adminGodwin Muzari Showbiz Mirror
The Harare edition of “Zim Has Got Talent” was held last week and 11-year-old boy called Sean dazzled the audience with his fancy footwork. People at the show applauded the youngster for his talent and there are high hopes that he will make a mark in the national finals later this month.
Sean was among many talented performers that showcased their skills on stage at “Zim Has Got Talent”.
This is a multi-genre talent search competition that seeks to expose gifted artistes in various areas and organisers have joined hands with their Chinese counterparts to ensure that discovered talent gets into international limelight.
Plans are underway for an exchange programme that will see winners sharing experiences with equally gifted performers from China.
The show’s idea of taking winners to international platforms is a noble plan and it approximates another talent search show, Music Crossroads.
Music Crossroads has taken local acts to regional and international markets.
Over the past few years, the multi-national competition has brought together talented youths from Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in regional competitions.
The winners at regional level have had chances to showcase their skill in various European countries as part of their winning packages.
Many regional groups have made a mark on the international terrain and outstanding among local groups is Mokoomba, which has topped international charts and continues to rise.
Other local groups that have had chances for international exposure through Music Crossroads include Gwarimba, Bongo Love and Liyana.
However, the groups find it hard to break onto the local market mainly because their music is tilted more for an international audience than local fans. That is the reason why Mokoomba is still to break into the local mainstream music scene despite notable international acclaim.
The only artistes from Music Crossroads that have been notable on the local scene (with minimum impact) are First Farai and Progress Chipfumo.
Besides the talent competitions with international thrust, a number of other shows are held locally to unearth hidden artistic expertise.
Chief among local talent search competitions is Chibuku Road to Fame that held its national finals two weeks ago. Attack Jazz Band won the show and pocketed $5 000.
Chibuku Road to Fame has been on the local entertainment calendar for many years and a number of groups have been crowned winners.
In addition to monetary prizes, the talent show has facilitated record contracts for previous groups and many albums have been recorded and launched.
However, products of this big competition have found it hard to make names beyond being crowned at the grand finale.
The only Chibuku Road to Fame winner who has made notable impact is Romeo Gasa who won the show with his Extra Valembe when they represented Mashonaland West at the national finals.
Although he is finding the going tough because of the congested sungura genre, Gasa has stood above most of the winners of the show.
It remains to be seen if Attack Jazz Band will make a mark, but given the general current low performance of Afro-jazz in local showbiz, the group faces a mammoth task.
Another talent search show that has been “thoroughly” scouting for gifted artistes is “Star Brite”.
The show was a yesteryear hit on local television before it took a sabbatical and bounced back a couple of years ago.
The show a brainchild of Barney Mupariwa has held many editions and screened talent to come up with the best.
However, it recently got a serious backlash from music critics that compared it to South Africa’s “Idols” because at some point the shows were screened on television in the same period.
Mupariwa fumed that it was wrong to compare the show with a foreign product when our industries are far apart in terms of sponsorship and technology.
He was right, it was wrong to compare the glamour of the two but we are still to see successful artistes from “Star Brite”. Previous winner Bryan Kadengu has held some shows, especially in Chinhoyi where he is based, without much success.
Last week Jibilika Dance Festival had its national finals and groups from Bulawayo dominated the top winners. Plot Mhako who leads the festival was glad that groups from outside Harare were taking firm ground. It is a good development and the dance show seems to be doing well if the success of groups like Magesh, High Definitition and Flip Floppers that came from the competition is anything to go by.
The list of talent shows is long. Some shows like Gary Thompson’s CBZ A Academy have come and gone for different reasons. The shows and the winners have indeed had mixed fortunes. Maybe CBZ A Academy is proud of one of the defunct competition’s finalist Mkhululi Bhebhe who is now with South Africa gospel choir Joyous Celebration.
Besides the issue of funding, which is a major challenge in the arts industry at large, the missing link in these talent shows is the process to groom the winners.
Music Crossroads has taken winners to international platforms while Chibuku Road to Fame has recorded albums for successful groups in a bid to introduce them to the market but, somehow, the artistes do not make the impact that national winners are expected of.
Maybe someone has to take the baton and cater for discovered talent because the burden of grooming could be heavy for those who go across provinces searching for talent.
Alternatively, the talent seekers should limit their scope to manageable areas and ensure they include grooming on their budgets.
The talent shows should also work with promoters and popular musicians to provide platforms for the winners at big shows. Many artistes have made breakthroughs as curtain-raisers at big shows. The National Arts Council has a role to play in this issue.
Online Reporter