekhinah Donnell ? Why aren't they in the Top 3? Let's look at the three contestants left and see if they deserve to be there. Let's first look at the Facebook stats of these two ladies. Tshidi has over 16,000 "likes" whilst Shekhinah only has 7,300 "likes". That's already telling you something cause look at Melissa Allison who only has about 8,000 fans on Facebook, Monde Msutwana has just 5,200 fans and Khaya Mthethwa has..........wait for it......a staggering 67,531 fans! Ok looking at those stats shouldn't Tshidi be in the Top 3? Maybe the voters that voted her off thought she was safe, with so many Facebook "likes"? I really wonder now, where is the real talent? That's enough questions from me, but judging by the amount of growing Facebook fans Khaya will take the crown this year. That is if the 67,500 vote! Maybe people who vote via SMS, don't have the internet. We will have to see after tonight! Readers of this blog can also find me on Twitter: @MrDurbanite, where I Tweet about all sorts of things. Let's see who wins IdolsSA 2012!

SORRY, IT'S THREE NO'S!

Iziqhaza

It was that time of the week again, last night, when everybody tuned their TV's into eTV to watch Episode 4 of South Africa's popular show SA's GOT TALENT and were treated to some more entertaining acts. There are a lot of people out there who are wanting repeats of the episodes and perhaps another 30 minutes of talent. Personally I would like to see some more of the worst auditions too, and hear the three popular judges' remarks. I'm sure they were very entertaining. But for one hour we still get treated to nine of the best/worst auditions. Now I'm no dancer, so I am no judge of dancers (I have two left feet). I say this because the first act on was a dance group from Cape Town called Origin. According to the leader of the group they have only been together since January and that would impress anyone as they danced together as if they had been together for years! Their dancing skills got them three yeses, even causing Ian to remark: "It was FAN-TASTIC!", and that would cause anyone to dance for joy! The next act we saw, Marshall Smith, I'm still trying to get my head around why he got 2 out of three judges saying "yes". Was it because Shado challenged him to remove his wig? I notice Kabelo gave him a resounding "no". The guy was classed as a singer and although he seemed to entertain the crowds, he certainly wasn't my cup of tea. And just when you thought that nothing could get worse, along comes Sarel vd Merwe. The name alone sent out alarm bells to me. Was this another Van joke? Ladies and gentleman, this was no joke. He described his act as a "Blitsvinnig Sketse Kunstenaar" which for those of you don't know what that is, loosely translated it means a "lightening-fast sketch artist". Well the end result of his sketch looked more like something you would expect from Mr Bean. But this guy was being serious, he acrually thought he coud draw! Okay, judges let's vote. Kabelo: "No"; Shado: "No"; Ian: "No". I'm sorry, but that's three no's, thank you for coming in.This is where the show needs to be lengthened by half an hour so we can watch a few more contestants make idiots of themselves on national television. In between the short clips of the worst were clips of some real talent that the judges had given a "yes" to. Hopefully we will see more of those lucky contestants in later stages of the competition. Then everyone was surprised when a lady called Melanie walked on the stage and started singing. She had the most beautiful voice I have heard in awhile, and was surprised when Shado voted "No" because something about not hearing her voice properly. Luckily for her both Kabelo and Ian voted "yes" and she is through to the next round. Then we were treated to an outstanding performance by two amateur opera singers. With colorful costumes and excellent operatic voices, Dolce Tenori wowed the audience and the judges. Two girls, who called themselves, Girl Power, were next and gave a graceful display of arial acrobatics. The judges were again impressed and all three voted "yes". Then two nerdy looking guys came on, and gave us the "white" version of psantsula dancing, Calling themselves Rabbit & Bones, it was another clear round of voting for the judges. They were followed by a forgettable preformance of sound effects, by Xolani who did not make the cut. The highligt of the show was probably the last audition shown. Two young people sang a traditional Zulu song, and all I can say is "Wow!" That's talent right there!! Who said Durban doesn't have talent? Iziqgaza has just proved those people wrong. I can't wait for Episode 5...........will you be watching? We need to get eTV to show us some repeats on a weekend. There must be a lot of people on night shift that would love to see the show. So how about it eTV?

WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

For the past three weeks we have watched the good, the bad & the terrible audition for season 3 of SA's GOT TALENT and most of us have totally disagreed when acts were either sent home or put through to the next round. But there are three people who must be congratulated for having to sit through thousands of hopefuls and wannabes, some of whom have no talent whatsoever. I would like to take this time to write about the three judges and look a little more closely at whether they are the right persons for the jobs. Let's start with "new" judge Kabelo Mabalane, who replaces Randall Abrahams. I must apologize if I was a bit harsh on my criticism on him a few weeks ago, but lately he has been "spot on" with his "yes". Maybe because he is a new judge, he is still finding his way? Afterall he is a man of many talents, being a musican, a TV presenter and now a judge. Oh let's not forget that Kabelo has also run the Comerades Marathon a few times. Give him time behind the buzzer and I'm sure he will pick out a few winners in the competition. Next up we have esteemed radio personality, Shado Twala. She knows what she is doing as she's been a judge right from the start with Season 1. Between her and Ian they probaly hold the record for sitting through the most auditions for any South African talrnt contest!  It was her birthday this past week too. Happy Birthday, for the 10th September, Shado! I just love her bubbly personality and that smile of hers. No wonder she's a popular judge. Probably just as popular as the third judge, Ian von Memerty, an entertainer, musican, dancer, presenter of Strictly Come Dancing, and of course a judge since season 1 too. I don't know if the judges will read this, but could Ian tell us wether there will be another season of Strictly Come Dancing anytime soon? Oh and another thing Ian, you should copyright your trademark saying: "That was FANTASTIC!". Now that we know a little about these three judges and their qualifications to judge............let the show continue.  

AND THE TALENT KEEPS ON COMING

Episode 3 of SA's Got Talent (Season 3) was broadcast a few hours ago, and again some amazing talent was showcased. It is obvious that not all the acts that made it can be shown as the episode is only 60 minutes long. Perhaps they should consider extending it by half an hour? Just a suggestion as I would like to have heard the complete performance of that young opera singer that got 3 yesses from the judges. But what we saw was very entertaining. Please forgive me if I get the acts names spelt incorrectly but I'll try my best not to. First up were two young men who called themselves Drumkit & Evo and had only been together for one month. Anybody who can produce natural sound effects with their vocal chords is talented to my ears. An act like Beatboxing (if that's what it's called) can be very entertaining depending on the person or persons and this duo certainly did that, getting the judges stamp of approval and had the audience applauding for more. After that we were entertained by a dance group called Warrior Knight who describe themselves as a mixture of traditional and modern (hip hop) and it worked for them. Even though Kabelo gave them a "no" they still got through to the next round with their energetic mix of Zulu and street dancing.

Cameron Lombard in Season 1

Xandra & Fin, an act consisting of a young female doctor and her pet dacing dog, caused Ian to comment: "You two are FANTASTIC!", with their energetic display. Fin, the dog, really seemed to enjoy  performing for the crowds and was wagging his tail continuously, even getting Kabelo to applaud and say "yes" in the end. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, along comes Jacob, the human car. This was poetry with a difference, and was all about a car (complete with sound effects) that Jacob saw one day on the road. The crowd loved him, so did the judges except Kabelo, and Jacob was through to the next round as well. How does one tell Nicole Smith, an 11 year old girl she cannot sing, without upsetting her? Well to be honest I thought she had a terrible voice, but Shado calmly told her she was not "ready" for this competition and to come back when she's a bit older. I still don't know exactly what the judges thought but that's not the point here. Never tell someone of that age directly to their face exactly what you think unless you want to upset the child in public. I take my hat off to the judges on this occasion, you handled it with dignity. Normally I'm not a fan of Gospel music, but the gospel group New Edition's harmonies were pleasing on the ear and certainly impressed the judges. "Saving the best for last" is an age old saying but they, SA's Got Talent, certainly kept their word in this episode. Remember Cameron Lombard from Season 1, the 8 year old ballroom dancer who made the Grand Finals. Well he's back 5 years later and he's got a new partner, whose name I didn't quite catch. He literally blew the judges away entertaing everybody. Oh how I love to watch Latin ballroom dancing. That was FANTASTIC! I can't wait for episode 3, can you?

