It was a weekend when late legends came back to life as Episode Two of Nigeria’s Got Talent featured contestants who auditioned in Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Warri.
“We were quite excited to visit these parts of the country, and looked forward to seeing performances beyond music and dance,” said Dan Foster, one of the judges. “Thankfully, we weren’t disappointed. These guys really brought their A-games!”
In Port Harcourt, performers included 18-year-old choreographer Michael, who brought pop legend, Michael Jackson back to life with a dramatic display of eponymous dance moves. He made it to the semi-final round, joining the four-man band Impulse, with its impressive performance. Others were not so lucky: including Princess Daniel, fully dressed in her cultural attire and displaying afro-beat moves inspired by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and a male-female duo called ‘The Lees’ that tried to channel Bruce Lee through Taekwondo but failed to impress the judges.
Enugu presented 17-year-old Obamor Macarthy who is a freestyle footballer as well as 26-year old comedian, MC Pincode – they both made it to the next round, while Warri had, amongst others a dancer Michael, whose performance of Dbanj’s Oliver Twist failed to wow, and Lady D, whom the audience warmed up to, but didn’t make it through.
“Some win and some lose,” said Adaora Mbelu, who is project manager.”But young people across the country win for taking ample advantage of this amazing opportunity. That is the essence of this and why we are excited by it: it’s about expanding the social space where young Nigerians can explore talent, improve skill and reach a more diverse audience. And it is a truly rich tapestry – the judges were impressed, and Nigerians will certainly be thrilled by the quality of performers that will be harvested by the time the show is done. More than that, as a nation, our souls should be lifted by just how much talent we have managed to inspire despite the challenges of our unique environment.”
Hosted by Andre Blaze, the judges for the season are radio host Dan Foster, actor Kate Henshaw and entertainment entrepreneur, Yibo Koko. The Airtel-sponsored first season began to air on 16 September and will run until December 2012.
The Got Talent franchise worldwide, which is in its sixth year, has produced many notable performers in the last couple of years including Diversity, Bianca Ryan and Britain’s Got Talent’s 2009 1st runner up Susan Boyle, whose debut album became the fastest selling UK debut album of all time, selling over 3 million copies in the U.S. It is the only talent competition show that is open to any age and any talent with auditions taking the show to numerous cities in search of one-of-a-kind talent.
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