ONE STEP CLOSER (The Final Auditions)

The Happy Boys

I would like to congratulate the producers of SA's Got Talent  for bringing back this show to our TV screens. With all the strikes and violence going on, every week for the past six weeks we have been able to forget the turmoil and enjoy the talented entertainment that South Africa has to offer. And what a line-up of entertainment has been. The three judges had a difficult task ahead of them selecting the Top 18. All of us may not have agreed with the judges choices, and I'm sure some talented contestants were left out. A lot of people are commenting that there should have been a Top 30 and given a few more of those talented acts a chance to make it through to the final. Are the producers pressed for time? Or is the budget not big enough to cover more rounds of the contest? But more about all that later in another blog post. It's on to the selection of final auditions that were showcased before the big announcement. First up was a young lad, Adam Ferguson, who had the judges eating out of his hands, literally. And that was including Kabelo. Boy are we adults a suckers for young kids with talent! With Adam booking a place in the next round, it was the chance of four young ladies (The Fantastic 4) to show off their dancing skills to the three judges. They proved that you don't have to be slim like Beyonce to be able to dance and shake that booty. They danced as one unit with well choreographed moves, which a lot of dance groups these days don't have. Clips of various acts being buzzed out of the competition were next, some were hillarious and some were just downright embarrassing. Thankfully we weren't put through the pain and suffering they must have given to the judges by hearing too much of them. They at least gave us the viewers something to laugh about. It was back to serious business, when Sammy M took to to the stage. At first I thought to myself, "please don't embarass yourself" as he walked on. But he proved that he could sing and stands a good enough chance to make it to the finals. The Krinksy Brothers, three young acobats, were up next. It was case of "Don't try this at home!" as some parts of their act looked very dangerous. There is so much talent amongst our young people of today. Celeste, a singer with a big, strong voice,impressed the judges with her version of "Big Spender" and got a thumbs up through to the next round. A bit of the Cape Town's Coon Carnival was next, when The Happy Boys performed on stage. Singing the old favourites like "Die Alabama" and other well known Afrikaans traditional songs, they had the entire audience singing along! In my opinion they were the best of the night amd was a bit surprised afterwards to see that they were not in the Top 18. I seem to recall that Kabelo said "No" but don't quote me on that. I do remember seeing Shado and Ian singing along though! Next week it's the start of the "live" shows. So later today I'll post a complete list o the top 18 for your scrutiny. In the meantime here's a pic of one of my favourite acts of the season.

Tiego