DOES REALITY REALLY SUCK?

You must have heard people at one time or another say: "Reality sucks!" With all these reality TV shows on at the moment, I suppose we are drawn to the fact that "I can do better" or "She can't sing to save her life!" We are so obsessed with these facts, that we leave our day job to enter, only to find  out that we are worse than the contestants we criticised and when we return to work we find someone else has been employed in your place! That was the case in the reality show SA's Got Talent when one guy booked a flight from Durban to Jhburg, then took a taxi for another 500km to the audition,  only to arrive 10 minutes before closing time. When he got on stage, he couldn't sing at all! On top of all that he was given the boot by the three judges, and probably took a long taxi ride back home to Durban. Most contestants enter these competitions to win the big prize and the chance to appear on national telelevision. But would you rather engage on some survival  mission like Survivor right in the middle of the middle of nowhere by eating bugs for breakfast and having no communication with the outside world? Or perhaps you find running around the world and completing puzzles and difficult challenges in The Amazing Race, your idea of fun? I think it would probably stress me out. But let's get back to the local talent shows, which seem to be extremely popular because everybody thinks they sing, dance or act! Our SA IDOLS is now down to 4 contestants. Simphewe was the  latest contestant to leave after Durban's beloved Shekhina Donell's departure last week. All five contestants were rapped over the knuckles on Sunday night by the judges for making lousy song choices in their first performance of the night as each of them had to sing twice to garnish votes from the public. I suppose singing from the heart also has something to do with it too if one wants to win! At the end of the day you either have it, or you don't. Most of the time contestants have the latter. My question is: Does reality really suck? It depends if you are a contestant/ participants on these reality contests/shows and what type of reality show it is. An example being The Jerry Springer Show. Maybe you don't mind airing your dirty laundry on national television? I have said it before and I'll say it again: Americans are crazy!! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

THAT WAS FAN-TASTIC!

Thursday nights are SA's Got Talent nights on eTV, and today it was episode two. I suppose there's not a lot you can show in one hour, except the best and the worse of the auditions. Tonight we were treated to a disabled bodied dancer, a pair of tap dancers, a large dancer, a young girl who performed poetry, a female singer and a guy who couldn't sing. But before I start giving you my opinion of the acts in this episode, I have to say that the judge Kabelo Mabalane seems to have no idea how to judge. Every contestant with a guitar, according to Kabelo, was not entertaining enough. Hello? The competition is called SA's Got Talent not SA's Best Entertainers! Can Kabelo play a guitar? Kabelo, we are not interested to know that you wouldn't pay to see the contestant, just remember in the end we the public do the voting! With that out of the way, the first act we saw was a dancer, Mustapha Moos. Now I like dancing, whether it be hip hop, ballet, or latin American, but the novelty of watching a large guy doing hip hop wears off after awhile. I remember in Season 6 of the American version of the show there was a large guy who danced.A fter awhile ended up being voted off because he never did anything "new" in his act. So the same could be said for Mustapha. Maybe I'm wrong? After that we were treated to Kabelo buzzing several musicans off the theatre auditions, some of whom I thought were quite good. And then a young blond singer in stiletto boots came on and sang a some forgettable song and Kabelo says "yes"! I don't get it? She didn't blow me away, and I don't remember her name either. Once in awhile some talent comes along that is really an inspiration and I'm referring to young Nahlanhla Luke Nxele.

Even though he was disabled, he could dance and do all the moves an able bodied person could do. Truly Inspirational! You can watch his audition on the link above. Then there are some people will go to great lengths to get to the audition. Sandile, originally from Durban, booked a plane ticket to Jhburg, travelled in a taxi to the auditions and arrived 10 minutes before the closing time. After all that he ended up being buzzed off because he couldn't sing. Now that's courage for you. I forgot to mention earlier that I also find tap dancing very entertaining, and before you ask I gave it a try once but kept falling into the bath. Having watched the master of the art, Michael Flattely, dance on DVD many times before; I thought the act T-Square were very good. With precision timing, the two young guys danced together as one. Well done, boys! The last audition we were treated to was a young girl, Bothale, who looked to be about 11 years old, and preformed poetry. I'm not a big fan of poetry, and I'm not sure this act belongs in this competition. Don't get me wrong, she was very good! No wonder the judges liked her. I was just thinking now, what if this contest offered a head-line act at Sun City, would the acts have been judged differently? Would young Bothale have been given 3 yes's? Just a thought!

ONE DOWN, FIVE LEFT




Shekhinah Donnell

 
The IdolsSA contest is hotting up with now the Top 5 contestants left to battle out to be South Africa's next Idol. One of the biggest upsets though this week was when Shekhinah Donnell was voted off the competition. In my opinion she was destined for the Top 3 and should not have gone home today. But as they say if you don't vote, vote, vote for your favourite, they will land up in the bottom three, which this week was the bottom two. But fans of Shekhinah need not fear, as she and Khaya will be appearing at the Moses Mhabida Stadium in Durban on the 9th September, 2012 to celebrate Durban Day. Now that there are only five contestants left, I wonder who will be the next one to get the least votes next week? It is a known fact that if you have made it so far in the competition, you have already made it! If you know what I mean. Have you made your predictions for the Top 3 yet? Well mine has gone haywire, now that Shekhinah has gone home. I'll never make it as a psychic now. LOL   It's back to looking at the contestants closely and find someone who can replace her my Top 3 prediction. Somehow I think Tshidi Tenyane has what it takes to make it. In my next Idols blog entry I'll look at the performances of these talented youngsters next Sunday and then we can make some serious predictions. Watch this space!

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN: IT"S SHOWTIME!

With all the hype surrounding the popular singing contest SA Idols on Mnet, another popular contest SA's GOT TALENT was launched by another local channel eTV last week. With an episode filled with singers, dance crews, and Marimba bands it was very entertaining. As the saying goes: "Variety is the spice of life". This contest is different to Idols as the contestants don't have to be under 30 years old, and it's for those who can only dance, or play a musical instrument.  I noticed that even Durban's Michael Jackson impersonator,Vincent Jackson, who tried out for SA Idols, had a go auditioning for this contest but unfortunately failed to impress these judges too! The judges themselves seemed to be a fairer bunch than the Idols threesome. Randall Abrahams has opted out of being a judge this season  as he has his hands full with being recently appointed MD for Universal Records and continuing as an Idols judge. You may remember that season 2 of "SA's Got Talent" used to be shown on SABC 2 and since it's move to eTV it still seems a popular platform for showcasing local talent. In the first episode, two acts stand out for me. At the beginning of the episode, 3 black guys in colorful outfits and clown make-up (calling themselves Domkop & Clowns) appeared on stage with several marionettes and a guitar, and gave a very entertaining display of local song and dance. I might add they also gave a bit of a display of  being contortionists too. But the icing on the cake were the PJ Twins who sang their hearts out to the audience. What voices! Truly magnificent! I have a strange feeling that they will definitely be the ones to beat and with their operatic voices they could just walk away with the prize. As judge Ian Von Memerty said: " That was FANTASTIC!" Can't wait for Episode 2 this Thursday evening at 8:30pm.